April 16, 2002 Pender Nebraska

Long story. There was a high risk issued at 6z for most of MN. I took off work at noon, only wanting to get slammed by the first storm of the year for me. I targeted se of Sioux Falls South Dakota, along a boundary ahead of the cold front. I targeted it up there only to not have to worry about the hassle of chasing ne Nebraska and trying to cross the river(few and far between spots). Well this little move comes back to haunt me. I found the boundary rather easily just north of Sioux City IA. Nothing was firing on it though. While driving around, playing with the laptop, gps and the cell/internet connection for the first time, I noticed an anvil spreading over head rapidly. The cell connection with the laptop was not happening. The storm producing the anvil was way back in Nebraska. I'd have been in better position working all afternoon and staying home.
Well my only option was to fly south to Sioux City and cross there. I did that and found this to my west near Pender, Nebraska. All I could see coming up to it was a wall of convection. My south road was just up ahead, but I was not going to make it. I stopped and witnessed the most intense gustfront/shelf I have ever seen. It even beat sw Kansas May 27, 2001 in my opinion(I didn't see that derecho as far south as some others, otherwise this would not have beaten that for me). It wasn't very long at all before I could see nothing of that convection and instead was watching a rapidly approaching shelf.
I'm standing outside the car, pondering the idea of letting it overtake me. I may as well have. The winds out of the due south were unreal as this approached. I'd guess 50mph sustained. I was having a hard time standing in it.
Quick view south at dust racing east underneath.
Quickly turned back around and look what is overhead. This site was so cool.
More dust.
Just about ready to get back in front of it. Not. I'll just say I couldn't outrun it and I really wanted to. I wanted to see this thing out ahead of it now. It had to look spectacular.
Stopped after trying to outrun it, having gained nothing.
These vid caps are all very close together.
Not very impressive looking but trust me it was. This dirt had gained on me.
I'm very certain I avoided the brunt of it by getting as far ahead of the initial burst as I did.
Very cool overhanging shelf with very turbulent action underneath. Notice the precip right with it still.
Nice little storm at sunset back home around 8pm.
This chase scene starts at the very center of that bow. This is radar over a 15 minute period. I measured the distance the precip moves. It moves 18 miles in 15 minutes, or 72 mph. The gust front was moving quicker. No wonder I wasn't gaining driving due east.