Road Trip Joplin, MO. - Elk City, OK. 06-01-13

Last night in Joplin was stormy and the thunder woke me up a couple times.  I didn't want to put in earplugs because the front desk clerk had told me that they would ring every one's room if there was another tornado threat.  It rained all night, creating flash flood warnings all over Oklahoma and southern Missouri.


From my window about 4am.
 

Another picture about the same time, I was hoping I could catch the river running through the lot.
 

But this morning when I went out to my car there was this mockingbird singing at the top of his lungs.  Between the mockingbirds and the robins it was pretty noisy out.   But can I blame them for singing?  They survived the night and the storm.
 

As I headed SW on I-44 this was the view ahead - a few clouds.
 

To the east there were piles of clouds to the horizon.  (I didn't even see the oil well pump when I took the picture.)
 

Looking west the sky is an unblemished inverted blue bowl over the fields of wild flowers.  I notice now that there is just the tip of a cloud about a fourth of the way from the left.
 

I tried to take pictures that showed the wildflowers along the road - Indian Paintbrush was thick in spots.   Some lupine, lots of daisies, wild vetch in spots and something pink that I haven't any idea what it might be.  The flower blossoms are just too small to stand out at 75mph.
 

A beautiful clear sky, but what is that down the middle of the road?
 

I am pretty sure I have never seen a double white "dashed" line on the roadway before.  Anyone know what it means?  Or did the pavement painter just stutter?
 

Another wild flower attempt.
 

In the area of OKCity there was quite a bit of flooding - red soil tints the water.  
 

I took this picture for the peeled back roof of the large building on the left.  But there is the flooding again in the foreground.
 

This may be a river or just flooded pastures.
 

This river was well over it's banks.
 

Tonight I am at a Hampton Inn in Elk City, OK.  Turns out there is a HIE here, but so new it isn't in the AAA book.  This place is also very new and has some new "accessories" - like this "deadbolt" in place of a chain or one of those hairpin latches.  It took some fiddling for me to figure it out.
 

Here it is flipped out to stop the door from opening.