May 27, 2000

	As the last few remaining renants of Chase 2000 wheeled their way to 
Wichita in the wee hours of May 27, we noticed that there was quite a 
lightning show going on ahead of us.  We love all aspects of storms, even the 
lightning show, and we quite grateful for this one last bit of eye candy.  
	As we neared the storm ahead, the winds started picking up.  We 
assumed them to be of little consequence, possibly inflow/outflow related.  
However, as they strengthened with the rain, we thought we might be playing 
around with something more... and began to monitor the situation.  About that 
time, two tractor trailers pulled by us.  Brian, who was driving the van, 
said at the time, "In these winds, those guys are gonna flip"  Within 5 
minutes, we caught up to the first of them... on its side in the passing lane.
	Geoff had to stop and film and interview the driver (help was already 
on hand and the driver was fine) but the winds were still intensifying.  We 
promised him a 5 minute photo stop, but backed under an overpass to protect 
us from hail that we felt was imminent.  We were at the 111 milepost, and the 
overpass offered a place off road for us to pull over at safely.  No one was 
coming anyway... the highway was deserted.
	Brian and Nancy discussed the source of these winds, which totally 
rocked the van, as possible inflow/outflow or straight line winds.  Bill 
Tabor broke in on the walkie that he had detected rotation on radar... right 
next to I-35 in southwest Lyons County, right where we were.  
	It was all over in about 20 minutes.  I know what they say about 
shelter in an underpass... we've all debated it.  The winds intensify, as 
they're channeled through a smaller gap, but I personally think this may 
depend on the direction of the wind.  They do offer hail protection, and 
debris protection, and despite what we have heard about underpass sheltering, 
it seemed ludicrous to continue forward.  It seemed to be the best course of 
action at the time.  In summary, I would say we would all agree that an 
underpass is not great shelter... but it seems to be better than no shelter 
at all, and does protect from a few of the things that can harm you.
	We continued on to El Dorado, noticing a sign near where we took 
shelter to be bent and twisted.  We pulled into a run-down hotel at about 
2am.  Were we shaken?  Frightened?  Only by the bugs abiding in the last 
untaken rooms in eastern Kansas.  
	Our French friend Eric, who hopefully will not report back home that 
we're all insane, was a real trooper. Eric did a final interview with me 
wherein I described the wonderful people in MESO, and how bright, talented, 
special, and professional they all are.  Unfortunately, right about that 
time, the interview was interupted by horns honking, rebel yells, and DUALING 
BANJOS blasting from the parking lot...
	After dropping Jill, Brian and Eric in Wichita, Nancy, Steve and 
Geoff started the trip back to KC.  I was curious about the event of the 
night before, and we slowed at the spot on the road that we had waited.  Not 
100 feet from where we were, large trees had been uprooted, and there was 
slight scouring of the ground.  100 feet from the underpass.  100 feet.

I bought a local paper and here's some exerpts:
Emporia Gazetter, May 27 
    "Barry Bradley was ready for bed when he got caught in this morning's 
storm. 
    A Kanas Highway Patrol trooper was at the rest area and told Bradley the 
storm was going to get worse.  Bradley decided to head for emporia in his 
Peterbilt truck, pulling a trailer loaded with 49,000 pounds of weight  Along 
the way, Bradley saw two overturned tractor trailers.  One at the 111 
milepost was laid over, another at the 108 was on the southbound side against 
the concrete barriers. 
    From Emporia along I-35 was the main track of the core of the storm.  The 
NWS issued a tornado warning for southern Lyon County at 12:34.  At 12:40, a 
Kansas State trooper reported a tornado on the ground at the turnpike SW of 
Emporia, moving NE."

	I questioned a spotter in the rest area this morning who was out 
there in the soup with us, and he also called in the funnel, which he 
described as "Skipping... touching down, then rising up then touching down."  
This morning, the paper had pics of the damage.
    OK, once again nature had tricked us, and we had gotten a little to close 
to something unexpected... but we kept our heads, made the best of a bad 
situation, and lived to chase another day.        

Nancy Bose

MESO     (www.mcwar.org)