The big surprise today was that they didn't all get rained on horribly. I checked the forecast and Doppler earlier today so they had an idea of weather and it didn't look good: severe thunderstorm warnings and flash flood warnings over Springfield. The crew was deciding what to do when a sheriff came into the subway where they were eating and told them the weather was looking bad. They prepared for the worst and got rain gear out, but no one actually took the precaution of putting it on except Claire. By doing so she saved the rest of them and scared away the weather. ;) There was tons of rain in the area, but it seemed to pass them all by and they didn't actually get rained on at all.
Michael's trouble had more to do with flat tires. Fortunately, while he changed the flat tires he was able to look at the fantastic storm clouds. He said that while he was watching he saw an updraft of a cloud shoot up until it started moving outward in the identifying anvil for thunderstorms. I'm going to add a little atmospheric science in here (hey, I'm not doing work on cloud modeling for nothing this summer! Actually this has nothing to do with my modeling...). The fact the Michael could see the top of the anvil means that this particular thunderstorm was really far away from him. The anvil only forms when the updrafting air hits the tropopause (a boundary layer in the atmosphere) and can't rise anymore and must move outwards. Since the tropopause is usually around 35000 feet high this is a really high cloud and you can only see it if you're far away. So, I guess I'm saying Michael had nothing to fear from that particular storm, at least as he watched it form. He said the the colors were really cool with the bottom being light pink and the top being lit up by the sun (this happens because of the extreme height too. Think of watching a sunset on a tall building vs. the ground. It sets sooner for the ground viewer than the higher up one).
Anyway, I think Michael has more cloud pictures for us maybe tomorrow. The group got into town and are staying at the fairgrounds. They were able to shower and then relax for the night. After dinner of falafel Michael called and said he was watching a family of foxes (two adults, two kits) playing near him. They were running around and barking! He finally went off to bed saying that they're aiming for getting near the Kansas border tomorrow and will hopefully be in Kansas in two days!
Some random things before we get to pictures:
Michael's road name is "Flattius". I think it might be a combination of his flat tire incidence rate and his flatulence. Not sure which made more of an impact on the nickname.
Apparently in VA, KY, IL, and most of MO the main type of roadkill was turtles. Now it is Armadillos. Neither of us really knew armadillos were that common in southern MO. Too bad they get hit by cars so often!
Michael learned how to pull on the upstroke of pedaling so maybe he can get a full leg workout now. When you have clipless pedals you can get power from the upstroke and downstroke and can get moving faster or use it to work different muscle groups.
Manners go out the windows when you're riding XC. I guess this is one of the main topics of conversation for the group when they're in a town and eating dinner or in a library/store/whatever. Maybe Michael will elaborate more on this for us when he can enter some stuff himself on the blog!
Pictures!
Missouri! I think that taking a picture of each sign is now a tradition.
Michael riding along. I've noticed he seems to have lots of side facial hair in this and pictures on the album of other pictures he sent me. I wonder if it's itchy?
Clouds at the base of a storm in Missouri. These often form below thunderstorms!
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