Shiva

On the way up to Chattanooga, I'm always reminded of impermanence when I pass the 298-mile marker on I-75 and see the wide swath of sheared-off trees from a tornado that crossed the highway in 2011.  Every single tree for about a quarter mile on both sides of the highway has been snapped off at about 6 to 10 feet above the ground, and although the trees are finally starting to regrow after two years, it's still a startling sight.

I passed this zone again today on my way up to Chattanooga, but I also encountered a new scar slightly further up the road, right at the 306-mile marker and the exit for Adairsville, Georgia.  Here, although the land is more open and there are fewer trees, every one of the few that are present (or were present) have been similarly snapped in half.  Even more sobering is the sight on the north-bound side of the highway, where several large billboards were knocked over and the large steel columns that supported them lay on the ground twisted like pretzels.  This is where last week's Adairsville tornado crossed the highway, and it is almost as wide as the path of destruction down the road from the earlier tornado.

Nearly a half-mile of devastation in total, and only 8 miles apart.  Talk about a "tornado alley. . . "