5/18-19/02

May 18:

One of the overwhelming advantages of chasing with a team is that when the
weather forsakes you, you can still manage to have fun.  We've been holed
up in Wichita for two days now, but have managed to keep occupied and
extremely well-fed.  

Late Friday afternoon, our last two chasers, Lisa and Moose, met up with
us.  After a short "HI HOW ARE YOU", we all left for what has got to be
one of our best meals yet: The Red Bean Bayou Grill in Wichita.  This
Cajun/Creole eatery was like stepping onto Bourbon Street, and the food
was incredible.  Our table had on it Andouille sausage, fried okra,
mudbugs (crawfish), fried oysters, raw oysters, fried alligator,
jambalaya, red beans and rice, blackened catfish, plus scads of
unidentifiable edible objects. the finest Cajun grub this side of the
Mississippi.

Back at the hotel, while Nancy (the latest victim of the dreaded MESO
cold) dropped a few NyQuil and left the planet, the rest worked feverishly
to prepare the pictures for uploading to the web page.  Kudos to
Wallyworld (Walmart) for having the foresight to actually allow customers
free access to a scanner that lets you save your prints to floppy.  This
has allowed us to put the most recent photos on our web site.  Go to
www.mcwar.org and check them out in the GALLERY.

We are starting to become aware of the fact that time is becoming our
enemy.  It looks like the Gulf will start giving up some of her moisture
again in the next two days or so.  Sadly, three of our members have to go
back home just about the time things are getting back to anywhere near
normal around here.  Those of us staying will continue the updates, and
will chase anything that pops up.

May 19:

We awoke this morning with a firm determination not to look at dismal
convective outlooks, but to have fun.  Lisa and Moose took off for a visit
to OKC, despite our warnings that it has a road network from hell.  The
rest of us started with an early afternoon movie, The New Guy (very very
funny), and then decided to do something really different.  

We went to C-Arrow Ranch in Maize, a small town northwest of Wichita for
an hour-long horseback ride.  It was great getting out in the fresh air
and trotting along a trail on the plains.  After the ride was over, our
young guide took us to their petting zoo so we could pet and hand-feed the
animals there, including sheep, goats, cows, horses, llama, chickens,
peacock, turkey, etc., etc.

Dinner was yet another great adventure... we found a place called
Timberline Steakhouse and Grill in southwest Wichita (ironic to find a
"timberline" restaurant here on the Great Plains, but we did).  Besides a
brief peanut battle at the table and making forts out of their
refrigerator magnets, we enjoyed some great steak, ribs, and burgers.

Well, the forecast is still quite disappointing, with perhaps at least two
more days of thunderstorm-less weather across the entire Plains.  So who
knows what we'll find to do Monday, I guess that's part of the adventure.
At any rate, we are still having a great time... this is more than storm
chasing, this an annual reunion of close friends who spend their summer
vacations together, and when given the chance, drive into severe weather
and tornadic supercells.  Isn't that normal??

MESO Chase team 2002
Nancy, Brian, Chris, Allan, Grizz, Josh, and now, Lisa and Moose
www.mcwar.org