I drove up to Cuba on the 14th of July to have some great BBQ for supper at Missouri Hick Restaurant…the Crawford County Fair was going on just east of MO Hick at the Cuba Fairgrounds and there was rain in the air as I came out after supper….I headed for home, east on the South Service Road and drove up the Hwy UU Overpass to get on eastbound I-44, and noticed a thunderstorm back behind me to the west and now over Cuba….I stopped to photograph it and shot some video as well…
…it appeared to be moving at a pretty good clip, so I decided to stay out ahead of it and photograph it along the way, was hoping it would make it to Sullivan and bring us some much needed rain too. I left the interstate at Bourbon and photographed it from the Hwy J Bridge over 44 about 15 minutes later with the old Bourbon water tower in the photo….
…and then I stopped at Crawford Electric to shoot some more video and photos of it…it seemed to be gathering force as it approached there…
…as I drove thru Leasburg on 44, the rain caught up to me and was coming down in buckets…I drove out of it near Brand Road and didn`t see rain again til after it arrived in Sullivan. As it approached Crawford Electric it appeared to be getting stronger and more dramatic looking skies as well….here is the video I shot there….
I drove a couple more miles east and stopped on top of the Hwy FF Bridge over 44 to shoot some more photos and video of it as it approached Sullivan….
…and here is how the other half of the storm looked due south of where I was standing, with what appeared to be a wind cloud up above Hwy FF south of 44….
…and as I drove east on the North Service Road into Sullivan, I stopped across from my Doctor`s office building and photographed that wind cloud south of 44 again…
…and a few minutes later, here it is blowing…literally….through the Sullivan City Park where the ballfields and City Pool are located near my house….
…and about 30 minutes later, Sullivan Fire Department was kicked out for a vehicle fire located behind the Super 8 Motel, so Onyx and I headed over to photograph it for the paper….on arrival finding Pumper 814 and crew on scene, they had been out on Hwy 185 north clearing some brush from the roadway, on their return to the fire station they heard the dispatch and responded, arriving just ahead of the paid crew in 854. Since it was still raining a bit and windy, I was not able to tell at first that it was a junky car on fire in the edge of the field behind the motel…
Firefighter Beau Kick pulled a preconnect hoseline to attack the fire and positioned himself on the far side of the fire while waiting for Jordan Shortt to charge the line….
Photos are a bit blurry as I was shooting with a low shutter speed due to the dim light, and Beau was moving faster than I was shooting…
