"A Twisted Post..." by Dangerous Ideas / LJWorld.com

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A Twisted Post…

There are all kinds of tours one today, and so it is I guess inevitable that some enterprising souls would offer storm chaser tours. For instance, check out the Twister Sisters. They offer group tours so that you can "follow your passion and live your dream".According to their site:"General rates are only $175 per person per day plus gas, food, hotel, and a per diem. You and the other guests will also provide the vehicle to chase in. Although expense costs can vary, by sharing the cost of the rental vehicle paying for their own gas, food and hotel rooms, Dean's guests have reported that their TOTAL expenses have been significantly less than the cost of larger tour companies, where you are stuck in a 15 passenger van all day! "They recommended that the group pitch in and rent a minivan and split the costs. Hmmm maybe rental places should keep a supply of "dimpled darlings", pre-hailed on vehicles just for storm chasing!Would you go on a storm chasing tour? Do you chase storms? Have you been? In the interest of relatively full disclosure, one of the things I was looking forward to in Kansas was seeing a twister. So far I've seen two...from a distance.

By Paul Decelles

August 10, 2008

Dangerous Ideas

From the Citizen Journalism Academy

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11 August 2008
at 8:35 a.m.

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liggyon (David Lignell) says…

Hey, Paul…You know I'll reply to anything with “Twisted” in the title! I think the idea of a storm chasing tour is intriguing, sort of a good way to ensure that undesired relatives from out-of-state never visit you again. I like it.Anyway, I've never tried chasing twisters before, but I recently wrote a tall tale about how the twister came to Kansas.http://www.pikerpress.com/article.cfm?form.id=3244In fact, I'm quite sure the scientific community will confirm my research at some future time.Dave (a.k.a., Funnel Cloud Lignell)
13 August 2008
at 11:42 p.m.

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SandCoAlmanac (Anonymous) says…

I've never been on a storm-chasing tour and never will, considering the cost reflected in that article. However, I have talked to enough tornado chasers to suspect they share most of these characteristics: subsidized by someone else; near-death wish behavior upon sighting a twister; have been a fighter pilot or middle linebacker in the past; normally have an abundance of adrenaline compared to the rest of us; share a dare-devil gene suspiciously similar to one in Evel Knievel's family; don't mind a little damage to their personal property, although it's better if it belongs to someone else; compulsively stop anywhere to set up their cameras (including the middle of any road, directly in the path of torrential rain, huge hail stones and on-coming traffic); and live by this slogan: “Damn the danger! Full speed ahead!”A suvivor of the past season proudly showed me a video clip of a retreating twister he shot through his broken windshield *after* his car had been blown off the road and into a wrecked truck and trailer in Iowa, if I recall correctly. Although he was clearly proud of his video, he also expressed his relief at having hit the truck: otherwise his car might have rolled, been pelted with hail and he might have been injured. Whew. What luck. In a similar expression of full disclosure Paul, I've lived in Kansas most of my life and have never seen a tornado, although I've been as close as three or four blocks from one that caused a great deal of damage. Some people have all the luck.