Jon Van de Grift and I saw at least one tornado (the talked about 10 minute rope out) and possibly another early on in what became one of the longest one-day marathons I have ever chased. In a day which started at 7am CDT in Denver, we actually made the storms in time to catch at least one tornado! Most everyone who saw and or passed me was amazed to see me at these storms. In what would normally be a disappointing day seeing as most everyone scored so well, I am happy to call this one of my funnest chases to date. Jon and I chased about as naked as it could get; no Baron, no Wifi, no GPS, no WX Radio... a quick radar check on Hwy 287 and a few barely in service cell phone calls to Verne Carlson, our nowcaster, and we basically went by eyes to intercept the three storms today. We missed the best of the action, but made it for one, which at 750 miles at the time, was unreal to have made that trip. We finished the night in Abilene where we ate a quick dinner with Blake Naftel and others before Jon and I went to say goodbye to Amos down the street. We're now in Snyder where we've bunked up at my Dad's place where we'll finish the trip heading to Denver on a rather long trip home tomorrow. We pulled into my Dad's place at 906 miles for the day, which makes for my quickest single chase mileage (906 in 18 hours); the trip will end with over 1,500, placing it into the top 5 longest chases. What a fun day! No disappointment at all; I had a great time today. It was almost stressless with no gadgets to keep tabs of and the get-there-when-we-get-there attitude which passed the time very well. Next thing I knew, we were south of Aspermont on Hwy 83 watching a tornado waaay to our west. Not sure if the video will aid this as we set up shop as the tornado was lifting and the cells were merging. Such a great time, I cannot tell ya! And best of all, we freakin' made it from Denver!!! That's the gold of this trip! Good night all! I'll post my report later this week with pictures!
