Day 3 - On the ROAD with Tornados, Floods, and Cracker Barrel

After a quick and much needed repacking of the car, we grabbed some coffee and hit the road to Arizona. Things started out great but as we got into northern Alabama and headed towards Memphis the scenery and weather took an abrupt turn for the worse. We drove through a small town near Birmingham that was completely destroyed by the tornadoes from last week. We weren't able to take any pictures but the destruction was devastating and heart wrenching.


As we drove around Memphis the first bad weather of the trip began. The dark clouds and cold air moved in as the heavy rain began. We kept a sharp lookout for any developing tornadoes but the real danger seemed to be the flooding that was occurring all around interstate 40. Neither of us had heard too much about the flooding across Tennessee, Alabama and Arkansas but it was obvious the last thing anyone here needed was an additional few inches of water.

"Parked" car at gas station

After 10 hours of rain, sunshine on the other side.

We decided to drive through the night and straight to Arizona..... except for TWO stops at Cracker Barrel within 10 hours. Gotta love the apple butter!!