We set off after 8:00 and there’s a chase vehicle parked outside our room. It’s Lanny Dean’s tour company, formerly of the notorious and controversial Outlaw Chasers. Apparently they pulled up at 2:00 a.m. after a night time chase.
It’s one of those maddening storm chasing days; we’ve got a
10% tornado risk on our doorstep and talk of an outbreak yet we can’t chase it
as it’s our last day out on the Plains. It’s a 9 hour drive back to Oklahoma
City and Peter has to get ready for the next tour group so we need to be back
by midnight at the latest. With the storms due to fire in the evening, that
would put an OKC arrival back to 6:00 a.m. which is just not possible. No
problem, this is my 4th trip and that’s just the way it works. No
point in getting frustrated, but it will be interesting to see what happens
tonight. Could it be the one that got away?
Peter has a really good alternative suggestion; we’re going
on a mere 5 hour drive to Hutchinson, Kansas, (which is on the way to OKC, near
enough) to watch Sean Casey’s Imax movie, “Tornado Alley”. This is the movie shot by Sean in the Storm
Chasers TV series as he drives his armoured TIV (Tornado Intercept Vehicle)
into tornadoes looking for the ultimate shot. As far as I’m aware, this hasn’t
made it to the UK so I’m looking forward to it.
Liam owed me some money from when we booked the trip, so has
been dutifully paying for the hotels on the trip. The “debt” is down to $7
which is a decent drink in the hotel tonight; Liam ain’t too impressed and
points out that his medical skills from last night must have been worth at
least that.
We head west on the I80 then south on US 81 stopping for a
picnic lunch at Bellville just over the border in Kansas before resuming south.
The US 81/I35 is a rare north-south dual carriageway so we’ll make good
progress.
We arrive at the Kansas Space Museum in Hutchinson and watch
Tornado Alley which is really good. It stars Karen Kosiba…and some other people
;o). After we plunder the souvenir shop it’s onward to Oklahoma City and the
prospect of a steak and beer or three.
A nice filet steak and a couple of beers made a nice final dinner, and as it happens...that 10% risk came to nothing so we didn't miss anything!
Total miles: 539
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