Ears filled with music so I wouldn’t have to hear the airport chatter my mind fills with all the possible scenarios of my first tornado in the Midwest. Isaac had told me that most people in their right mind wouldn’t go after a tornado, yet assured me that chasing with him and his friends would be completely safe because we’d be not only in a car but we’d know which way the tornado was going because he and his friends have radar that they follow. Sounded comforting sort of, but I wasn’t really thinking about that. I was thinking of the thrill that I’d have road tripping in the Midwest, chasing after one of the most powerful things on earth, weather.
I hear my flight number called and this trip is getting more and more real to me. I had planned this trip six months ago, and I had waited for eternity for this day to come and here it was, for me to bask in. I sit by the window and get ready for takeoff. My hands clammy, my heart beating my eyes dance with the clouds out the window and I start to imagine my trip. Will we see lightning shows in the sky? Will I be right next to a tornado? So many possibilities my mind was overwhelmed and I went to sleep.
“Ms. We have arrived in Oklahoma. Excuse me. We have arrived.” Startled I realized I had slept during the whole plane trip. Baffled as to why I fell asleep on feeling so excited I realized my excitement and exhaustion from the day before had made me physically and mentally tired. I had decided to go on a five mile run and I hadn’t done it in three years. The energy built up before this trip had to get somewhat released and that was my way of dealing with it. A mess, I get off the plane and see a bunch of people with signs and people embracing each other. I look left and right and don’t see my friend and wait impatiently for one minute, until he and his storm chasing friend Colt run up to me. Warm and excited I run up to both and give them a hug. We walk and chat about our plans for the week. Once I got to the car Isaac pulled out a bag of my favorite beef jerky that you can only get in Oklahoma. Starving I ate the whole bag in five minutes, we then at at a little breakfast diner and I was perfectly happy.
That night we drove to Colt’s house in a small town in Kansas because the airport I was at was near his house. The first thing I hear when I get up is, “This storm might have some potential do you think it’s worth it Isaac?” Were we really going to see a tornado on DAY ONE?!Without hesitation I sprinted to Colt’s bathroom I got as fast as a girl could get ready and we were off, for nine long hours of my life. All I saw out the window was cows and grass and open land. It was refreshing to see that there was so much land in the Midwest that hadn’t been corrupted by big businesses and unnecessary stores but I saw nothing spectacular in terms of weather, maybe one raindrop. But who was I to expect something on my first day. Though they had radar a potential storm could either die or pick up, and the risk that they chose was to chase it, because that would have been a lot worse if we missed a tornado. With that thought in my mind we drove to Norman Oklahoma to their apartment.
Six of Isaac’s other storm chasing friends were there and they immediately made me feel comfortable. On my first night, I could laugh and not worry about what these strangers thought of me and their stories about chasing got me hooked onto conversation for hours. With one glass of rum and coke, and numerous stories I was out in a few hours. The next day we toured around Norman and ate some specialties that I could only get in the Midwest, some burgers, fried okra, and I bought more beef jerky. We drove around Norman and Oklahoma City and went to the breath taking Oklahoma City bombing memorial. It made me think what kind of a person could do that to not only another human, but innocent children? What could make a person so evil, and so mad, to do such a thing. Not to mention the man that did this horrible act was part of the U.S. army. Going there emphasized that no one knows who anyone is. Once we were done with the memorial we silently walked into the car. Lights passing my eyes yet no crowds of people walking in this city was something hadn’t seen before. I was use to the sea of people in New York and in Boston, flowing with the lights and to see one without the other showed me what a small bubble I was living in.
My last night in Oklahoma was sad because I wanted to hang out with these people more and I wanted to get to know them better, yet we had a mission. Tornadoes in Nebraska that only two of Isaac’s storm chasing friends were going to chase. Packing was now natural to me, and I got ready faster than I ever had not to mention for a twelve hour car ride. Time flew by surprisingly enough, talking about our troubles and blasting music. On top of the storm we were chasing we found another potential storm in Kansas that we went for. A quarter sized hail knocked on Isaac’s windshield, as we were communicating with Isaac’s other team mates in their cars. I was satisfied already. We had even seen a funnel that could have potentially touched the ground and become a tornado. As we drove our eyes were looking everywhere so we wouldn’t miss anything, until Isaac’s car plunged into a ditch. I thought the car was going to tip over. Creak. It had stabilized and the wheels were splattering mud as the car went in drive. Calling triple A did nothing because we were in the middle of bumfuck nowhere. All I saw around me were fields and a few dirt roads leading to the houses that were in charge of the fields. This would happen on our chase. Surly, we wouldn’t make it to Nebraska in time to see the tornadoes. I was torn, until five farmers drove up with a truck and pulled us out of the ditch with a chain. They made it look so simple and we felt silly for getting stuck in such a spot. We were clearly from Boston. We thanked them and offered them money that they refused to take. Instead they gave me a bracelet to always remember them by. I had never seen a bracelet like it. It was braided thick green and brown rope that had a buckle on it. This bracelet had a past, and now it was my turn to give it some more.
Isaac’s storm chasing friends were chasing the small storm that caused us to get stuck in a ditch yet they kept chasing it in fear of missing something spectacular that the weather could produce. Yet, they found nothing and we all met up to head to Nebraska at seven. We weren’t at our hotel till midnight and Colt was complaining because he wanted to drive to the spot where the tornado hit and then chase it, which made no sense because we’d be too tired to chase. A passionate Isaac told him to sleep, while that night I dreamt about hail. I thought I dreamt about hail because I saw a piece of hail the other day, but that was foreshadowing my real adventure that changed my life forever. Another seven hours of driving that day, but the most exciting seven hours in my life. I was so excited that I couldn’t use the bathroom when we were passing a gas station because the clouds were so dark and we could see the storm form right ahead of us. I wanted to drive right to it. I have never been surrounded by so much dark cloud mixed in with fear and excitement. We parked the car and took pictures until we saw the threadlike gray swirl to the ground. It was a weak tornado that lasted a few seconds yet a tornado none the less that we reported to the weather station. I was happy we took one car for this huge chase because it was hard communicating with everyone in different cars, and this storm could have potentially turned out life threatening to us. We took Scott’s brand new gold Toyota for this trip which almost did die. As the urge to pee increased the rain blanketed our car so much that I couldn’t tell the difference between the touching of the rain and the hail stones wrecking our windshield. They were much bigger than the size of a quarter. They were golf ball sized hail. As they were falling down on the car, my urge to pee went away because my fear overpowered my physical need. I thought the hail would go through the sun roof and we would be done, but it had just cracked the windshield. Other cars on the road had missing windshields so I considered ourselves lucky. Though that was one of the strangest moments of my life this storm wasn’t over.
Going over one hundred miles an hour, Scott calmly rode through the nasty black surrounding us. All there was was black. At this point I thought my bladder was going to burst as Colt tried to calm me down by patting by back and saying “We’re almost in a town”. The phrase “Timing Is Everything” proved to be true. Just as we saw a gas station ice rocks pounded on our car, and we kept the car safe under the gas station because the roof went out. I sprinted to the building in fear of being hit in the head with the ice rocks and once I was relieved, I came out to see grapefruits of ice. Legitimate grapefruits of ice. It was beautiful yet could do so much damage to someone if they were hit with it. Just from sprinting I had a bruise on my wrist from one of these monsters. Though we were in awe we couldn’t gloat on this masterpiece, we had tornadoes to chase. So we grabbed a few hail stones and booked it to the dark clouds, and soon enough we were in it.
To our left and right gustnadoes were swirling around spinning up the ground, yet we had no choice to go in it, because the sun roof revealed a funnel forming right over our heads. It wasn’t a long funnel yet, but we could see the clouds rotate furiously and form the base of a funnel, and all I could hear was “Tornado! Tornado! We gotta leave”. Isaac had promised me we’d be fine, but how could I hold him to such a promise. Though we did everything right and watched our radar, if something went wrong with the car, if we went any slower we could have gotten hurt. I had no idea how powerful it was (it wasn’t very powerful) but no one thought that about Joplin, and the weather could decide what it felt like. I was powerless. I thought of all the people that told me to be careful on this trip, and thought of everyone I loved and needed to say I love you to. I whipped out my phone thinking who I could say that to in one minute, but there wasn’t enough time I was powerless. The weather controlled everything.
We got out of the darkness around us and stopped our car far far away and watched in silence. This adventure said so many things. No matter what information, the world will decide what it feels like doing, and there’s nothing anyone can do about it. In one split second life could be taken away from you. Mother Nature gives us the privilege to thrive on her earth, and with that comes risk of having that taken away. I shouldn’t have been so cocky leading up to this event, because I truly thought my life was done and I wasn’t ready to leave. Some people aren’t as lucky to have that feeling and be ok or alive, but I was that lucky and from that have lived my life from that day on differently. Because of that I try and speak my mind more, I don’t hold back on my passions, because really there’s no time to wait.
