My heart goes out to those effected by the recent disasters.

After discussing it with a friend, I have decided to avoid the northern Arkansas area. My original route had me coming within 100 miles of Joplin and staying the night, so I decided to just take I-40 through Arkansas/Oklahoma/Texas. It's boring slab, but it will get me out west faster and I won't have to worry about running into any issues with that area or the flooding.