Susan Strom
EF5
A lot of us keep chase journals. I’m sure plenty of them contain some unusual or silly stuff. I thought it would be fun for us to post an excerpt or two from an amusing chase gone by, all in the name of SDS relief (or comic relief…pick your poison). As we know, weird stuff is commonplace. Got any gems in your diary?
Blow off a little dust (and winter boredom) and dig out an old file. Doesn’t matter when or where, a success or a bust. Go for it. I’ll start out with…
7/21/03, Apache Junction, Arizona
…I passed the Elks lodge to a patch of open desert with an unobstructed view of Superstition Mountain. The atmosphere was hot, sticky and creepy. There was an odd bubbling noise coming from somewhere. I pondered at what could possibly be making that sound in the desert. Sweat poured down my face, as in almost every other desert chase, making a good case to burn one’s bra or sling it around a cactus as a joke.
Moving again, a feverish dust plume blanketed my truck as I moved up the Usery Pass for another view. The utility poles near the Prospector Park in Apache Junction…not a good scene… as they shook violently in 50+ mph wind gusts and might likely end up head first in a canal. CGs pelted the desert…close ones…the kind that show their breaking-up stage clearly.
My road choice proved questionable, as thistle and pulverized tumbleweeds sandblasted my vehicle, making it hard to see. Then a piece of building material and a fish-scaled blue plastic swimming pool glided airborne across the road on the lofting wind. Quarter-sized raindrops the color of maple syrup blapped on the windshield.
CGs in the distance toward Scottsdale now became clearly visible just as last night, when a lightning bolt apparently went down the chimney of a North Scottsdale home, blasting drywall and glass and zipping out the door, leaving all occupants puzzled but unharmed, as reported on the news this morning. A baby slept through the whole thing. Such stories are not uncommon in Monsoon. I continued toward Scottsdale in the direction of the lightning. Navigating the outages through dark intersections, I smacked half a palette on Gilbert Road in the headwind.
I’m exhausted and will write more later. Dirt, noise, work, police, mud, flying debris…all for a shot at a CG over a mountain…why do I love this so much? I just do; it is now beyond explanation. I even missed a Fleetwood Mac concert when a friend offered a discounted ticket he couldn’t use. I said I couldn’t go because I was stormchasing tonight. He said, “I hear that one every day.â€
Blow off a little dust (and winter boredom) and dig out an old file. Doesn’t matter when or where, a success or a bust. Go for it. I’ll start out with…
7/21/03, Apache Junction, Arizona
…I passed the Elks lodge to a patch of open desert with an unobstructed view of Superstition Mountain. The atmosphere was hot, sticky and creepy. There was an odd bubbling noise coming from somewhere. I pondered at what could possibly be making that sound in the desert. Sweat poured down my face, as in almost every other desert chase, making a good case to burn one’s bra or sling it around a cactus as a joke.
Moving again, a feverish dust plume blanketed my truck as I moved up the Usery Pass for another view. The utility poles near the Prospector Park in Apache Junction…not a good scene… as they shook violently in 50+ mph wind gusts and might likely end up head first in a canal. CGs pelted the desert…close ones…the kind that show their breaking-up stage clearly.
My road choice proved questionable, as thistle and pulverized tumbleweeds sandblasted my vehicle, making it hard to see. Then a piece of building material and a fish-scaled blue plastic swimming pool glided airborne across the road on the lofting wind. Quarter-sized raindrops the color of maple syrup blapped on the windshield.
CGs in the distance toward Scottsdale now became clearly visible just as last night, when a lightning bolt apparently went down the chimney of a North Scottsdale home, blasting drywall and glass and zipping out the door, leaving all occupants puzzled but unharmed, as reported on the news this morning. A baby slept through the whole thing. Such stories are not uncommon in Monsoon. I continued toward Scottsdale in the direction of the lightning. Navigating the outages through dark intersections, I smacked half a palette on Gilbert Road in the headwind.
I’m exhausted and will write more later. Dirt, noise, work, police, mud, flying debris…all for a shot at a CG over a mountain…why do I love this so much? I just do; it is now beyond explanation. I even missed a Fleetwood Mac concert when a friend offered a discounted ticket he couldn’t use. I said I couldn’t go because I was stormchasing tonight. He said, “I hear that one every day.â€
