Saturday 10th May

left Springfield Mo in the wind and rain, stopped by Paris Springs to take photos of old gas station ,had coffee with the owner, Lena, who showed us their collected memorabilia. Stopped in Carthage for lunch in retro 60.s diner, weather now warm and sunny. Called in at WalMart in Joplin, bought bandanas, were warned by a fellow biker (local lady) to take cover if we heard the siren as this is a tornado warning. Went on to Galena, to 'Four Women on Route 66' store n cafe, which has a larger than life co-owner, they have big plans to rejuvenate the town. Met a lady called Carol who is also doing the route, on her own in a campervan. We stopped at the Eisler Brothers store in Riverton, where we chatted to the locals and Mr Eisler snr, looked at all the 66 stuff available. Went out to Rainbow Arch Bridge to take pics, a couple came out in their car especially to warn us that we had 30 minutes to take cover before a severe storm arrived. We will be forever grateful to them for their kindness. We made it into Baxter Springs just in time, the siren went off as we took shelter in the Cafe on Route 66, Mick and John took the bikes to the police station for safety and we stayed put. The wind increased, the rain changed to hail in far less than 30 minutes, car windscreens were smashed, windows, roofs and buildings were damaged. Hailstones were as big as 3 inches cubed (NO JOKE), they were battering the windows in the cafe so hard everyone took shelter at the back. We were very worried about the boys as we hadn't heard from them. Eventually the wind and rain abated enough for them to come out of hiding and rejoin us. The decision was taken to stay overnight at the Cafe which does B and B as bad weather was still forecast. Sat down for a meal and was joined by Carol who had been administering first aid to those caught in the storm at the local WalMart.