After heading to the
Tornado History Project to see times & locations for the touchdowns in SE Kansas for this event...
Based on my arrival time of 2:30 PM (20:30 Z) in Independence, and my move up Hwy 169 to Hwy 400, it looks like I was in position to view the meso cross the highway north of me at about 3:00 PM. I likely saw some humbling structure on this storm that later produced a devastating and fatal F4. Depending on how wrapped up it was, I may have been in position to see it drop an F0 at 3:18 PM east of Parsons on Hwy 400.
Beyond that, I'm sure it would have been moving too fast to even attempt following NE into Crawford county. While driving east on Hwy 400, I probably had some unbelievable views as it moved off, dropping another F0 5 mi NE of Parsons at 3:30 pm, and then the F4 at 3:35 pm. I doubt I would have seen the major touchdown from that position
Following my plan B to intercept the next set of storms further east, I should have hit Hwy 69 by about 4:10 PM (depending on road conditions). At this point, the next big cell to the SW would be moving in. I would technically have enough time to run south to a position near Riverton by 4:30 pm and be south of the meso before it crossed Hwy 69 a half hour later. The question is whether advancing precipitation would have looked messy. If so, I may have worried about getting cored and may have opted to stay out of the way and not seen a thing. However, if I had moved in to Riverton, I would have been in position to view the F3 that dug another horrific 25 mi. path into Missouri, crossing about 4 mi. north of Riverton.
Marc, I have to thank you again. This really got me thinking about a lot of practical issues I otherwise would not have considered. Although I theoretically could have been in position to see some amazing structure, and even tornadoes, I got started much too late, and all it would have taken was some poorly placed RV traffic to turn my just-in-time tour into a total miss. (I did estimate travel times at or below speed limit though, for just a bit of fudge factor...). The thing this also made me realize is that I would have been extremely shook up knowing how many lives were devastated by these same storms.
Yeah, it was a waste of gas and time, but at least you don't have a long drive home after the chase is over. Your trip back home is in chase mode, so it's less of a drag 
and was on MO side after jetting down from the KC area with Rich Thies early that afternoon. Here was the BIG catch..of sorts. This was the F4 as it approached the MO/KS State Line east of Franklin and just south of Mulberry KS. Many nasty tornadic supercells that day.
