DAY 37--Just wait

Today started off as another gorgeous biking day--sunny and cool (but more headwind), and 40 miles of paved rail trail through woods and farmlands. We crossed the Mississippi a couple of times, and rode through more small communities. We are starting to see just a few spots of fall color.
Then something happened. First the clouds rolled in. Then the wind kicked up even more. The next thing we knew a tornado siren was sounding, but from where we were we couldn't see any signs of such severe weather. We kept an eye on the weather radar. Eventually we could see dark clouds and lightning directly ahead, so we stopped to consider our options. Radar indicated a nasty thunderstorm directly between us and our destination. We chose to take shelter in a friendly person's garage to wait out the storm (thinking it would pass in an hour or so). It did not pass. Instead, it intensified from severe thunderstorm warnings to dangerous thunderstorm warnings, with hail and flash flooding, and it stalled right in our path. Finally we called Steve to come and get us, and we settled into a room at a motel, rather than trying to set up camp. The town where we were (Little Falls) got 4-1/2" of rain.