I hope some of you can help me. I grew up in Oklahoma and have always loved severe weather and to photograph it. I presently live in Michigan where I work as a physician (cardiologist..use doppler in a different way!) I have gone on tours since 2013, last year my tour was cancelled due to lack of weather and was moved to this year. I just found out that tour is now being moved to 2018. Honestly, I am devistated....have looked forward to it all year. In any event my schedule is not flexible. I have from the 14th thru the 22nd of May. If any of you do tours and have a spot during that time, I would love to hear from you!
That's unfortunate. Who is/was your tour with and did they give a satisfactory explanation for the delay to 2018?
It was with Lanny Dean, apparently he underwent surgery today. Can't tell you who disappointed I am. Sent from my iPhone using Stormtrack
If you're willing to drive or otherwise take an active role, perhaps you could ask in the chase partner thread to see if anyone is looking for a partner next week. Unfortunately that thread is pretty dead at the moment because it was started so late this year. Alternatively, if you haven't already done so, you could ask the various tour operators (e.g. those listed at stormchasingusa.com) if they're able to accommodate you in any way.
That's bad news Dr. Brown. I'd recommend getting on the waiting list with Roger Hill's group, which can be found here: http://www.silverliningtours.com/2017-tour-schedule/. They might be able to work something out for you, especially for local chases, but it is getting late in the game at this point. Tempest Tours has been around awhile too. They can be found here: http://www.tempesttours.com/storm-chasing-tours-2017.html and look to be pretty well booked up too. You never know though if or when someone might bail out at the last minute. Good luck and let us know if you have issues.
Thank all of you for your suggestions. I was able to find an operator who could accomodate me!! Hoping some good convective weather can bet me throught the next Michigan winter!
Combining the suggestions from Darren and Mark - if Silver Lining or Tempest have no room on their tours, but you are willing to drive yourself, they might be willing to let you caravan with them in your own vehicle. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Twisted Sky Tours with my friend Alec Scholten. They have a high success rate in recent seasons and are relatively new. Find him on Facebook and shoot him a message, they are pretty affordable too. I'm not sure this close if they have any openings, but he's a personal friend of mine and you can't go wrong there.
I'm not sure what the circumstances are here but I'll just point out something from Twitter: https://twitter.com/LannyDean_/status/864645766933098496
Fellow StormTrackers....please help me help the good Dr. Brown here, please. For the life of me, I'm blank when trying to remember Charles Edward's tour company name. HELP! Dr. Brown....Charles Edwards has been in the tour business for many years. He WILL get you close to the action. He's out of Norman, Okla, and has been involved in chasing for years and has had his tour company, as I mentioned, for several years now too. I've been chasing solo and with a the same chase partner for decades myself, and IF I were searching for a tour company, in addition to the fine ones mentioned in the other posts here, I'd be VERY happy to be aboard Charles Edwards' group. If I happen to remember his tour company name, I'll log back in and post it for you. BTW.....IF you DO happen to get accepted by a tour group, would you please be so kind as to let us know that you've been accommodated? Thanks and best of luck. joel ewing / Tucson, az.
Dr. Brown....Although I was mentally blank for a moment...I finally remembered the name of his tour group that I mentioned earlier: Charles Edwards / Cloud 9 Tours. Google for the website addy. Here is the phone number that I have on file: 405-323-1145. I highly recommended Charles' tour company. He WILL get you close to the action....and has many years of experience to do this safely. Boy....what a tough break to have a tour cancelled out from under you. THAT hurts. I can feel your pain on this one. I truly wish you the best of luck in latching onto another tour. BTW, the other tours mentioned in these posts are all tours I would give the thumbs-up to myself. Good luck! joel ewing / tucson, az.
Joel, thank you very much but I did find a person to chase with and have been out this week. Taking a break today in Norman with my son who is a student at OU. Will head out tomorrow. Again, thank you for your concerns.
Yes, it WAS and it IS MY tour company. And while I haven't opened up about it publicly except to family and very tight close friends for obvious reasons, I will do so now on this forum only because I feel that the bloodsucking, backstabbing leaches, that this community have become - that seem to like to stir the pot have done so quite nicely. Not that this is really anyone's business but I'm not broke folks, nor have I spent money as suggested via the PMs to DR. Brown and so forth. It is called cancer folks and it sucks. Again, not that this is anyone's business, but I certainly chased the 16th (Elk City day) after having surgery 4 days prior on the Friday before - and I paid for it dearly. Randy, Lisa and a few others basically took care of me. And just for what the hell it's worth, I just completed my 3rd round of chemo of the 4 round regiment. For those that have been in this position or my shoes, you should know exactly what I am going through every three days to a week, the puking and the like so I'll spare any further details except to say that I tried to assist the folks of Elk City while I was there as best I could, but changing a flat tire with a "port" inside of you is one hell of a hard thing. Hence why it cost me dearly. Many thanks to Randy, Lisa, Paden, my sisters support even after her surgery and the very fine folks of Elk City, especially the first responders for helping me as well. And for those that "claimed" I was hit by the tornado, I wasn't hit by anything. I was bleeding from/near the port and elsewhere, hence the blood on my shirt and elsewhere. For those "friends" of mine and Dr. Michael Brown who saw the picture I posted of my hair falling out on FB (which was so eloquently deleted very quickly on his page) I feel all warm and fuzzy that you all chimed in with any rebuttals. I might add in closing that I just received an apology from @Michael Brown. Thanks so very much for the support everyone. BTW, If anyone wonders why I don't come around here much any more, this is exactly why. -LFD
Went through the same stuff as you Lanny. Finished my 9th and last round of chemo just in time to chase last spring. Had my last scans yesterday and am cancer free for 1 1/2 years now. It's hard to admit when you just aren't up to snuff, but let it go. Just be glad every day you're not six feet under and can still chase!
Dr Brown came here looking for assistance in finding another tour group and we helped him. That's hardly casting a negative light on anyone in particular. My goodness, I guess we're just the worst group of guys around that could possibly exist.
That was quite the overreaction given the original question and replies. Unless I'm missing something on this thread or elsewhere, I see no need in bashing and berating the entire chasing community. I do wish Mr. Dean a speedy and as smooth as possible recovery. Cancer sucks. My answer to the original question is based on my own personal experience and is in no way saying Mr. Dean's tour is subpar or should not be considered. This is just information for future reference in case there is trouble finding an open tour or scheduling conflicts. Early on in my meteorological studies and chasing career, I went on a tour in 2012 through College of DuPage: http://weather.cod.edu/chasing/index.php?load=home It was reasonably priced compared to what I've seen from other tours, and was one of the best chasing experiences my colleagues and I have ever had. They currently offer 5 10-day trips a year and have been doing tours for nearly 30 years. Silver Lining Tours is another good one, which has already been mentioned. I have a friend who is a driver for them this year, and I believe he said that 2018 is already full, but that can always change.
Mark, to be frank and in all fai It was indeed "elsewhere" so I apologize for my "tone" and demeanor in my original post. Thanks for the kind words, I do appreciate them. Have a good evening.
I just found this thread, not having visited StormTrack for a while. I have chased with Lanny two different years and it breaks my heart to hear about these terrible news! I can personally vouch for Lanny's, and Extreme Chase Tours, storm chasing tours. There are not many I have chased with who put so much energy and heart into their tours: Regarding the question in the thread, I run a website aimed specifically to help people with questions like Michael Brown's, StormChasingUSA.com, by testing and comparing storm chasing tour companies. For future reference, Extreme Chase Tours is a great tour company with Lanny as a tour guide. So are Tempest Tours and Cloud 9 (I have tried them all) - all with their different qualities and style. In the future, if anyone has a similar question, please contact me (or visit my website) and I will gladly assist with recommendations. Let's all hope for a speedy recovery for Lanny - being an excellent storm chaser and a great person!
