Road Trip Back to Nebraska

Sadly, we left behind this nice view from the interstate as we drove up I-540 through NW Arkansas. There was such a noticeable difference in the van ride home with the kids. Much more subdued and LOTS quieter. They were so worn out. It was almost as though they knew what to expect and just thought it would be better to sleep and not whine the whole trip! Yay for Mom and Dad!!


Two hours into our drive back home we couldn't resist taking a couple mile detour off the interstate to drive through Joplin. We had been following my brother and parents cars and ended up eating lunch in Joplin. From everything that you hear on the news about the tornado tragedy, one would almost expect there to be total destruction with the entire town closed. However, this city - population ~50,000 - is still functioning despite the tornado that made it's path down the center of town. We drove along seeing little damage for several blocks then, BAM, it's like you hit a wall of devastation. Amazing. I found it incredible the way metal was wrapped around poles. The May 22nd's F5 tornado caused 154 fatalities and months - if not years - of cleaning and rebuilding is inevitable. (Most of my blog readers know this, but I am documenting for my own journaling purposes.)

This play area was all that was standing from a fast food restaurant

Near this area there was a sign for Home Depot but the building was nowhere to be seen: