How will you organize your 07 chase vacation?

[Karen Politte]

Next year, I am looking at my first year next year of actually having to take vacation from a bona-fide, full-time job to go chase. I am curious as to everyone else's strategy......although I understand that this topic has been "done to death" year in and year out. I was just curious......

KL

 

[Mickey Ptak]

Now during March and April I will just chase when needed. In the month of May and the first half of June I will be taking vacation every Thursday and Friday so that I have a four day weekend. I am not bound to that schedule and can take off as needed (most of the time) but it is a real pain the butt to do so. So I figured this will give me a four day, per week, of chasecation time. Maybe it will work out but than again maybe it won't.

Mick

 

[John Diel]

Tis one was kind of tough. I pretty much stay within about 75 miles of home since I report to a local radio station. Unfortunately, this means I usually miss out on some of the "Big" events, but since it's not just tornadoes I report on, but other severe weather, all is not lost. I don't plan to take a big "chasecations' but may actually try one if things come together on a weekend.

 

[Sean McMullen]

My wife, Katie, and I will be out for around two weeks at the end of May and the beginning of June. She has to take vacation time and I just go to school so I don't have to take any time off.

 

[Danny Neal]

im moving down to central IL from chicago next spring so anytime a severe weather event comes around i will be going out, i dont have a job so i can pretty much do what i like and not have to worry about anything, i dont know if ill make it into the plains at all, i want to, but im not sure if i will have the $$ by then, but for sure i will be chasing in central illinois any time of the day or night, i know that area like the back of my hand

 

[Verne Carlson]

I'll be taking a dedicated 3 weeks from mid-May to early June. Before and after that I have another 3 weeks of float to hit big setup days. As we saw this year you need to leave some vacation for the fall season!

 

[Andrew Herron]

Since I've never chased before and my met knowledge is still basic I'm hoping to hitch a ride with one of the Metro-Detroiters if they decide to head out for a weekend event. I doubt I could easily pull of a "sick-day" since I'm still working contract until the end of January. I'd like to save up some money and drive/fly out to the plains for a long weekend but that depends on money/wedding planning.

 

[nickgrillo]

I'm honestly not sure of what I'll do this [2007] year for chasing. For the past couple of years I've taken mini-vacations, often two or three inside of several months. I stayed out for a grand total of three weeks on my first vacation in 2005, and then a bit over two weeks on my second ("half of") vacation. I took three seperate vacations to the plains in 2006, one of them was a week-long one in late March / early April, the second one was for the first ten days of May and the last one was the last ten days of May.

I was very low on cash in 2006 which helped incite my crappy year. Despite getting tired of the raging speeds of convection in the early spring, I probably would have chased more March and April days if I had an extra grand to spend.

I'll probably end up getting sucked into doing a simuler thing in 2007 -- i.e. taking multiple vacations to the plains for chasing; but I don't plan on making a giant effort to go back and forth again. It's a pain in the royal ass having to chase a classic dryline setup -- when you're living in Detroit. I've spent well over $3,000 in the past two seasons chasing -- it's getting to be a pain in the neck, especially after such a POS year like 2006.

 

[Tony Laubach]

I normally take my "vacation" during the break between semesters since I work full-time on campus. I then get scheduled where there are tons of overlaps for the first two weeks of summer and am technically off during that time as well, however, if nothing is going on chase-wise, I am free to go into work. All total, I get 4 total weeks off for chasing, plus the flexibility over the summer to chase as the opportunities come along.

 

[PeteMcConnell]

I will chase on any day that I can that is within reach and has a good probability for tornadoes. I build up "approved time" at work which is what you get when you aren't eligible for overtime pay. Weekends are generally available as well. Thanks for posting the poll.

 

[Chris Hayes]

I'm scheduled to take my chase vacation in the last 2 weeks of May, into the first few days of June. I want to extend it, if possible.

 

[Karen Politte]

Seeing as everybody has posted their intentions here - I thought I may as well pipe up too, being the poll poster......

Amazingly, my choice is the least favoured here. I intend to head-out with Jason on long weekends during the whole month of May (or perhaps the latter half of May and first half of June). I was thinking of a Fri-Sat-Sun-Mon combination - two of those days being regular weekend days and two (the Fri and the Mon) being taken vacation days. Seeing as I haven't even been working where I'm at now for a year - my vacation time is very, very limited - and I value my job far greater than I value chasing - so the chasing has to lose out, I'm afraid.

Still - we are hoping that with the whole of May covered in long weekend that we may be able to squeak one or two good events out of 2007.

KL

 

[Andrew Pritchard]

I'll also probably just chase when available during March and April, taking days off for individual big events, and then once the pattern looks interesting I'll arrange for a few weeks off in May and June. I'll likely be meeting up with some folks out there so part of it may depend on when they are and are not available.

 

[Brian Stertz]

If all goes right, I will be able to blend a few long weekends in before the main chase vacation planned at/after Memorial Day into early June. I'm hoping for the best and figuring out my best options right now. Have to mull things over this winter. Fortunately I've got a ton more flexibility these days for those weekday outbreak chase ops.

 

[Jason Boggs]

As always, I will be taking all of May off to storm chase. I work 4 on 4 off so I will also be chasing on my days off. If it's a big event and I have to work, I will cough.. cough... sniff... sniff....