Murphy's Law

This week has been nothing short of a weather slump. Each day has had its own individual problems as to why the weather just didn't cooperate, but we have been making the best of the situation, as you may have seen by reading the previous entries.

Today we woke up at a brutal 5am this morning in Denver, in an attempt to intercept possible severe weather that could have possibly popped up in central Nebraska. Of course, that is where the title of this comes into play. After driving 400 some odd miles and stopping for lunch at Arby's in Grand Island, Nebraska, we could just not see anything developing and that the factors that go into forming a thunderstorm were diminishing rapidly. Low dew points in the 50's and temperatures rocketing into the mid to high 80s didn't help things to shape up. We headed south to a developing field of small cumulus clouds, in the hopes that some would eventually grow into towers and possibly become thunderstorms, preferably severe. Well, long story short, a sufficient lack of moisture and low dew points made any chance of storms forming totally disappear, along with any hopes we had at seeing it happen.

This goes along perfectly with the definition of Murphy's Law, which states "Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong." just in case you didn't know. Every chasing opportunity or event we have participated in has just not worked out how we would have liked it to, even though we have found ourselves in textbook position. There is just honestly, nothing we can do but hope that Mother Nature decides to throw us a gift, in the form of an outbreak, supercells, or even just some photogenic natural phenomena. Any of these would be nice, as we have had little success so far due to the disaster of a weather pattern.

But we have made the best of this class, and again tried to do so when the weather fizzled out today. Basically, after we realized that the skies would disappoint us again, we decided to make a one mile detour just outside of Lebanon, Kansas. If you know your geography trivia, you would know that this is the official Geographical Center of the Contiguous 48 States. Yes, we go to all the crazy places. There was not much here really, besides the official marker, a sign that read "WELCOME TO THE CENTER OF THE USA," and a random roaming rooster. There was also a chapel on site that we left our name and where we were from, for whomever was interested to see in a future visit. The large white rooster was the most popular among the chasers. This was the highlight of the day really, because the weather never panned out.

We found a great deal in a hotel again tonight here in Abilene, Kansas, which makes this my 6th new state that I have visited on this amazing trip. I find the terrain around here to be much like my own fine state of Indiana. That is where I write tonight, on the second floor of a hotel here in sleepy Kansas. I apologize for the blog being pretty short and rather uninteresting, but that is just how the day has been. We drove over five hundred an fifty miles today, traveled in two different time zones and drove through three different states. Maybe the weather will improve here soon for us and fellow storm chasers across the plains who are facing the same disappointing conditions we have been seeing the past week or so. That is what we are all hoping for at this point. Again, I thank you for reading and comments are appriciated. Thank you.

Two Days in Denver

The past two days, we have been sleeping well in a suburb just north of the Mile High City. We started out this part of our trip in Cheyenne, Wyoming, home of, well honestly, not a whole lot. We woke up from our hotel and headed downtown to the capital building, where we toured the state museum, and then immediately after took a bit of a break by playing a pick up game of football on the Wyoming Supreme Court side lawn. I’m sure they were thrilled to look out their windows and see that, but we didn’t get yelled at, so that’s all that matters. We then packed up and headed south to Colorado, and more specifically,
Denver.

We had it planned out so that upon arriving in downtown, we would purchase tickets and watch the Colorado Rockies take on the Los Angeles Dodgers. It was a great day for baseball, clear skies and a light breeze. Most of us took part in trying some of the beautiful parks food and drinks, including foot long bratwurst with all the fixings, strawberry smoothies, and for the 21 and over crowd, ice cold beer. It was a great game, but in the end, the Dodgers came out on top, 8-6. Our next course of action was to find out where we would be lodging for the night, which we were expecting to pay much over our budget to stay anywhere reasonably close, but boy were we wrong.

One of the students on the trip called into a La Quinta Hotel in a nearby northern suburb here in Denver, just 15-20 minutes out. We couldn’t believe the price, an amazing $55 a night, or about $15 under our nightly budget. Enough of the boring stuff… After we dropped off our luggage, we headed back downtown for dinner at a local pub like restaurant. It was some of the best food I have eaten yet. The place was called, well I honestly don’t remember, but it was delicious to say the least. We ate there not only for the great food and atmosphere, but we also wanted to watch the Denver Nuggets take on the Lakers with many other Denver faithful. Even though they also ended up losing that night, it was still a great time. We hung around for a bit and played some pool and shuffleboard, and then we headed out to explore downtown. The rest is not important so I’ll skip ahead to the part where we called it a night and headed back to the hotel.

We woke up this morning and our first item of business was to tour the NCAR (National Center for Atmospheric Research) Building in Boulder, just 25 minutes away from Denver. The building itself is situated up high in the hills, right below the mountain line in Boulder. The county itself has a ban on any development in the mountains, but NCAR got an exception and the world famous I.M. Pei designed and built this artistic masterpiece of a research facility. We went on a one hour tour of the building and met some more people that were visiting from Indiana, again very close to me, as I had gone to school with the guy at one point, and he now goes to Purdue. Anyway, other that random run in, number two thus far, we then roamed freely for a while, seeing their tornado machine in the lobby, and going out back on their nature trail. It was a very enjoyable experience.

After we left NCAR, we headed back down the mountain to downtown Boulder. We passed by Colorado University, which had many unique looking buildings, compared to what we are used to in Indiana. The campus itself also appears to be quite large compared to Ball State standards. When we finally found a spot to park, we followed the lead of Dr. Call and Reuben as they led us to an eatery that I would never have tried if I were in Colorado alone. They led us down a set of stairs from the street and into the Himalayas Restaurant. It specialized in Nepali, Indian and Tibetan cuisine. I can’t say that I remember eating any of these in my recent memory. The buffet was all that was available and at first glance, I will honestly say that the food did not look appeasing to me. After taking a few bites of some chicken and rice, and following that with potatoes and fresh vegetables, I was pleased. No, its not my cup of tea for food choices, but I’m always willing to try new things, and this trip makes these opportunities possible. Unfortunately the food came back to bite me this evening, and that is all I will say.

We left Boulder and headed to Golden, about another 15 minutes away, which if you are the expert on Colorado, you would now that the Coors Brewery makes its home in the Golden Colorado Valley. At first we were just going to drive through town and past the brewery itself, but what is the fun in that? We hopped on a Coors bus and took a self-audio tour of one of the largest breweries in the world. It was very interesting and educating in the hour or so that we spent inside the Rocky Mountain brewery. At the end, all of the students that are 21 and up got to taste and drink 3 choices of beer, while I on the other hand had my fair share of root beer. We left Golden and headed back in the direction of our hotel for dinner, which ended up being either Wendy’s or Boston Market, students and professors choice. After dinner, we headed back to our hotel and played a quick game of football in a neighboring parking lot. In a quick recap, team awesome possum went up 20-6 before the sun started to set, and then who know what happened, but team sea bass came back with a miracle win, 21-20, in a game we played to twenty one. It was a disappointing defeat, but it was good to bond with the other guys, girls and even the professors.

Then, the ever popular “SEE TEXT” marker popped up on the Storm Prediction Center’s website this evening. There were different factors that were all pointing to some possibly chase able weather. We had an emergency meeting to discuss what our plan of action will be for tomorrow. The vote was unanimous that we will leave here at 6am and head as quickly as is safe to central Nebraska, in an attempt to intercept and chase anything that may pop up. Just recently, we checked the SPC website again, and they now have the area over a slight risk, which is very good and some of the best chances we have seen out here yet for chase conditions. As the details they have say, we could be in for our first supercells, and low-precipitation at that, making them all the more photogenic. We are feeling really good about our chances with the conditions tomorrow, especially since we have been sightseers the past three days. This is where I will leave you for tonight, from the third floor of the La Quinta, north of Denver. Tomorrow is looking to be a long, but exciting day. Hopefully I will have some great stuff to talk about and awesome pictures to share with you. Any comments or suggestions are always great, and as always, thank you for reading!

Sightseeing on a Stormchasing Trip

Tis the end of yet another day here out on the Great Plains. As you might be able to see from the ever creative title, the weather at the time being is uncooperative to say the least. Basically, the weather is great for anyone other than a storm chaser. Some may get frustrated with what is going on, but as someone once said, when life gives you lemons, make lemonade, and that is what we have been trying to do.

Today, we woke up somewhat early for a non-chase day in Rapid City, South Dakota. It was quite chilly outside, so most of us chose to wear jeans and sweatshirts. After our daily briefing, which today centered around sightseeing, rather than storms, we headed for Rapid City’s Museum of Geology, not to be mistaken for geography. It was located on the campus of the South Dakota College of Mining in the south end of the city. When we entered we all got to take a good look at basically ancient skeletons of random dinosaurs, many other fossils, and other minerals. On top of all that they had molds of the largest golden nuggets ever found and a similar display for diamonds. Overall, since the admission was free, it was a worthwhile stop.

After leaving that, the sky began to clear, and temperatures began to rise. Our next stop was the one I had been looking forward to the whole trip, Mt. Rushmore. I was somewhat surprised when we arrived at the size of the monument. I was expecting it to be much bigger, but it was still a sight to behold. The most strange thing that occurred while visiting Mt. Rushmore was when we asked for some assistance from two strangers to take group pictures. The couple asked if we were all from Indiana, and we replied yes. They said that they were initially from Lawrenceburg, which meant that they lived 15 minutes away from me at the most. I told them that my home was in Guilford, and their eyes immediately lit up and they said that they also lived in Guilford. I found myself immediately intrigued. After further investigation, I found out that the two strangers I met over a thousand miles away from my hometown, turned out to live a ridge over from my own. It’s a small world after all.

After leaving the popular tourist destination featuring four of our founding fathers, we headed up the side of a mountain basically, and ended up on a lookout about 10 miles away from our previous stop. This led to one of the best photo shoots we have had yet, as a beautiful landscape had been laid out in front of our own eyes. Sometimes good weather isn’t so bad after all.

After descending off of the mountain, we made our way to Custer State Park, in Custer County, SD. This would bring about my first wild buffalo viewing. What were they thinking when they almost made these creatures go extinct. They are amazing to watch graze on a sunny afternoon, someone from Wisconsin even had an impromptu picnic outside of their van next to the field where the buffalo were roaming. After snapping a few pictures of them we met a roadblock, and not your usual signs and cones, rather a herd of donkeys. After stopping and meeting them, literally face to face, we drove on and made our way to the Crazy Horse Monument, in progress. Right now it is not a lot to see, but if they sculpt it like they have it depicted, it should be amazing to say the least.

Finally, we were on our way to Wyoming, Cheyenne to be specific, to stay the night. We crossed the border and after a few miles lost all cell phone reception. You haven’t been to the middle of nowhere until you see some places out here on the plains. We even passed a small ghost town of sorts named “Lost Springs,” whose sign read “Lost Springs - Pop. 1 - Elev. 4996.” According to online references, it is one of only four towns in the United States with only one inhabitant. But eventually we stopped to watch the sunset over the Laramie Range, north of Cheyenne, WY. After getting a few spectacular shots and video that I plan to time lapse, we drove into Cheyenne. Our first hotel was going to save us a bit on our budget down the road, but due to some negative circumstances including safety, and cleanliness, we made an emergency move to our second choice where I am typing this blog tonight. As I have said earlier, the weather is proving to be quite a disappointment recently. There are talks that there might be an outbreak on the plains in early June. Hopefully this will pan out and the last stretch of our trip will prove to be a thrill to say the least. As for tomorrow, I believe the plan is to jump down to Denver tomorrow and catch the afternoon Rockies game. After that or before it, who knows. I’ll try keeping you, the reader, updated on the chances of severe weather out here as well as other random trip happenings of course. I am open to comments, suggestions and whatnot. As always, thanks for reading.

South Dakota - " Under God the People Rule" - Part II

Today, we again woke up in beautiful, boring Murdo, South Dakota. Our goal for the day was to intercept storms on the eastern half of South Dakota, with a pinpoint somewhere near Aberdeen, South Dakota, which is near the north east corner. It would be a somewhat easy drive to get there, and we weren't expecting storms to fire up until the mid to late afternoon. We enjoyed a somewhat laid back breakfast and our daily weather briefing and map analysis. We decided we would first stop by in Pierre to see the capital building and other local sites before jetting north and east to our predetermined target location.

After stopping for a quick photo session in South Dakota's capital, we were heading east when we saw storms beginning to fire on our on board laptop near the Nebraska and South Dakota border. We continued east, checked out models, used forecasting tools and plotted a route to Miller, SD, where we could then stop for a quick lunch and make any further decisions about the remainder of chasing today. Upon arriving in Miller, we at at Dairy Queen, which was the local hot spot apparently, and again looked at what the storms appeared to be doing. Today would be the best day we have had thus far for many reasons.

We ate as quickly as possible and made for the eastern fourth of South Dakota to finally get our chance to intercept some cells that began to pop up on radar and satellite images. We had put ourselves in the perfect position for these storms. When we finally got into the war zone, we cranked up the radio in van 2 and played the chasing favorite, Child in Time, by Deep Purple. It really got us into the chasing mentality as we approached building cumulonimbus clouds. We stopped once in an area near a field to view the building of a strong cell to our north and east. It was very impressive, with heavy precipitation and decibel readings on the radar. Unfortunately, we couldn't see much other than the underside so we made the choice to shoot south down some rough country roads in hopes to see more separated cells that we could see the towering tops of. We got lucky and pulled off a second time to witness a strong thunderstorm building with a clearly visible inflow tail, which had apparently not been seen before by a Ball State storm chasing class, and also many heavy rain bands. Still, we saw no real severe weather, and the storms were all eventually dissipating as they headed further north. We made our way east and made an emergency decision stop at a small ice cream parlor in the middle of nowhere. The locals seemed to be stressed upon our arrival in rain gear and fast exits from the vans. Upon further investigation, we found out that a few years back, the nearest town had been hit pretty bad by a tornado, so upon seeing us in chase mode, they feared the worst. We reassured them they appeared to only be in for heavy rain, and they relaxed just a bit. The storms were also weakening in the area and formed a squall line of sorts, so we made our way east to Mitchell, which was off of interstate 90 to hopefully enter a warm sector of air in hopes of finding more strong storms.

We got off the interstate and stopped in a Sinclair gas station where we would decide our next move. The choices were head north to continue with the gradually weaker storm systems, or just call it a day with great video footage and photographs. We all had seen enough, and decided to head back west towards Rapid City to stay the night, because the next few days or so would most likely be spent as tourists rather than chasers, and if we spent several days and came within 30 miles of seeing Mt. Rushmore and never visiting, that would just not seem right. So before leaving Mitchell, SD, I convinced everyone that we should check out their world famous "Corn Palace," just because it sounded like a really strange tourist destination, so why not. We arrived in the midst of a downpour with pea sized hail from the storms we chased earlier, and got a few photographs before leaving.

We stopped for dinner at "Al's Oasis," where for the second day in a row I decided to have the buffalo burger. It, again, tasted much like any other burger, but it is what it is. We soon departed after hopping onto some ceramic buffalo statues out front and made the last trek to Rapid City, South Dakota. That is where I am writing this tonight. We are staying at a very nice hotel with an indoor pool/slide that we tested out earlier this evening. Tomorrows plans are still up in the air, although I know almost for a guarantee that we will be visiting Mt. Rushmore and the Crazy Horse monument in progress. After that, the possibilities are endless. I thank you for taking the time to read and follow our storm chasing trip. Feel free to make comments, suggestions for tourist ideas, and whatnot. Thank you.

South Dakota - " Under God the People Rule" - Part I

I apologize for not blogging the other night, we just got back pretty late from Nebraska and Rapid City. I know, excuses are excuses, but after driving 500+ odd miles, it wears you out just a bit. Any who, lets get to the stories, pictures and action.

Sunday started out as usual, only this time in Murdo, South Dakota. Murdo is home to the Pioneer Auto Museum and The Rusty Spur Saloon, and other than that, not much. The day started off as just a sightseeing trip in western South Dakota, and ended up to be much more, well kinda.

Our first stop for the morning was the worlds famous Badlands National Park. If you have never seen, heard of or been to the Badlands, you should see them for yourself because they are nothing short of spectacular. We happened to see them on one of their only cloudy days of the year, as much of the morning was overcast and reasonably chilly, enough so that most of the team was wearing jeans, jackets and sweatshirts. We took many photos and also a reasonable amount of video of the park itself, and the fellow members of the class. After stopping at every possible pull off location, God only knows why, we had a brief stop for lunch at a local eatery and I had my first experience with buffalo. No, not the hot sauce, rather, a buffalo burger. Apparently, they are much more lean and healthy for you than its cousin, the hamburger. Now, I'm not going to tell you it was the most delicious thing I have ever eaten, because it wasn't. It didn't really have a distinct taste, in fact, it just tasted like a regular hamburger with none of the grease. Sorry to disappoint.

After the Badlands we headed west on I-90 en route to Rapid City. Our plans were to visit the popular tourist attractions and then move back east somewhat to position ourselves for tomorrows chasing chances in eastern South Dakota and Nebraska. Have I already talked about the part where the plans you make never actually pan out? Well, the skies south of us in central Nebraska had cleared out and daytime heating took place, setting up a chance for storms to explode over Colorado and Western Nebraska. We noticed these taking place when we were just outside of Rapid City, and our plans took a turn south and we again found ourselves crossing into the northern Nebraska border in an attempt to intercept some unorganized cells. Of course, with our luck two things went terribly wrong. While driving south, our magnet for van 2, my van thus far, got blown off the side by either a strong gust of wind, or from the gust off of a semi. Either way, we lost it, possibly for good. The second problem was that we failed to take in to account the colder air to the north which was pressing down. Although storms were firing strong in the warm sector, the moment the came into contact with the colder air, they then fizzled and died. This of course makes for terrible chasing, and in other words, basically a 4 hour detour.

So after snapping a few somewhat mediocre photos and videos, we headed back our same route, one, to look for our magnet, and two, to stop in Rapid City for a bite to eat. Unfortunately, our magnet was not to be found and upon entering Rapid City, we were met with quite a bit of rain, just in time to run into our restaurant, which was full so we then ran to another one a couple of blocks away and had an all you can eat pizza bar, which wasn't so hot, but food is food. We ended up leaving quite late and decided to book the same hotel in Murdo, about two and a half to three hours from where we were. After arrival, we were very tired for the most part, and we wanted to be well rested for the next day, which would be looking like the best day possibly all trip for chasing storms on the Great Plains.

Bust

Bust, by definition, means simply "a woman's breasts. " In meteorological terms however, a bust is something that we, as chasers, never wish to experience. A bust for us, by definition, is basically the equivalent of a build up of excitement shortly followed by mass amounts of stress and disappointment. More on that later, as for now, lets start the story from this morning.

I woke up at 7:30 CDT, or one hour behind Indiana (EDT), so in essence, we all got an extra hour of sleep. After showering and doing my regular morning business, I headed to the lobby for my complimentary breakfast. Unfortunately that consisted of only cereal and bagels, but something is better than nothing in my eyes. The daily morning briefing followed breakfast, and we made the decision to move further west yet towards our initial goal of Rapid City, SD. If I will learn anything from this trip, it will be that plans never go as they were initially planned.

From Waverly, Iowa, our home for the prior evening, we headed south to hit I-20 in Waterloo that would eventually take us to Sioux City, IA on our way to Rapid City. I feel now is a good time to throw in some weather information, which has been lacking I know. Basically, there is a complex answer as to why chasing right now is basically "garbage." In complex theory, there is a "Hudson-Low" centered over, you guessed it, Hudson Bay in Canada. You might ask yourself what this has to do with the Great Plains eh? Well, I will do my best to explain. This interrupts the flow of the jet stream, reducing winds and jet streaks on the plains. In addition this helps to create what is known as a "Death-Ridge" that lies right over the central plains, bringing great birthday party weather, but that isn't what we are here for obviously. In other words, less wind, less lift, less moisture and less divergence equals less chance of favorable storm chasing opportunities. If I have put you to sleep I apologize.

Other rumors that have been circulating include the "VORTEX Curse." This first VORTEX program took place in the mid 90's, and when they first went out to study the storms that usually flourished on the plains, the storms suddenly vanished in their first year of the study. They recall 1994 as being a complete "bust" year. This is ironic because this year, the second VORTEX program, cleverly named "VORTEX 2," started their new round of studies on May 10th, and will be in the field until somewhere around the 13th of June. Much like the 90's, this year is proving to be a slow year to say the least. Basically, they say that when a VORTEX study takes place, the severe weather diminishes, and chasing becomes sightseeing. This is much the case right now, well for the most part.

Back to the less scientific, and possibly more entertaining storyline. On our way to Sioux City, be passed through a wide array of scenery, from flat plains like one would expect, farms, and even a few gentle rolling hills. But most of the excitement in the vans came when we drove through the small towns. We made our first bathroom and snack stop in the small town of Rockwell City, Iowa, "The Golden Belt Buckle of the Corn Belt." We enjoy making humor out of anything possible, and today the gas station was our first source of jokes. Whomever named the station must not have thought it over for very long. The "Kum & Go" was not only great for a bathroom stop, but a great photo op. and souvenir shop. I will admit I personally splurged on a Kum & Go t-shirt, as did 3 other students that I know of off hand. After taking pictures, mingling with the locals, and getting in a few bits of laughter, we continued our trek west.

The few towns west of Rockwell City is yet another sexual innuendo, none other than Sac City, Iowa. It turned out to be another good round of walkie-talkie jokes and photo opportunities. But laughter soon turned to awe over a new sight to many of us. A few miles more to the west on I-20 was something we were not accustomed to seeing in Indiana, wind turbines. I had heard of their hige size before, but you really don't understand until you see them first on the far horizon, and then drive less than 100 yards from them. They really are a modern marvel and they are almost an artistic feature on the otherwise featureless plains. But we soon passed by and left them spinning in our rear view mirrors.

Finally after another hour or so of quality time in our vans, we made it to Siuox City, Iowa. We decided that 2p.m. was a good time for lunch and we couldn't have picked a better location to eat. Today we chose Famous Dave's BBQ, which is quite possibly some of the best BBQ one can consume at such an affordable price. The service was great, especially since we had 12 guests and it happened to be the server's first day. I'm no food critic so I will move on and leave you with a last remark, it was awesome. We held a special mid-day briefing in the back room of Famous Dave's because we had noticed while driving that a few storms were surprisingly gaining enough energy to intensify over south west Nebraska. So, we talked over possible options that changed in the morning from just strictly heading north to Rapid City, which now would include heading south to as close to Texas as we could get by nightfall, or staying in Kansas to be located in a more centralized location.

We were pretty set on just heading for the northernmost option when a pop-up window appeared on Dr. Call's laptop, which delivered a warning issued by one of the programs we use to track and predict storms while out here on the Great Plains. We were all shocked by the tornado-warning that was issued by a law enforcement officer outside of Lincoln, Nebraska. Our plans now took a drastic turn, as we went from sightseeing, and mostly relaxed mode to full blown chase-mode in a matter of minutes. It reminded me of the scene in Twister where they are just relaxing in the field near someones farm and then a warning is issued over the weather radio and they all rush out of the field in their convoy led by Rusty's mini bus sound system that is blaring the solo-section of Deep Purple's, Child in Time. I kid you not, it felt and seemed very similar to that.

So, as we drove out of SiouxCity, we decided a possible intercept point would be northeastern Nebraska, somewhere near Pierce or Norfolk. Remember how I said plans never go according to plans? Well here is another great example of this as we watched the storms flourish over southern Nebraska, with one possible tornado report and also radar indicated hail of anywhere between half an inch to golfball sized stones. Things were looking great until the storms continued north. They proved to be especially difficult to track, because directions continued to change and the three or so cells we tracked were moving in different directions and at one point, two of the cells merged with one another. We ended up forgetting to take into context the air in northern cornhusker country that had recently been cooled dramatically by a cold front from earlier in the day which met with the storms we were en-route to and basically killed them off. I'll leave off other factors and scientific reasoning that led to their demise to save you from any more feelings of drowsiness, but in lamemans terms, it turned out to be a bust. Are you seeing a trend to all of this? So we soon after made the descision to keep on trucking north, towards Rapid City.

This is where I type this entry tonight, well not quite Rapid City, rather Murdo, South Dakota, home to our Best Weatern Hotel, the Rusty Spur Bar and Grill, and the Pioneer Auto Museum. Tomorrow, I would make an assumption on where we are headed, but if there is a second life lesson I will take from this trip, it will be to not make assumptions, just because. Possibly the Mt. Rushmore National Monument, or the Badlands National Park, both of which are an hour or so from our stay tonight, but there are other odd choices in South Dakota which include a Minuteman-II missle silo, recently declassified and turned into a tour stop, and or Mitchell's Corn Palace, aka a giant castle shindig made out of corn which reopens tomorrow. Like I said, something could come up and for all I know we might end up in Denver, or Vegas... well not Vegas, but that would be crazy. I'm going to try to get some quality sleep here in Murdo, and have some more great experiences out here on the Plains tomorrow as we continue to chase the dream. Yea, that was cheesy, but it works. Thank you again, as always for reading.

From Muncie to Waterloo

Today started off like many before it, with a cell phone alert buzzing heavy rock music into my ears. This was followed off with a shower and last minute packing. We then, as a team, met up at Cooper Science on campus and met with our vans that we will be riding in the next couple of weeks.

From Muncie we made our way down I-69 to the north side of Indianapolis to pick up the remaining Indiana University students that had not already joined up with us in Muncie. We then grabbed a bit to eat in western Indiana, somewhere, before finally crossing the border and entering Illinois.

There was not much in the way of scenery and exciting destinations, which of course I expected. But we did see a pretty decent gustnado, or small spinning bit of air that picks up dust and light debris, making it visible, but isn't in anyway a tornado, for reasons you can look up if you are curious. Other than the gustnado and several series of signs that promoted "anti-gun control," Illinois was much like the northern part of Indiana.

After a brief stop at a rest stop outside of Peoria, near the western border of Illinois, we headed across the Mississippi River and bypassed Davenport, Iowa. I have never been to Iowa so everything from here was new territory. We then headed due west on Interstate-80 where we soon encountered the highlight of the day, "Iowa-80." No, not the road, rather the "World's Largest Truck-Stop." This, in a way, can be called the "Mall of America," of truck stops, so to say. There are numerous restaurants, and shopping opportunities within the walls of this trucker paradise. Some items for sale included a new horn for your ride, customizable clothing, and other trucker merchandise. There was also a full sized semi and trailer in one of the main wings of the building, which had an artistic rendition of Iowa painted on the side. It was one of the main attractions of the site.

We soon departed after fueling up and kept heading due west towards Iowa City. There is not much in I.C., but we did see a billboard on the way advertising "Bob's Your Uncle - Pizza Parlor." It was nearing 6 p.m. local time in Iowa, or 7 back home, and we decided that it was time to grab a bite to eat, and that pizza would be a good choice. It turned out, however, to be a great choice. Voted best pizza in Iowa City for the past 7 years or so, "Bob's Your Uncle" delivered a delicious punch to our appetites. Their pizzas come in 3 varieties, NY style, traditional and Chicago deep dish, all of which, ironically, have nothing geographically in common with Iowa. Nevertheless, the pies were amazingly tasty. We got two NY style pizzas, and one Chicago deep dish, all three of which were different specialties. These were named after famous Iowa basketball players, of which whom many of us did not recognize. But that did not matter, because the fresh ingredients that were put into the pizzas made them a one of a kind taste that I will miss eating. The "Bob's Your Uncle" name was actually derived from a British and western European way to say, you will prosper or succeed, rather than to imply that you have a pizza making Uncle Bob.

Across the parking lot from our dinner location, there was a ceramic/plastic green dinosaur at a gas station which myself and another Ball State student took a bit of time to pose, ride and take pictures with. It's great to let lose of your inhibitions and let your inner child shine sometimes. After a few good laughs, we boarded the university vans and headed north through Cedar Rapids and Waterloo in central Iowa. A few miles north of Iowa is where I lie in bed, typing up this blog in the tiny town of Waverly. The hotel beds will probably be an improvement to the couch I have been sleeping on earlier this week in Muncie.

Well that has been an in depth look at all the happenings of today, the first day of our travels out here on the plains. As for our near future, tomorrow will be another full day of driving, or that's what I know at this time. We are headed north, in the way of the Badlands National Park and Mt. Rushmore. We won't see these things until Sunday, but we will be having a good time on our way there for sure. If you want to see some pictures that I took today, limited because most of the day was driving, you can find them on my facebook page. I'm always open to comments and suggestions and again, I thank you for reading.

Storm Chasing: Pre-departure

Its early on a thirsty-Thursday night, and I'm finishing my last minute packing and preparation that will go into tomorrows departure to the Great Plains of the United States of America, the home of farmland as far as the eye can see and most importantly Tornado Alley.

Right now, according to many models and analysis maps, our chances of finding anything highly organized or favorable to chase are minimal for a while. We have two ways to exit Indiana tomorrow, both of which are basically geographical opposites of one another. Behind door number one, we can take the northern route, and head towards the Dakotas and eastern Montana, but stopping for rest and sleep somewhere near Des Moines, Iowa. Behind door number two, we could be trekking in the direction of the Texas panhandle and east New Mexico, stopping for rest and shut eye in southern Missouri. There is one more option for lodging, which would be in Kansas City, MO, with the goal of basically splitting the distance between the two chase able regions, and in turn making more of an educated guess as to where to travel to over the weekend.

Either way, these are all new destinations for me and I cannot wait to visit and explore. Possibilities that await us, the chasers from both Ball State and Indiana University, if there is dry weather would include the Badlands Nat. Park and Mt. Rushmore in South Dakota, and the Alamo or even the Odessa Meteor Crater in Texas. We will have to take a vote or decide on what to do if this should happen. Usually, people ask for good weather on their travels, however, as storm chasers we would rather have our weather be a bit more on the wet side.

In other random side notes, the classroom portion for the most part is over. We had class on Thursday and Friday of last week and also the first two days of this week, closing out this Tuesday with an exam over what we had learned the past few days. I have been here in Muncie, IN since Monday morning, and it has had its ups and downs. The past couple of days have been rough, between finding ways of entertaining myself and living with some nice guys I have only known since late last week. But the pros have outweighed the cons, and departure is quickly arriving.

I will be taking a camera and video camcorder, which by the way, thanks to the telecommunications department here at Ball State for allowing me to do so. So in other words, you can expect to get daily photographs from sightseeing and hopefully some severe weather. The video might take a while to get online, as I don't know right now as it stands how to get it uploaded to my laptop from the camera. But there will be something on my facebook eventually.

It is looking better everyday for media coverage of our chase. Our professor leading the chase, Dr. Dave Call, notified us tonight that seven media sources had contacted him to get information on us and our adventures in the coming weeks. There might also be a possiblity that some local newspapers/television stations to myself will be doing a story on the trip. We will just have to wait and see. Sorry that this was such a long entry, and rather boring at that, but hopefully I will have some more exciting stories to tell, and pictures to share.

You can read up on the trip on this blog every night (hopefully), and view pictures and possibly videos on my facebook page. Thanks for reading.