ODB Talks to God

South Hutchinson, KS

Tallgrass National Preserve near Emporia, KS

It’s a good thing we weren’t here last night. Eighty mile per hour “micro-burst” winds took out power in general and tore roofs off several buildings in this area. Now, the sun is shining brightly, there’s a gentle breeze, and it’s a warmish 104 DEGREES!

Old Danny Boy was ready for this one. He did his research and knew it would be wise to be off the road by noon. Therefore, we pulled out of Union, MO this morning at 0330.

What ODB didn’t count on was a line of thunder storms marching through Missouri about that same time. As he prepared his gear for takeoff, lightning flickered in the distance.

“Chances are it will have moved on by the time we get there,” he assured me.

“Chances are you’d better put your rain gear on before you get wet instead of after,” I replied.

 A few miles down the road we took shelter under a gas station canopy while Mr. Wet Pants pulled on his rain gear. With hours to go before sunrise, we were in for an adventure.

Eastern Missouri’s US 50 is two lanes of curving, rolling highway. Straightaways are rare and short. Other than the strobe effect of flashing lighting, it was pitch dark. Rain came in waves from pour to sprinkle. As one storm-cell moved on, another arrived to take its place.

We were lucky that the lightning was directly overhead only once. Once was plenty.

KA BLAM!

It made Old Danny Boy talk to Jesus.

“Excuse me, Jesus. I’m Mary Ellen Dreier’s son, Dan. She’s been asking you to watch over me, not electrocute me. If it’s all the same to you, I’d really like to ride out of this in one piece, please.”

A short while later the rain stopped. Before long, a rising sun in the east lit up clouds in the western sky. It was 80 degrees by 6:30.

The landscape slowly transitioned from rolling forested hills to prairie land.

By the time we pulled into South Hutchinson, Kansas at 11:30, it had been 100 degrees, or more, for two hours. The forecast high here today is 108.

Highway 50 takes many shapes and forms. It’s an old system, but in places it has been rebuilt, combined with other routes and on occasion, paired with Interstates. However, there are some sections that go way back. In these areas, we’ve noticed a few old gas stations that were built for the horseless carriage. We saw one in Syracuse, MO today.

Here’s a link to it on Google Street View and a couple of Internet photos.

This link is just down the street in the same town, Syracuse, MO, population 170.

I wanted to stop so ODB could take some pictures, but no. ODB was hell-bent on getting to his motel. There’s no stopping when he’s like that.

(Google Map Update)