A very cold December, cheap gas, and a warm potential chase in eastern Kansas? Such a simple decision for me, even if it was to be after dark. I could think of less reasons to stay home than to go and chase, as is very often the case. Maybe sad, maybe not, I don't know, lol. So I wake up on this warm windy December day. I don't think of the sane excuses to back out. I pack, get in the car and go before I can(see sad). To save money I decided to take pop with in a cooler, but I had no ice. No big deal. There's always snow outside before a chase! Well at least the many late December ones. It's a pretty big flag to slow down and rethink things....tossing snow in a cooler before leaving is. But no, I just laugh, "I'm throwing snow in a cooler to go chase." Dirty snow, which probably contained dog urine or poo, from the little dog that always gets walked out there.   This above was actually taken after sitting for several hours in extreme southeast Kansas, 4 cans already gone. Before I get here I first have to be pulled over and get to sit in a cop car in St. Joseph Missouri. Evidently the car which just got on I29, tailed me, did not notice it was freaking windy out, or the pot holes I was dodging on Missouri's crappy interstate. But how could they notice those, they wouldn't get off me and go around regardless of my speed. It was really windy and everyone was being blown around. Evidently they thought I was just sleepy and called the cops. I know it had to be the one car. The cop's second question after asking if I was tired was if the wind was blowing me around. Wonder why he asked that! I just could not believe someone called me in on this of all days. Normally I'm driving 10mph over the speed limit and just going by everyone. This day I knew I was going to be way too early so I set the cruise at 70mph. All that leads to is being stuck with idiots that won't pass you or if they do, they do it at .1 mph faster than you. I personally like some gaps, so I will actually change my speed when others hang around you. Crazy I know. Well that car that wouldn't get off me was really pissing me off, and I'm sure my speeding up and slowing down(trying to make a gap from them or get them to pass me) helped in convincing them I was drunk or tired....not being blown around and being annoyed by them right on me. The cop was sitting in the median as I came over a hill in a line of cars in the left lane, in St. Joe. When he selected me out of this line of cars I was just like, what in the hell did I do! Then having me come back to his car after he asked me the questions was strange. I've been pulled over plenty of times and never had to do that. Part of me thinks if he does that then he saves himself a trip back to the car he has pulled over. He never watched my walking, so it wasn't anything to do with "my tiredness"....or "drunkenness". Anyway, after talking about what I was doing he sent me on my way. I really really wanted to catch up with that car that I know made the call that got me stopped. That and I was then paranoid about it happening again. I'd try and drive perfectly straight, but it was impossible in the wind. I drive a 2001 Mustang and it just really blows around. That and it's always felt like any grooves in the road really pull it around. That was fun number 1 of the trip. Next was killing my car battery at a gas station in Pittsburg Kansas. I let the laptop battery about die then turned the inverter on as I sat there. Only 20-30 minutes of running that inverter and my car wouldn't start. I heard the inverter's tone go off and thought, oh crap, I just killed my battery. I had jumper cables with but was surprised how bad I didn't want to ask anyone for help. I waited till it was empty and asked the cashier guy, since there were 3 cars parked there. I asked if there was anyway to get a jump and that I had cables. He said, "You'll just have to ask if anyone will help you." No, really? Thanks! I thought, all he had to do was move the car over to mine and open the hood while no customers were there. So that made me want to ask anyone else even less. I called a tow service and they wanted $85 to do it, since the guy would have to drive in from Girard. None of the other places would answer. I'm like, ok, I'm not waiting the 2 hours he said it would take and paying $85. Finally I asked a guy that pulled in near me. He was nice enough to do it. Thanks again! The rest of the night I just idled the car while waiting on initiation, and reading online forums of wisdom. It's only logical to be annoyed by people stating the obvious when you have already been annoyed by the day! If only I had someone around there to inform me that I shouldn't have killed my car battery by leaving the inverter on 20-30 minutes.

Late initiation as expected. The storms mostly sucked because they had hardly any lightning. This was north of Ft. Scott somewhere. The worst part about fast storms at night is simply finding a spot to pull over in the dark, one with no obstructions. It's bad enough trying to look at the laptop/gps then back to the road, since the laptop is blindingly bright. But the side road you find is likely gravel, at best. Hard to see just how good it is before you pull onto it. The first exit off highway 69 I used, a dog was barking...and barking at me. I go to leave and he's right in front of my car...a place he seemed quite happy barking from. I thought, I'm an animal lover and all, but damn it, I'm an annoyed storm chaser too. Splat I ran him over. Kidding obviously. I don't get how dogs like that stay alive. He just would not get out from in front of my car.

By this time it is late(probably almost midnight) and I'm south of Kansas City aways yet. I'm just driving north wondering if I'll just drive home or get a motel room somewhere. Most of the convection in southeast/eastern Kansas was struggling a bit too hard for my liking. I was giving up on them and the cold front out west. The annoyance level had gotten the best of me too, and I was ready to head back. I then see this awesome looking power plant on a lake. If only I was here sooner when a couple better storms moved through near here. As it was, I parked on the highway and snapped a couple from my window. There was no place to pull over and view things here. I had just the one far off storm providing the rare lightning strike.

I'm now in St. Joseph again, where I planned to fill up and perhaps catch an interesting storm racing east, about to go north of town. I think this is the storm that blew someone's front porch off just outside of town. Or it was a later one in a bit here. Whatever the case, this above is the gust front south of the first storm. It was clear above it with no convection here. I screwed around too long trying to find a better spot and missed some good shots of it coming in.

Gust front moving overhead now.

I fill up then plan to finish the drive home, or maybe try and catch the storm yet. Then part way into the city the lit up storm clouds get me to stop again. I would sit here and mess with them for about the next two hours.

You can see lightning in the background on the right, or at least it lighting up the base back there. I took a bunch here like this and should make a time lapse out of them.

You can just barely make out a shelf in there, which blows apart as it moves in.

Wind blown shelf mostly falling apart as it moves over.

Perhaps this storm blew off their porch. I think the time lines up better, and location, as I thought the first went just a bit too much north for that to happen. You can see a wall of clouds practically on the ground back there behind that white building.

Rain kicks in so I shoot vertical out my windshield at 10mm. I tried to get lightning off this tower, but man there was just hardly any lightning at all. That and this tower was probably too short. Looks taller than it is.

Closest I would come to lightning hitting anything here.

Another wave of clouds moved in, this time very low.

The light area in the top right is from something brighter somewhere on the ground shining up on the clouds.

After trying for tower lightning far too long, I decided to head home. It was somewhere around 3 a.m. now after all. I ran into one problem. I didn't notice my passenger window was cracked and a bunch of wind blown rain had gotten in. It had also gotten considerably colder out(mid-60s down to mid-30s now). Well I turn on the heat and bam the windows fog over. I had to pull off the interstate at the very next exit because the cold defrost was doing nothing to clear it. I wound up having to paper towel dry all the windows in the car a couple times. And even then the cold defrost would only give me a tiny hole to see through. So I froze as I drove north with the defrost blasting away and the cold air outside. It was raining still so opening the windows wouldn't help. At least this activity helped keep me from getting tired.  I knew it was now below freezing in Nebraska behind the cold front. I soon wondered about this batch of rain between St. Joseph and Rockport. I look at sfc obs again and see it is 30 in Falls City and 36 in St. Joe where I just left. I thought, I'd better get to moving as this will get ugly fast with freezing rain in here somewhere. You don't want to go too fast as you can't really tell when the road is now icy. I wasn't sure where the freezing line was exactly but knew I'd cross it at some point before Mound City. I then notice I can't see in my side mirror and am like, what the hell. I roll the window down and it is covered in ice. It was now moderate rain in freezing temps. The shoulder looked very reflective. The interstate started to feel a little different. I knew it was flat once I got to Mound City and that would at least help my cause in my rear wheel drive Mustang. But man it was getting worse fast before there.

I took this picture in Nebraska City after getting through that. My car was now encased in ice. Woohoo, 4:30 a.m. and having fun now! At least I was now out of that and only an hour and a half from home. As my car iced up though, and after everything else, it just made me wonder a little. Why. Why did I leave home in the morning and go on this chase. As aunt Meg on Twister says, "Go, do it, it's what you do." I guess! Not big on Twister, but that is a great quote on there.