The 2006 tour was pretty epic.
A torturous 30+ hour journey from Teesside, a night at Gatwick, a missed connection at Houston, finally arriving at Oklahoma just in time to miss the safety briefing... (note to self: arrive a day earlier next time, if I'd been really late I'd have missed the tour). Meet the team - 6 guides/drivers (including Todd Thorn the tour leader) and 18 paying guests, and out for dinner and drinks and bed by 12.30. Todd announces we're up at 6.00 a.m. with a target of Valentine, Nebraska. Doesn't look too far on the map unless you look at the scale (Liane)...
Day 1
Up early and off and I am seriously knackered. Some of the guests doze, but as usual I'm just too tall to get comfy. There are three vans packed full of gizmos, laptops and satellite internet. I'm sat with Wendi, a firefighter from Massachusetts, and we have couple of English guys and a couple of well to do Indian ladies. It doesn't take long for the banter and CB wind ups to start and I'm quickly into the comfort zone of smut and innuendo. The "Skywarn" logo looks exactly like the rear of a woman with cellulite wearing a thong. Seriously, how can nobody have spotted this before?!? http://www.skywarn.org/
We drive, and drive, and drive. For 14 hours. Though Oklahoma, through Kansas and Nebraska and eventually wind up in the small town of Murdo, South Dakota. A few of us, doubtful of much happening with the weather, find a tiny bar with one customer and chat to the lady owner. It hasn't rained for months and the farmers are in real trouble. If it rains we can drink for free! Suddenly the TV switches to the Weather Channel and the weather radar looks insane. We jump outside and it looks like the first day of the Somme. I've never seen lightening like it. Todd was spot on, most of the other chase tours went to North Dakota and missed the fun. I Run back to my room, throw on my wet weather gear, grab my cameras, tripod, video and leg it to find the rest of the team who've found a good vantage point behind the hotel. All the lights go out and we are hit by a powerful gust front.
I set up my camera and take some pictures. What's that lit up by the lightening flashes? I'm the first to spot it and suddenly I'm having severe reservations about the whole trip. I'm really quite scared. Fortunately, the phenomenon dissipates quickly. Jeremy, one of our guides later confirms the tornado after studying his video. I really couldn't sleep that night, but by morning there was no sign of the previous night's fireworks. And, no, we didn't make it back to the bar. Total miles772.Day 2
Target for today: Back to Oklahoma! It doesn't look too promising, definitely no tornadoes and possibly nothing at all.
Another mind (and bottom) numbing 13 hour drive later we are rewarded with a stunning sunset and spectacular lightening show as we hurtle down the back roads before retiring to a hotel in Blackwell. Tomorrow looks very promising. Total miles 696.
Day 3
The guides are very excited, perfect conditions for a tornado. We meet up with Josh and the DOWs and before you know it we're in a convoy with myriad storm chasing vehicles including a team from Texas Tech University, the inspiration, so I hear, for the film Twister. We end up in a hotel car park in Liberal, Kansas and wait. The Discovery Channel interview Todd and some of the guests. But the conditions for supercell formation fail to materialise as does the TIV- the Tornado Intercept Vehicle - which had broken down as it tends to do. We're all pretty gutted, and tomorrow's prospects looks poor. To cheer us all up we head to Amarillo, Texas and the famous Big Texan Steak Ranch, a Mecca for storm chasers and home of the 72oz steak. $75 or free if you can eat it, and all the trimmings in 60 minutes. Total miles 453Day 4
The target for today is eastern Colorado and a 5% chance of a tornado. As we come over the brow of hill we are confronted by an octogenarian farmer towing a trailer full of cows, meandering aimlessly across the road. He turns across our path, and despite heroic efforts by our driver, we are the innocent party in a fender bender. The farmers daughter turns up and we all trudge off to the local sheriff's dept in Springfield (d'oh!) to fill out paperwork and are then back on our way. We end up in a field north of Tribune, Kansas on the border with Colarado. No tornado but a very photogenic storm and a decent lightening show. Then off to Garden City for the night, where cows get turned into McDonalds. "Eat beef, stay slim" is the logo on the "facility". Total miles 479.
Day 5
Nothing doing today, so we're sightseeing in New Mexico and climb Mt. Capulin, an extinct volcano. I got to the 8200 foot summit and the views were spectacular (confession: you drive most of the way) and took a few leisurely snaps. Something had bitten me (snake? shark?) a day or two earlier and my right leg was swelling up. Back to a local hotel. Total miles 451
Day 6
We set off on the journey back to Oklahoma City. The weather isn't cooperating so we stop off at the Big Texan Steak Ranch for yet more beef and watch the 72oz steak challengers puke into buckets. Nice. I remember to get the kids some T-shirts and caps. Our hotel in Oklahoma City is next door to the Rodeo Club, part night club and, when the lights go on, a real live rodeo, with real cows and real cowboys. Very surreal. My leg is in a bad way so troop off in search of some pharmaceuticals and then bed. Total miles 351.Postscript: After a nightmare journey home my leg was very swollen to the point where I could barely walk. Convinced I had DVT I went straight to the hospital, but after a dose of antibiotics the leg slowly went back to normal. Yes Mam, I remembered to wear the special socks...
And on to 2008...
This looks like being a record year for tornadoes, the last couple of weeks have been amazing, but that is all history. The beginning of next week looks flat, but the end of the week could be very interesting. We shall see!
http://www.stormtrack.org/forum/showthread.php?t=16659
I'll post as and when I get the chance
Cheers
Adam
