Day Eight

Hard to fathom, but the trip has reached its halfway mark.  Spent the night in Fargo, ND, which I can’t say without thinking of the detective character from the old Electric Company show on PBS in the 70s (Fargo North, Decoder).  Some pretty famous people were on that show—Rita Moreno and Morgan Freeman spring to mind.  A really chilly start to things—it was 53F this morning when we started, but Des Moines (our original destination) was 82F at the same time.  Looks like now we’re heading south on I29, aiming for Omaha (somewhere in middle America—that one’s for Pat), to be in place for potential happenings on Thursday.  If we have the stamina (ha ha ha, good one), we might push on for St. Joseph, MO.  Maybe we can get some children’s aspirin there (see below).

While eating breakfast in the hotel, I was watching Meredith Viera’s last waltz on the Today show.  During the local break the newscaster cut to an attractive young meteorologist who looked familiar.  Turns out it was Hayley LaPointe, a relatively recent Lyndon alum whom I’d met at the Storm Conference a few years back.  I commented to the students that if you want a job in broadcast meteorology (hell, any facet of the business) you’re likely going to wind up in some tiny place to start your career.  I’m sure Fargo is lovely at some time of the year, even if it’s just for 20 minutes.

Health update: poor Gustavo is still under the weather, so to speak.  Lousy throat and coughing, along with a general malaise.  It’s gotten so bad that Gus is using those Fisherman’s Friend things that Whitney must buy on the black market.  I hope to the good Lord above that I get spared, but I think my days are numbered, as it seems that the number of chasers who aren’t sick is smaller than the number of those who are.  By our estimation, more than half are ill in some way, shape or form.  Nothing like spending long stretches of time riding around in rolling germ incubators.

Brief stop for gas on the Sisseton Indian Reservation in northeastern SD.  First time on a reservation to my knowledge.  We’re trying an experiment: we want to see how the vans run on E-85.  It was about 80 cents cheaper per gallon ($3.01), but I think we’re getting fewer MPGs.  Another thought occurred to me: the pumps said that the tax was zero (federal, I assume), and yet the price was on par with what we’ve seen off the reservation.  I hope the extra money goes to the reservation.  While at the station, I saw that one of the cars had specific plates for the reservation.  Gus asked if I got a picture, and I said no, I didn’t want to look like a complete tourist in front of the locals.  Sadly the gas station had a built-in casino like so many towns in the Dakotas.

We stopped for a quick lunch at Culvers (a Wisconsin-based chain, much like Steak and Shake but with much better service) in Watertown, SD.  Still on the chilly side (55F).  While Whitney and I were chatting we saw one of those armored chase vehicles, much like the Humvee Frankenstein that Richard Thompson sang about in “Dad’s Gonna Kill Me.”  He was heading west into the cold air, so I’m guessing he was in search of food.

Quick pit stop in Junction City, SD.  Checking the weather…very pleasant weather here (73 over 50), unlike back home, where it’s 97F in Syracuse and 91 in Rochester, with dew points in the mid 60s.  Some nasty looking thunderstorms (a MCS) are approaching Watertown from the Ontario side of things (moving at over 50 mph), and a large fraction of NY is under a severe thunderstorm watch (extending back to the west as far as eastern Wayne County).  I think I said something like this might happen while we were out traipsing across the Plains.

We just booked our hotel for the evening; it’s west of downtown Omaha, and not too far from Boys Town, so the kids better stay in line, or we’ll be making a deposit.

On the way to Omaha on I29 we passed again through Sioux City (which has the unenviable airport identifier of SUX), and the flooding we saw last Friday is much worse (see pictures).  I can’t imagine how bad it’s going to be when the Missouri floodwater from Bismarck and Pierre come calling.  These houses are going to be underwater for a long time, and maybe uninhabitable.  This generated a discussion in the van about why people would even build near a river that floods with regularity.  My basic response: why do people gamble?  The houses are well-priced, the area is nice, the water is pleasant to look at, and who knows if or when the river will flood again?  Just as is the case with casinos (an all-too-common sight on this trip), the odds are ridiculously not in one’s favor, but people still put their money on the table and roll the dice because they believe that they can beat the system.  As the Tenth Doctor once said, water is patient, and water always wins.

 

Storms appear to be firing east of Des Moines, our original destination.  On the plus side, they are becoming linear and unchasable. Coming out of dinner around 8:30 there appears to be a nice tower to the east, but once again unchasable.  Overall, over 420 miles driven today.

An early-ish briefing ended the day, and it looks like we’re heading south to the ‘four corners’ region of Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, and Missouri.  Once again, a slight risk appears to be as good as it gets, but let’s think good thoughts.