Orientation, Safety, and Meet & Greet meeting at 0930, in the breakfast room at the Super 8 Hotel Denver International AP. Good meeting held by Bob, our Chase Guide. Bob read a letter from Tempest Tours' President, welcoming us to the World of Storm Chasing. The letter also spent a lot of the time trying to convince us that, "WE were REAL Storm Chasers." OK, that works for me. We all introduced ourselves, and Bob went over the days agenda and safety items. The "Big 3" Safety items, or rather Danger Items are:
1) Auto Accident: A lot of drive time
2) Lightning: Get inside van where you will be subject to an Auto Accident during the storm from a distracted driver
3) Wild life: Watch for Rattle Snakes before you get out of the Van
So what I got out of it was... OUT of the van is dangerous... and IN the van is dangerous???
After the meeting, everyone check out and loaded into the Vans. Each van can accommodate 2 Staff and 6 Chasers. We have 11 Chasers in the group so one van (Mine) is carrying only 5 chasers. Bob is also in our van, and therefore, so is all the computer and radar equipment. Our driver is Danny, who has already been on 2 other tours this season.
The other van Staff are Chris, the driver, and Jenna, a past Chaser, where she did research for her book, "Storm Chasers". She is now a staff member and goes on this tour each year.
Wheels started moving at 1102 (11:02am). We headed North from Denver through Lafayette, Loveland, and Ft Collins before entering Wyoming. We passed through Cheyenne, Wheatland, Wright, and Gillette, all before we crossed the boarder into Montana.
We are staying in a small town in the South East corner of the state, called Miles City. We got here at 2200 (10:00pm). A very long day of driving.
We stopped several times, Lunch (Subway), Rest Stops, Photo Ops, and a beautiful Sunset.
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Same Sunset, different locations
We were driving right through the center of the RED area on the Doppler
Not "Extreme" weather, but wet and neat
The message of "Plan Ahead" comes to mind. Not enough rooms at any single hotel. We had to take 5 at the Super 8, and 7 at the Econ Lodge.
Tomorrow starts again, at 0830. Canada is our destination and some real storms.
