3 weeks in The Plains

Today I am trying to get some last minute things together before I leave for The Plains tomorrow morning. I always hate getting ready for vacations due to the fear of forgetting something. This one is even worse since I will be gone for 3 weeks. I have most everything ready a little early since I plan to chase today with SWAT (www.facebook.com/SWATChasers). Today there should be several supercells popping up all over Illinois and Indiana. You can follow us on our website www.SWATChasers.com where we stream live video of these severe storms.

Update on my dog Sancho who was hit by a tractor a week ago today. He is home resting and getting better every day. He femur was surgically repaird with a metal plate and should have a full recovery. He will be down and out for about 6-8 weeks total. He has so much energy that it is terribly hard making sure he is not doing the things on his restriction list. Thanks for all the support on this!!

Now for the trip. We leave tomorrow morning around 10:30am. I have been chosen along with Teri Watkins to lead the first chase on Tuesday. Right now the SPC is targeting Eastern Oklahoma and Kansas and NE Texas. The problem is many of these areas have terrible terrain for chasing.

Chasing in many of these areas just is not possible and very unsafe. I am very confident that we will get to see many great things on this trip. The pattern looks to be very active this year and we should have ample oppurtunity.

Life is an adventure.

Today is the day that Sancho gets to come home. Kelly and I are to meet with the doctors around 4:15pm so that they can fill us in on all restrictions and things we must do to complete the proper recovery. I am sure my other 2 dogs will be very happy to see Sancho back home. We had to purchase a larger cage to make sure that he can stretch out fully and not be to cramped up in his cage with that leg trying to heal. Kelly went to see him yesterday and he is getting more back to normal despite being on morphine to keep the pain away. She told me it looks like he has last 5-10lbs. We keep our dogs on a pretty strict eating schedule to keep them healthy and lean. If we didn't do this they would all be fat for sure.

The next few days will be busy. Along with caring for Sancho on Friday I am off to Dayton to be part of Dayton Hamfest for the day with the rest of my SWAT (www.SWATChasers.com) members to show off the vehicle and possibly get more sponsorships and advice even on what else we can do to better our vehicle. Due to the cost of Sancho's surgery I will be holding off this year and not buying anything except for maybe an antenna for my HT to use in the car. That night is one of Kelly's best friends kids 1st b-day and promised her that I would go with her since I will be leaving for 3 weeks in a few days. Saturday will be busy to hopefully get some more yard work done before I leave one last time and maybe even plant a few garden plants for this years Garcia-Reese crop. Saturday night we have inventory for work from 5pm until we are done which could be well after midnight. In past years we were usually done before 10pm but due to some major changes it won't happen this year.

On Monday I am scheduled to leave for 3 weeks to go to the Great Plains to chase severe weather with the Ball State Geography 490 class. It should be exciting. I have never been to the Plains to chase except when Kelly and I ran from a funnel cloud in Oklahoma City back in the early 2000s when she was attending UNM in Albuquerque, NM. Definitely going to bittersweet leaving the dogs and Kelly behind especially with the injury to Sancho. This is a once in a lifetime experience to be able to be gone for this long chasing storms. I should be back around June 9th or 10th. With the weather pattern looking to ramp back up next week it looks like we may have an active first week out in the Plains.

Also check out the new Facebook integration I added to make it easier for people to comment!

Long Weekend.

It has been a few days since my first post. A lot has happened in the past few days. First of SWAT(www.swatchasers.com) has taken off like crazy. We have done many media interviews and many public events. I am very excited to see where this is going. We are gaining credibility day by day with NWS, media, and the public.

This past weekend my wife and some of her family went skydiving. I decided to stay on the ground and used the excuse my death defying act is chasing tornadoes. I am glad that she was able to have the opportunity to do something like that in her life time. She had so much fun and wants to do it again.

On a sad note as we were driving to Ohio for a SWAT event at Eldora Speedway my neighbor called and said that our dog Sancho got out of the fence and was hit by a tractor. She said he was hiding under their porch and could not get him out. What a helpless feeling being an hour and a half away and not being able to do anything. Luckily I have an awesome brother and I called him and he was able to rush him to the emergency animal hospital in Anderson. He has a fractured pelvis and a broken femur. His recovery time will be 6-8 weeks and will have to wear a cone for 2 weeks. Just got off the phone with the doctor and it looks like the cost is going to be almost 5000 dollars. Kinda crazy but would not even think twice about paying it. I know it is just a dog but for me it is way more than that. The doctor said he will probably fully recover and be able to use the leg just fine.

A week from today I leave for my last class of my college career. I am going to the Plains for 3 weeks to chase tornadoes and thunderstorms. Should be fun but I will definitely be worried about my dog and my wife while I am gone. She is the one that will have to do most of the work to keep Sancho off that leg and dealing with the ups and downs of his healing. If anyone can do it she is the one that can handle it.