Here the restaurant reviews my 2013 storm season (which I’ll update as events warrant):
CHASE 2013
2013 RESTAURANT REVIEWS
DATE
DAY
LOCATION
RESTAURANT
COST
DESCRIPTION / REMARKS
30 April
Tuesday
Oklahoma City
OK
Thai Kitchen
$12.30 incl. tip
****
A hole-in-the-wall place with terrific Pad Thai and other tasty Thai dishes. (I’ll be back!)
30 April
Tuesday
Oklahoma City
OK
Texas Meridian Rd. at I-40
$28.87 +tip
***
A really good 12-ox ribeye with all the fixin’s. The Skinny Margarita was excellent. I was disappointed they did not do anything special for Willie Nelson’s 80th birthday, as they name a part of the restaurant for him. (Happy Birthday anyhow, Willie!)
01 May
Tuesday
Oklahoma City
OK
Wyngate Hotel
included with room
***
Full breakfast: the famed Carbon waffle machine, scrambled eggs, bacon, fresh fruit. A great start to a busy day.
01 May
Tuesday
Wichita Falls
TX
Subway ,
2314 Airport Dr.
$5.41
**
The perfect BLT footlong! The staff had trouble identifying which cheese I was asking for. Not sure if they had trouble hearing me or there was a language barrier.
It’s been raining three days in a row and sometimes heavily:
Finally, northern Illinois is beginning to emerge from the drought.
It’s the perfect weather for contemplation and handling details for my upcoming storm chase trip. During the off-season, I’ve done lots of reading, ingesting books like Tim Vazquez’s “Weather Radar Handbook” (ORANGE BOOK).
In anticipation of chasing for ten days with famed storm photographer Jim Reed, I read “STORM CHASER: A Photographer’s Journey”.
I had intended to go through it over several days, but read through it in a single sitting (unlike the ORANGE BOOK, which I’ve been nibbling at for weeks). I felt it would be beneficial to read Jim’s book to better understand him and his guiding principals of storm photography.
As it turns out, Jim and I have had interesting parallels in our lives:
Jim Reed
Lisa Beal
REMARKS
Born
Springfield, Illinois
Rockford, Illinois
Also close to the same age
Raised in Midwest?
Yup
Yup
_
Non-traditional family
Raised by single mom
One of three adopted children.
Raised by almost-single mom until 10.
(Dad traveled 5-6 days a week.)
We may have watched the Brady Bunch, but we were not members!
1st memorable storm
Hurricane Camille
(with mom)
Belvidere, IL tornado
(with dad)
Dominant parent present during first memorable storm experience gave a sense that “everything’s going to be OK” (and it was).
Moved from Midwest
to West Coast (California)
to East Coast (to New York)
Off to the big city!
Returned to Midwest
Kansas
Illinois
Returned after college in both cases
Einstein connection
Ja!
Ja!
God may not play dice with the universe, but he seems to be good at poker. I remember this during storm chases!
1960s TV connection
Gilligan’s Island
Gilligan’s Island
Theory: the seven characters on Gilligan’sIsland represent the Seven Deadly Sins. (What would Dawn Wells think of that?)
Dedicated chase vehicle
Ford Explorer
(as of 2006)
Chrysler Town&Country
(from 2011-date)
_
Seen lots of tornadoes
40+
about 30
(I’m re-checking)
Easily half of those I’ve seen were with Tempest Tours. Saw 6 on
10 May 2004 afternoon near Limon, Colorado.
(“Thank you, Dr. Weberpal!”)
Winter photography experience
First chapter in the book captures this
Several photos from Antarctica used on Oprah for Jerri Nielsen’s appearance.
Jim will be supplying 2013 Tempest Tour 2B guests with signed copies of his book during the tour!
Camera collection
Nikon-sanctioned photographer
Started with Pentax while working for the Antarctic Program
OK, Nikon! I’m tired of Pentax stuff being ‘niche gear’ that’s both expensive AND hard to find.
We’ll have plenty to talk about on the trip. I’ll have to remind myself that there will be a dozen people vying for his time, including Jim Reed.
To hear Jim speak about our trip, check out this YouTube video ( 2:14-):
CHASE 2013
