Day 4 - The Magical Mystery Tour...

The world is flat and I’m waiting to fall off the edge. The 1:1000,000 maps I brought with me have long since been left behind and we are in unknown territory, and I don’t know where I am in the unknown territory.

Last night we ended up in Logan’s, for dinner which wasn’t where it should have been as we were clearly parked next to the Pony strip club. Eventually we get to the right place and we’re asked if we’re here for the Ronald McDonald convention… I order a 22oz Samuel Adam’s which apparently doesn’t qualify as a locally brewed beer and so attracts a price premium. Lexie the waitress, who must have been no more than 22 fixes me with a stare and asks if I have any ID. Huh? ID for what?  For age!!! I don’t have any ID with me and am fighting a raging thirst. “I need to speak to my manager” says Lexie. “We have to ask anyone who looks under 40 for ID”. Ok, looking under 21 would have been ideal, but I’ll take what I can get. Lexie and I agree it’ll be our little secret and the beer duly arrives “I’ll fetch the alcohol” being her parting remark. The steak was pretty good though I didn’t realise that when I ordered the peppercorn sauce it would come on the side salad…

Back to the hotel to load up the blog. Not tonight Josephine so slow was the Wifi. I had to disable the laptop’s sleep mode and it uploaded overnight. A mistimed call from a cricket coach back home has me wide awake at 06:00 so I get up. A quick look at the SPC has a 5% tornado probability south and east of here but the days after that look lean in the extreme. A quick look on my blog stats has the hits rocketing into single figures.

This morning we have a nice breakfast at the Cross Eyed Cricket in Evansville. This place is a big city yet only has a population of 120,000. I guess you spread out when land is freely available. A quick Starbucks and we’re off on…a road…to somewhere. Damned maps.

We enter Kentucky, yet another new state. No sign of any blue grass, derbies (derr-bees) or bourbon distilleries, at least not in the first mile though we do pass Ellis Park shortly afterwards.

We head south and east (I think) as tornado watchess are issued for the target area; the rain of this morning has been left behind and we’re into warmer air. Looks like we’ll have a decent crack of the whip today apart from one thing: trees. Chasers really don’t like heading east as forested areas are everywhere obscuring the view which as you can imagine can be really dangerous as a tornado can come out of nowhere and really ruin your day. Today we’ll need to stay on main roads to guarantee a good cell signal so that our radar images regularly refresh and we know what’s going on; a bit like flying on instruments.  We need to stay safe at all costs.

Apparently we’re on I65 heading east as I write this on our way to Edmonton where we’ll have a review of what’s next. We’ve just passed the National Corvette Museum which recently lost 5 of its priceless collection to a sink hole. A shear marker has now appeared on a cell to our east indicating rotation. This is a good thing which is more than can be said for my buttocks which are not enjoying the shift in the back of the Suburban. God help you if you’re built like a silverback gorilla. Feels like sciatica so I’m invalided back into the middle seats. We then pass Knob Lick, I kid you not – apparently it’s a ghost town, I can’t imagine why everyone moved out.

We drive round and round and round Edmonton and get a few forks of lightning before the weather descends into a horrible, messy, wet, hopeless pile of (insert appropriate profanity). There was a comical moment when Leslie and Lisa's hair started to stand on end. I can assure you we set a new world record getting back in to the SUV! There were tornadoes reported in Ohio which, even by our standards, is way off in the distance. Ironically there were reports of funnel clouds back in the UK, which also happened when I came here in 2006. You can't make this stuff up! 

We set off south in the pouring rain towards Nashville, Tennessee, our 9^th state with the moral boosting Dead Kennedys (slightly incongruous given our location) filling the headphones, where we’re booked into the Days Inn. Looks like an early start tomorrow, a short trip round Nashville, then a long drive back west, through Tennessee and likely onwards through Arkansas into Texas. A visit to Wendy's and a nibble on a less than gorgeous burger was all the enthusiasm a tired crew could muster and it's early back to the hotel.

Never mind running out of maps, I've now run out of fingers with which to count the states. Outside chance of something in Texas, even something in Colorado at the end of the trip, but the big day, Sunday, is now well behind us.

No photos today, none taken!

Day 4 – Total miles: 416

Day 3 - The Road Trip Begins...

Woke up after a fitful night’s sleep courtesy of the ridiculous amount of chicken fajita I had last night. I made sure I ate most of the chicken which had expired for my eating pleasure; there was then some discussion about some university that had devised a gadget that could measure the “pain” felt by plants when they get cut up, so I guiltily made a fist of eating those too. That was a mistake.

A quick look of the map always has some interesting names such as Fruitland to the north, and then I noticed Riverside to its west. No! I’d completely forgotten about this place yesterday: The Future Birthplace of James T Kirk. I’d come all this way and missed it. Drat. I wonder what Curryville is like; hot?

We go into Mount Pleasant for breakfast and a very pleasant place it was too with a “historical square” replete with rusting traction engine. We have breakfast in the very classy de Brito bistro. It was superb and goes straight to the top of my all-time Plains best breakfast list. I’m even confident enough to ask for a cup of tea and they pretty much get that right. The guy who owns it is from Portugal; turns out he’s there through marriage.

After some debate we head south with the Mississippi directly to our east. “Target Area” for today is St. Louis where we’ll go and visit the famous Gateway Arch. A curious coincidence:  the weather in San Francisco comes up in conversation and like a rapier I quote Mark Twain (perhaps not verbatim) – “the worst winter I ever spent was summer in San Francisco”. Halfway to St. Louis I notice the Mark Twain Boyhood Home and Museum. As it’s right on our path it might be worth a visit.

After an unusual one state chase through Iowa yesterday we cross the border into Missouri adding a new state my “US States Visited” list. I don’t think it’ll be the last on this trip. As we cross the border I’m stunned to see every shop and warehouse dedicated to the sale of fireworks. “Must be illegal in Iowa” says Glenn.

We arrive at Hannibal, home to the Mark Twain museum and I pay my $11 plus $1 towards their restoration fund. The museum was quite evocative of childhood, reading about the adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. They’ve got Huck’s house, Becky Thatcher’s house the famous picket fence that Tom got whitewashed; basically all the characters were represented. The fictional characters. Hang on, all these houses were “inspired by”…but finally we get to Mark Twain’s house which is a real house where Mark Twain really lived. Except he was called Sam Clemens then. Still, it was heaps better than the fake Boot Hill at Dodge City. Onward to St. Louis and the rain has stopped.

We arrive at St. Louis and walk down to the Gateway Arch. Wow! This thing is much bigger than I thought, 67 stories of glinting stainless steel and concrete, the gateway to the west and a celebration of the expansion of America as travellers stopped off at St. Louis on their way to a new life. Designed in the 1940’s, construction started in 1962 and tells you everything you need to know about the USA’s golden era - the 1960’s where anything and everything was possible culminating in the moon landings of July 1969. It's a really beautiful piece of work.

The arch is a hugely impressive structure, and after some queuing we were on our way up. Fortunately the 1200 odd steps were complemented by a retrofitted shuttle comprising incredibly claustrophobic 5 seat pods. After 4 minutes you get to the top and get out to look at the view through narrow windows. Unsurprisingly the views are spectacular with downtown St. Louis on one side and the Mississippi on the other. Plenty of pictures were taken and I check my mobile phone – full signal – so I call home for a “guess where I am” moment.  It’s only 3 minutes on the way down and we’re soon crossing the Mississippi into Illinois. I’ve been to Chicago O’Hare but that doesn’t count so I’m officially adding this as a new state. We’re booked into the Super 8 at Evansville North. That’s in Indiana! Indi-bloody-ana! And we could be chasing in Kentucky tomorrow! I brought 3 maps with me covering Texas to the Canadian border and we’re now right off the page.  Boy, this is a grade A road trip.

Day 3 -Total Miles 419

 

Day 2 - A good sleep and let's crack on...

By the time we’d eaten last night and got back to the hotel  fatigue had really set in but I still had stuff to do – charge batteries, download photos from the cameras and make a dent in the blog. Fortunately the Wifi signal was decent so I managed to get some of it done and saved before the inevitable resistance to sleep finally crumbled.

With an 8:30 start I set the alarm for 7:45 as a “back stop” on the assumption I’d wake up early but I slept through clearly now acclimatised to the -6 BST time zone. A mad scramble ensued to get ready and finish the blog which fortunately published without problem. We breakfasted at the local Cracker Barrel, its rustic interior at odds with its location in the middle of a parking lot. Breakfast wasn’t great; I went for the coffee option rather than attempting the usual tea ordering fiasco. I avoided the grits, gravy and biscuits of which I’m not a fan.

We said goodbye to Council Bluffs and headed east further into Iowa. Iowa is another farming state and the birthplace of Captain Kirk. Some small town somewhere in Iowa has declared itself his birthplace and has some kind of visitor attraction. The weather is wet, drizzle and heavy rain as we pass through an Amish town and stop for a coffee in Mount Ayr with its brick cobbled streets and…no coffee shops.

We pass 50 miles south of Des Moines and 40 miles south of the birth place of John Wayne and the Covered Bridges of Madison County, inspiration for the film of the similar name. We reach the I35, grab some truck snacks and head north and I’m dreaming of a crunchy apple or nice succulent pear. Instead I have a Starbucks cold coffee mocha drink which is preposterously sweet.  We’re just north of Missouri, and a potential new state which for now will have to remain off my list.

When you’ve got a long haul to a target area you split up the journey into imaginary legs. Sometimes you have nice legs – sun, scenery and nice places to stop. Other days, like today you have very tedious legs; it hasn’t stopped raining and today I’m in the back of the SUV which is cramped to the extent my buttocks appear to have atrophied.

We head north towards Des Moines (to 10 miles of the afore mentioned attractions) then east and past the turn off to the American Gothic House. The good news, as of 15:30 is that storms are starting to get organised to which the Storm Prediction Centre has attached a 5% tornado risk. Lisa and Leslie very kindly volunteer to swap seats so that David and I can get some relief in the middle seats. We stop at Fairfield and head south, we’re clearly in the right area as the rain has eventually relented and the air is warm and moist. We are well east at this point (not far from Illinois!!!) but now have a storm to play with – persistence has paid off – and it’s the only game in town.

We continue south east and end up at Highway 218 near Houghton. Frequent stops on the severe warned storm rewarded us with some cloud to ground lightning but a lack of surface winds mean that there would be no tornadoes, plus we’re up against the Mighty Mississippi and the Illinois border so we’ve nowhere left to go and book into the Super 8 at Mount Pleasant, Iowa. Had dinner at a local Mexican, ordered chicken fajitas. Too much food and...refried beans...Richard Hammond may have had a point ;o)

Not a huge amount happening over the next couple of days so it looks like an epic road trip south and east of here. Will cross the Mississippi tomorrow into Illinois then who knows where - Kentucky, Tennessee (Gracelands?) even as far a Alabama! We shall see...

Day 2 total miles: 415

Day 1 - rain wrapped, it's in there somewhere...

We’ve just stopped for a Subway at Salina, Kansas. They’re just the same as the UK with some minor local adaptations such as American cheese; they smell the same too. The problem with Subway is that a 6” is not sufficient to fill you up, but a 12” is just too much food – a 9” would be perfect. I got a 12” with a view to eating only 9” of it which didn’t exactly go to plan. I feel stuffed.

The day started with a rush. I got a txt message at 02:45 from Rory’s cricket coach confirming that his match was on. That would be fine if I was in the UK and it was 08:45 but I’m not and it wasn’t. However it did wake me up to an alert me via a Facebook message from Peter that the 09:00 meet for breakfast was now an 08:00 departure as we needed to be in Nebraska which is a 6 hour drive away.

A quick and unpleasant hotel breakfast and we were off to Wallmart for van snacks. I picked up some granola bars and some other non-meltable bits and bobs (hint: don’t buy chocolate as it can get very messy) and got into the checkout queue from hell. Women at Wallmart turn up with vouchers for everything and just as all that got processed the old guy in front of me who must have been 70 wanted cigarettes and…was asked to provide proof of identity!

With the mandatory stop at Starbucks out of the way we were heading north on the I35 through Witchita and then onto the I135 which turned out was the I35 (close but no cigar), we retraced our steps and we were soon heading north again.

Today is a moderate risk with a 10% tornado probability which is very promising. To labour a point, that means that there is a 10% risk of being within 25 miles of a tornado in the nominated area and time. That’s all fine and dandy, but many other factors come into play that affect your chances of seeing a tornado:

·         Do we have time to get to the target area before initiation?

·         How much daylight will we have?

·         What’s the topography like, are there hills in the way, forests obscuring the view?

·         What are the roads like, any rivers to cross, are there any bridges?

·         How close to a metro area will we be (no chasing around built up areas for us)

·         How many chasers will be out clogging up the roads (usually locals out to “have a look”)

·         Do we make the right decision on which supercell to follow – do we leave one and look for a better one or do we stay?

Well the good news is that all the above factors appear very favourable so all the ingredients for a good day are in place. Day of the week? Let’s see.

14:20 and we have a tornado watch: explosive storm development, long lived supercells, large hail and tornadoes with some strong. Sweet!

Continued heading north in the hope of seeing long tracked tornadoes in Nebraska ending up around Hebron. Travelled up US81 then moved west on US6 - and we had a very intense storm coming our way with chasers reporting multiple tornadoes. On the Spotter map many of these guys were very close to the circulation, from our safe vantage point any tornadoes were rain wrapped and invisible.

We headed east back along US6 with a gust front in pursuit and news of destroyed farm buildings and more of the elusive tornadoes reported. As we retreated the Tornado Intercept Vehicle (TIV) shot past us and Reed Timmer was also there in Dominator 3 who later intercepted a tornado and posted a video. The tornado sirens are going off - that sound makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up.

A nervy escape up US6 followed now heading north looking for the east turn to safety as we got stuck in some traffic and enveloped in wind and rain with zero visibility - Rear Flank Downdraft or the outer circulation of some hidden monster? We escaped and headed east parallel then joining the I80 interstate west towards Lincoln. The hook echo on radar was the most impressive I'd ever seen.

We stopped on the I80 with a wall cloud in front of us with the tornado sirens blaring. There's nothing visible but there was a tornado in there somewhere but we never got to see it! Great chase but no money shots!

We crossed the Missouri into Iowa (new state!) and checked into the Days Inn in Council Bluffs (which took forever as the computer was off due to the weather). Dinner at Applebees then a good nights sleep.

Day 1 total miles - 550

Day 1 - the 4 minute post...

Very quick post as today's start has been brought forward by 90 minutes.

Didn't chase yesterday just as well as nothing happened locally.

Big 10% day today and we're heading 6 hours north to today's target area of Hastings, Nebraska.

Slight day tomorrow then looks quiet so this may be the big day of the week.  Didn't have a 10% day last time out.

Fingers crossed!

Bonus day perhaps...T-1

Arrived without much ado last night bar a 45 minute delay at Chicago and the insistence of US Customs to examine the bottle of scotch I'd bought duty free at Manchester (the one bagged and sealed with the receipt prominently displayed) in great detail. There's some sort of machine the bottle get's put in, how it works I've no idea. I did offer to let the young man in charge try some, but he wasn't a whiskey drinker.

Getting back on track. The graphic above is what the Storm Prediction Centre thinks today's tornado probability looks like. To remind you all a 5% risk means you have a 5% chance of being within 25 miles of a tornado within the shaded area. Doesn't sound great, but remember when you're chasing you can position yourself in the most favourable area and your chances become significantly higher. 5% is pretty good, and even a 2% day can work out very well indeed.

Today we have a couple of constraints: We're not expecting the rest of our party to arrive until mid-late afternoon - that's "all being well" as one of the ironies of storm chasing is that your flight may be delayed by...storms as happened to Glenn on Thursday. The second is that we're all booked into our current hotel in Oklahoma City tonight with the expectation of one last hearty dinner before we disappear into the famine zone, eking out an existence at truck stops; it won't be long before I'm desperately missing fruit and vegetables though you may find this hard to believe! I'd better caveat that statement: If there is good food to be found, then we will find it. This gives us a window of a few hours to the get the chase done, and the edge of the predicted area is at least an hour and a half's drive away. For the geographically challenged, The state of Oklahoma (looking like a pan) is to the south west of the predicted area and the city of Oklahoma, where we temporarily reside is very slightly west of centre in the state.

We'll have a Chinese Parliament this afternoon and decide what to do: to chase or not to chase, that is the question.

As I write this the tornado siren has just gone off outside the hotel...it's just a test but it still makes the hairs stand up on the back of your neck!

T-2days...now T-1day...

So here I am sat at Chicago O'Hare airport waiting for the connection to Oklahoma City. This is the worst part of the whole business of storm chasing, though I have to say it's an order of magnitude less aggravating than going via Atlanta Hartsfield. Still airports are a pretty bum affair all round such as the manky small breakfast and tea I paid 10 quid for this morning. Hey, ho.

A quick look at the Storm Prediction Centre has  them downgrade what was a severe day for Sunday (our first day out) from "severe" to "slight" but as I've said before you never really know what to expect over the week. Campo was a slight 2% day remember?

Anyway back to the cryptic title; it turns out all 6 of us are arriving a day early so we're going to have a bonus day tomorrow, Saturday! Yippee. Not much forecast, but it's still a bonus.

Ok, so before my complimentary 20 mins of wifi expires, I need to press the "post" button.

Check back to see how the bonus day pans out