Mapquest shows Springfield CO to Guymon, OK to be 111.53 miles, and after I left the Ball State boys at the Shell station, I would only speak to one living soul for that 111.53 mile span.
MAPQUEST
Driving Directions from Springfield, CO to Guymon, OK
Maybe one more "you are here" photo will be appropriate, next to the Santa Fe Trail sign. But we are really between those two hills, off the highway, one looking east, the other "
uh oh" looking west.
I hop on Rocinante and roar through Boise City, and in the middle of town ANOTHER University Tornado Chasing van, a white one this time, passed me so fast I couldn't see anything other "Texas" tags.
About a ten minutes later 2 more vans zip by, (Iowa & Arkansas tags) they must be amateurs, no decals, but headed east nonetheless.
Last movie image I gave you was soaking wet Martin Sheen stalking Marlon Brando, now think "
Close Encounters of the Third Kind", when the spaceship is hovering. That was RIGHT BEHIND ME, with a Casper the Friendly Scout Cloud in front of it, racing me over my left shoulder.
Miles and miles and miles (and miles), I am just ahead of this tidal wave, feeling its push, but still, it is a horserace, and I'm barely gaining ground. I'm thinking "10 minutes ahead of the storm"......if it is moving 25 mph, I'm hitting 28.
I found this link,
with photos, of a Tornado Chaser from Virginia, and now I'm thinking he's one of those nuts headed east out of Boise City.....
May 31, 2006 Colorado and New Mexico storms Quote:
May 31, 2006: Colorado and New Mexico Storms
chase images and log by William T. Hark, M.D.
May 31 was a marginal day but there was still a possibility of storms in the eastern Colorado, and northeastern New Mexico. Jason and I started in Amarillo, TX. After a steak breakfast at the Big Texan, we were about to leave when we heard a faint mewing. It was cold, windy and rainy and the mewing faded with gusts of wind. We looked around and found a kitten hiding behind the front wheel of Jason's car. It was shaking and had singed whiskers. The cat was obviously very cold and scared. It was only a few months old and was probably near the engine for warmth. We stopped by Walmart for some cat supplies including a carrier. Luckily for the cat, Jason and his wife do cat rescue. Jason named her "meso."
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So the Chasers are running around in every which direction, playing with stray cats, pedals to the metal. Your friendly MB "Rain Man" was busy heading east, no understanding WHY the chasers were jumpfrogging in front of me, the storm was
RIGHT BACK THERE !! I'm WOT, you get the picture.....
I top a small rise (and the panhandle is nothing BUT small ups and downs) when I see in the distance an oncoming peddling bicyclist, loaded for cross country adventures. I stop as he approaches and say "
hey buddy, I passed a shed about 3 miles back, if I were you, I'd get to it and hunker down".
Back to Dr. Hark and more of the Chasers, running around hither & yon...
Quote:
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After the cat was prepared with a carrier, some food, water and litter, we headed north to Boise City OK and met up with Charles Edwards of Cloud 9 Tours. Storms were already firing in Colorado. There was persistent development around Trinidad with some smaller storms to the southeast. We headed west on 160, initially targeting the storm moving east from Trinidad. Unfortunately, it became more outflow dominant. By then, one of several storms in northeastern New Mexico was becoming stronger. We dropped south on 389 through the town of Branson. Near the Capulin Volcano, we encountered minor flooding and hail. We headed southeast on 64 toward Clayton, New Mexico.
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It doesn't matter where all the vans were heading, I only have one choice,
Guymon or bust....I get there right at sunset, and I'm hunting shelter.....miles and miles, duskier and light is really fading when I finally spot a wooden barn, and lucky me, it has a concrete pad.
And how much rain hit 5 minutes after I stopped?
Spit.
Nothing but a 2-3 minute spit. The cloud still looked like a spaceship, but the only good thing was with free coffee, donuts, lunch, the only money I spent was maybe $3 for gas that day, NOT a plane ticket and van racing around expenses like disappointed Dr. Hark:
Quote:
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The storm, now to our north, was all outflow. There was no chance of tornadic development. The scenery was still pretty, and Jason and I stopped to photograph the gustfront. Charles and his group stopped in Clayton for the evening. Jason and I followed the storm northeast along 412 back to Boise City, Oklahoma. There was some pretty lightning but nothing special. At one point, there was a suspicious lowering but as we got closer, it was obviously scud and an outflow feature. Jason decided to stay in Guymon before heading home. I checked some data in Guymon and decided there was not a decent possibility of tornadic development for the remainder of my vacation. I decided to drive back to Oklahoma City that night and was a able to catch a flight back to Virginia the next day. Thus, my chase vacation ended early. There's always next year.
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I found out the next morning the rough weather hit up in Kansas, where I would have been
IF had I stayed straight east out of Lamar, which had been the original plan.
I had dodged the bullet, the rest of my travels were weather free- except when I got lost in Arkansas, where I went twenty miles in the mist, ended up on the wrong side of the highway, 3 miles from where I started. (maybe a future tale).........