I’m wide awake at 5:00 a.m. so get up and get ready, packed
and “breakfasted” early followed by an overview of storm chasing for the group
from Peter, this year with the addition of a computer simulation of the 2011 El
Reno tornado.
With the SUV packed, a trip to the rental place to get Rick
added to the insurance for the Suburban, followed by van and picnic snacks from
Walmart, coffee from Starbucks and we’re heading west towards Clayton, New
Mexico a mere five and a half hours away. Today will mostly be about
repositioning with the chance of some storms later; the SPC showing the risk as
marginal. It looks like we’ll be camped on the High Plains this week with an
interesting severe set up possible for the weekend.
We travel west on I40 stopping briefly at a gas station at
Elk City before heading on to Shamrock, Texas where we stop for a picnic and a
wander round the historic Art Deco Conoco Gas Station where I pay $11 for an
authentic Route 66 mug having just kissed the fake Blarney Stone for no obvious
reason, my affection not being reciprocated…You can read more about Shamrock
from my 2012 trip.
We continue west and turn north at Mclean on Highway 273,
through Pampa and north west on Highway 152. Anvils come into view from storms
to our west and north west yet they are more than 175 miles away. That’s like
seeing a storm in London from Leeds…A storm west of Clayton becomes severe
warned at about 5 p.m. 51,000 feet high and showing hail of 2” on radar.
The severe warning lapses but we crack on until we are north
west of Clayton and get to see some lightning before the storms start to dissipate.
It’s 9 p.m. and most places are closing so we grab a rather poor Dairy Queen chicken burger in Clayton before retiring to
the Super 8. Marcus and I polish off some Shiner Bock we had liberated from a
gas station and then its zzzzz time.
Total Miles 462
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