13 May 2014 – Hubble Rubble

0630 – Wake; edit this blog site; shower, dress, pack.
0830 – Breakfast: waffle, highly homogenized scrambled eggs, orange juice, toast.
0945 – Pack the vans; weather briefing. The Great Plains will be quiet until Friday or Saturday. Blech! Time to play tourist on our way northwest.
1035 – Depart Days Inn.
1045 – Arrive Walmart
1122 – Dpt Walmart
1140 – Started using the GPS Tracks app to record our route. (Thanks For pointing me to this, Eric Meola!)
1230(est.) – Enter Joplin. Inspect 2011-05-22 EF-5 damage path.

1315(est.) – BBQ brisket and pulled pork at Sawmill BBQ (612 S. Main St. in downtown Joplin, MO; 417-782-7225). SO MUCH FOOD!
1418 – dpt Joplin
1449 – cross into Kansas on US160/MO96
1503 – cont E toward Sherwin, KS
1520 – At Oswego KS, briefly separated from the lead van. Reunited 3 min W of town.
1550 – Reach Jct US160/US169; continue W US160 to Independence, KS. 15 minute pit stop at Citgo.
1638 – cont W on US160
1700 – cont W from Elk Falls, KS
1709 – N KS99
1730(est.) – Stopped to take photos at Hubble’s Rubble metal sculpture exhibit (Howard, KS)


1744 – W on US400 toward Wichita, KS
1825 – Augusta, KS , going W on US400.
1836 – x I-35
1900 – re-enter US400 after meeting with Jim Reed (to get a set of keys); exit to I-235 N, which becomes KS96.
1933 – Haven, KS near KS96. We stop for some sunset photos. I tangle my hand in the latch for the van door after I loose my footing. I’m luckyt to not break a finger!  My hand hurts so much, I almost miss a beautiful sunset:

EOD – Arrive Rodeway Inn, Hoisington, KS
EOD – Also ate dinner here: Grilled Chicken sandwich and a diet Coke (with a shot of cherry liquer).

TRAVEL SUMMARY
Start Springfield, MO
Finish Hoisington, KS
Route I-44,US-160,US-400,KS-99,KS-96
Miles 307 (est.)

 

27 May 2013 – Baby Needs a New Pair of Shoes

Meh! I’m worn out (like my shoes).

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My feelings are amplified by the fact I gave up on chasing during this long weekend, but a MOD RISK has been issued. Had I followed my plan (on Friday) to travel west, go see Mt. Rushmore, then hope for storms, I could have been within reach of the expected storms:

OVERALL SEVERE STORM RISK

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TORNADO RISK

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Man, I need an attitude adjustment and fast!

And seeing the results of today’s storm isn’t making this easier:

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11 May 2013 – CHASE 2013 – DAY 11

11 May 2013 – CHASE 2013 – DAY 11

Today is a travel day, as we need to get everybody back to Oklahoma City by morning.

I’m feeling pretty sad about the trip being over. We have a really terrific group on this tour, and I will miss them all very much when we go our separate ways.

We’ve had a very discouraging weather pattern for storms, but Bill Reid had put us on the best ones whenever they were available (that is, days 1, 8-10)

Today’s USA TODAY seems to be rubbing our noses in the fact we saw no tornado in ten days in May:

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______ – We stop at Austin for a lunch at Fuddrucker’s

______ – We jump off I-35N at West,TX. We grab a snack at the famed Czech Stop And Wander East into town. We cannot see the blast site from the recent fertilizer plant explosion. We see houses with boarded-up windows and crumpled aluminum garage doors from blast, even from 14 blocks away from the temporary chain link fence protecting the disaster.

19:10 – We cross the Red River on I35N, returning to Oklahoma for the last time during the trip.

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23 April 2012 – DAY 3 – Playing Tourist

[All times are MOUNTAIN time (MDT) unless noted otherwise]


  • 0700 – wake; shower; dress; get breakfast; pack bags

  • 1030 – load van; briefing

  • 1100 – head west

  • 1154 – On the road to Taos (US 64 West), we stopped for some photos for 10 minutes. A ranger stopped to tell us we needed to pay $5 (even though it was obvious the 8 people with cameras and no tents were stopping for photos, not to set up camp. “Bureaucrat!” I though as he drove off. (To save further grief and aggravation, we drove off shortly thereafter. No $40 from us!)

  • 1213 – I took more photos of the landscape to our south. I see snow on the mountains and in scattered patches on the ground. Hopefully, we do not have any on the roads ahead.

  • 1229 – We stop for a few photos of a few mountain storms brewing. Typically these fizzle as they reach the flatlands (especially when the dew points are in the 40s there).

  • 1245 – continue to just east of Eagle’s Nest; photo opp for mountain lake with snow-capped Rockies as a backdrop. Breathtaking!

  • 1250 – At the Eagle’s Nest convenience store, we stop for washrooms, food, fuel

  • 1305 – continue to Taos; per GPS, our route crests at 9058 feet above sea level then descends into town.

  • 1412 – After a 15 minute stroll, we have lunch at Ricky’s (based on a recommendation by some friendly, local workmen). “It’s a keeper” $14 plus tip for a hearty New Mexican combination plate and an iced tea.

  • 1538 – depart east on US 64 until NM 505. We stop to observe several storms rolling off the Sangre de Cristo range (one NW, one S of us). Both are photogenic non-severe storms that fizzle as they reach the moisture-starved plain of NE NM.

  • 2100 – we check in to the Sands Motel (again); 5 minutes later several of us pile in the van for star gazing

  • 2127 – then 5 in our group take a stargazing side trip to 7 mi E of Yankee.