I Survived (fill in the blank)

Sorry for the lack of posts...busy. Had my first severe weather event in my new office and it was a doozie. Arrived at the office at 8 am for my day-shift and our team issued the first warning shortly before 3 pm. Eventually we had multiple storms that were spreading the radar operator's attention then so we split our area of responsibility in half. I worked the southern sector of our area of responsibility while two of my co-workers worked the northern half. Unfortunately this also meant I had the figure out what to do with a storm munching straight towards the Hub City. Adding to the craziness; an office towercam that allowed me to actually see the rotating wall cloud on the storm as it approached. Nothing is more unnerving that knowing you have a 50/50 chance of seeing a tornado develop in the city you live in AND watch it unfold LIVE in front of you. We lucked out...no tornado. However, 1-2" hail throughout the southern part of the city did it's damage. Mother nature also decided to "ice the cake" by producing one confirmed tornado northwest of the city which one of our employees was urgently sent out to chase from his home (which I had to vector him in via ham radio and radar data). Turned out to be a stovepipe tornado that hit some power lines to light things up. Ended up leaving the office at midnight on an adrenaline rush and without a voice.

Trying to sleep was a chore since not only was coming down from an adrenaline high, but also the stress of working the event. A fitful 4 hours of sleep later, the alarm went off for me to head back up to the office for damage surveys. This is how we "rate" a tornado's intensity; by the damage that is done. When you watch the boob tube and hear the EF-scale, that is what they are talking about; the intensity of the tornado as rated by damage on the Enhanced Fujita Scale. Our survey team headed down to Justiceburg and outside of Girard. The survey out to Justiceburg resulted in multiple reports of large hail and the disturbing sight of 100-200 moble homes close to Lake Alan Henry (a disaster waiting to happen IMNSHO). Several reports of funnel clouds, or "fingers" from many of the folks we talked to (thanks Twister). As for the survey west of Girard; there was N O T H I N G for possible tornadoes to hit. Seriously. A few power lines, a few center pivots, a few mesquites, and LOTS of open fields. Again, no way to really confirm a tornado from the ground but aerial surveys are next to impossible to get nowadays thanks to guv'ment red tape. Once we returned to the home office, I rushed home to get things ready for our annual Canadian River Run.

Needing to unwind from the aforementioned severe weather event, I didn't want to make an early go Saturday morning and instead left Friday evening to have a full day of wheelin' and time with my good friends from across the U.S. It is always fun showing up when no one expects to see you...but not so fun trying to find a level spot for a tent in the dark! I did O.K. and although my feet felt as if they were frozen in blocks of ice, I collapsed after getting very little sleep over a two day period. Saturday morning, after airing down the tires and disconnecting the swaybar, the rock-climbing fun began! Wheel stands, aggressive lines, and even some interesting all 5 tires on the ground began to take place. After lunch however, I managed to have a good scare; I nearly rolled my Jeep down the trail when I was attempting to get un-stuck on a ledge. Based on the hoots and hollers, as well as my best friends eyes being as big as dinner plates, indicated that at some point I had the front two tires in the air at nearly a 90 degree angle to the ground. Expeditious use of the go-pedal safely planted all four tires on the ground but not before I nearly had a heart attack from adrenaline overload and fear combined. Needing a couple of minutes to recover, I sat there in the Jeep, said a few prayers of thanksgiving, and finally got up the obstacle...this time with a safety line attached. The rest of the day, well, lets say I decided to take the easier trails around the area.

So now it is back to the grind of shiftwork, unpacking from the off-road trip, seeing what all is broken on the Jeep (nothing so far!), and continuing to fight the battle with the home warranty company to try and finally get my drywall fixed. I'm working on the pictures from the River Run as I type this (figuratively of course...I needed a break from Photoshop) so tuned for those.