The Indy 525

Just when they thought there was a new record for distance traveled by a piece of paper..and just when you thought there were no new things of which to keep such records...

A tire shop receipt, which had ostensibly traveled 525 miles after the tornado hit Joplin, MO., and landed in Indiana, just like the Baltimore Colts, did not actually make the trip on the wings of wind.  

Mrs Tia Fritz, of Royal Center, IN, called Purdue University authorities when she found a folded receipt from a tire store near the site of the May 22 tornado on her porch.  Wait!  There was no tornado on her porch!  What I mean is, the tornado in Joplin appeared to have blown this paper 525 miles, which caught the interest of Ernest Agee, who teaches earth and atmospheric sciences at Purdue University.  He is also a tornado expert.  
 

Checking his record book, Agee said the receipt had flown more than twice as far as the longest distance recorded for debris from a storm, eclipsing the previous record, held by a canceled check that traveled 210 miles after the 1915 tornado in Great Bend, Kan.

I don't know about you, but I'm picturing Agee as having sort of a windblown look. 

It would have been quite a trip!

Anyhow, upon further review, as they say in that same NFL that I guess the Colts still play in, the fact is that a guy bought some tires in Joplin prior to the storm and then drove to Indiana, tossing the receipt away when he got there and driving the locals into a frenzy of apparent discovery.

Mr and Mrs Fritz, and Professor Agee, can only sit and ponder how close they came to windtossed fame.  And now they can all go back to trying to figure out what the heck a "hoosier" is, anyhow!