Friday, June 12, 2009

Day 3 of Operations - Eastern Colorado


We had an early departure today with no weather or mission briefings. We left Dodge around 9:30am and headed southwest and eventually ended up in the TX panhandle around 1pm. It was at this point that we were instructed to head north to the OK Panhandle and then eventually SE Colorado. Springfield, CO was a Target Area at one point. I called my grandma really quick and she came and met us at the ga

s station. My aunt and uncle showed up too. Everyone enjoyed seeing all the vehicles. I thought it was neat I could see my family. We had to head north from there, to Lamar and then eventually west to La Junta. Funnily enough, that’s where my grandma lives!! (Well, Rocky Ford)

We got on a couple storms west of La Junta. There were some nice looking wall clouds from each, but neither produced a tornado. There was a lot of pea- to golf-ball-sized hail, though. We got some fantastic shots of the storm. I’m ok with not seeing tornadoes at this point, because the storms by themselves are just so impressive looking. My point-and-click Canon just won’t do the trick!!

We’re staying in Lamar tonight, next door to the Cow Palace Inn where I’ve had several memorable family reunions! Hahaha! We’ll be checking out the breakfast situation over there tomorrow morning.

I think my favorite aspect of this has been how interested locals are in what we’re doing. They love to see the vehicles, take pictures, and ask us about our work. That, to me, is the coolest bit.

I would like to point out now that the reason my blog isn’t getting updated with any regularity is because whenever the Vortex2 team checks into a hotel, we crash their internet almost immediately. It’s pretty ridiculous. 

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