2024 05 21
The scene out back in rural Haubstadt, Indiana. April, 2024. © Clayton Hauck
While navigating rural Indiana/Illinois on my way to catch the solar eclipse the following day, I stopped to charge my fancy electric vehicle. As I navigated into the parking lot, I needed to dodge random debris on the road, along with what appeared to be a downed power line. After pulling into the charging spot to juice my ride, I got out in search of a bathroom, having held my bladder the last fifty miles. Ominously, the building appeared simultaneously new, abandoned, and very much closed. A generator sat outside with cords and cables running in through an open window. A half dozen other fancy EVs from parts unknown sat next to mine, their drivers milling around the immediate area and keeping to themselves.
Needing to urinate quite badly, I ventured out to check the building and sure enough, it was closed. Grump and annoyed, I continued scouring the area thinking maybe there was some private spot out here in the middle of nowhere to relieve myself. After rounding the corner, in back of the building, I came upon this scene pictured above. A brilliant sun shining through the clouds onto farmland and junk and trash and an unattended fire pit.
“Fucking Indiana,” I thought to myself judgingly while trekking back to my car, still holding my bladder and without Slim Jims.
Once the charge was complete, I headed down road to the nearby McDonalds to examine their facilities. Upon pulling into that parking lot, I began to notice more debris along with downed trees and power lines, which made me think back to a conversation I’d had with a local a few days prior in which he told me about the tornadoes that hit this general area.
Ahh yes. What I’d been witnessing was not just busted infrastructure blocking my need to urinate and buy beef jerky to subdue my raging hanger, but the remnants of a fucking tornado which had rolled through the area just a few days prior.
“Y’all from here?” I asked a family heading into the McDonalds, hoping to get confirmation.
“Yessum.” they responded, in my head.
“Did a tornado hit here a few days back?” I asked.
They confirmed it and my judgmental city slicker perspective was shattered and I was just thankful nobody was hurt and the Tesla charging station was still working, because if it hadn’t been, I’d be living in Haubstadt now!
-Clayon
