Deluge at the Cape

The National Weather Service says Cape Girardeau, Mo. got .67 of an inch of rain yesterday. My guess is that the reading was taken at the airport on the southwestside of town. Meanwhile, an inch or more fell in the space of about 15 minutes on Spanish Street down by the Mississippi River. That’s where Grass Roots BMW Motorcycles is and where I was waiting for the mechanic to test ride my bike after he performed a 6,000-mile service on it.

Spanish Street turned into a river for a few minutes as rainwater overwhelmed the storm sewers and blew off at least one manhole cover about a block up the street, sending a geyser at least 20 feet into the air. You can see the water was almost up to the rear wheel hub on the white GS across the street.

Fortunately, the storm passed quickly and the water drained away almost as fast. I left on dry pavement about 45 minutes later. Riding south on I-55, I was treated to an air show as the Navy’s Blue Angels practiced for their performances this weekend at Cape Girardeau.

I stopped for gas and lunch at Boomland where I loitered in hopes that isolated rainstorms would drift east and out of my path south of Sikeston. I overtook a storm around New Madrid and stopped to don my rain gear. By the time I reached the U.S. 412 exit at Hayti, the rain was gone and it was blazing hot. That, of course, necessitated a stop at the Kennett Dairy Queen to get out of the rainsuit and cool off. It was 96 with a heat index well over 100 by the time I got home.

The really good news was that the 6k service only cost me $181.61, so I celebrated by adding a Grass Roots BMW t-shirt to my wardrobe.