The Road

               As a research team we do travel quite a bit so that we may find the perfect storm for deployment. Though I, myself have been quite the road trip prodigy my entire life (at one year old my parents drove me from Portland to Seattle in three hours), not everyone else has. It is here that I shall share my knowledge of life on the road. What kind of road trip will we be talking about? Well, we’re going to be talking about the one taking place in less than 24 hours.

                Over the past five years, the ROTATE team has managed to drive from our headquarters in Seattle, Washington and to our chasing domain in Montana in a matter of twelve hours or less. We first begin by checking the forecast models when we enter within ten days of the trip. Afterwards we take inventory of what we have and what we need to order on-line, do several test deployments, and by the time we need to pack everything up we have all that we need- including the training- and load everything in the back of our vehicle . We end the week by going to bed at 7pm.

                That Saturday morning (as usual) we wake up at 4am, shower, do hair, make-up, etc., and proceed to walk out the door. From there we drive for four hours before stopping for breakfast in central Washington. By 8:45 we are back on the road, driving five more hours into Coure D’ Alene, Idaho by 1pm. We usually stop at a Carl Jr.’s or a Sonic before continuing our trek through the Idaho panhandle and into western Montana. As part of tradition we stop in St. Regis, Montana for a snack and maybe a little bit of splurging at the tourist store at the gas station. Dinner usually falls around 4pm at a pizza place in Missoula before we head south to our temporary base. All in all, we arrive around 7pm MDT, unpack, set up equipment and go to bed by 9pm.

                Now, on a more personal level, while taking my five hour shift at the wheel, we have the radio going constantly. I myself prefer to drive for long periods of time to Bon Jovi, Journey and Def Leppard. My brother prefers that apocalyptical music of Likin Park and some other weird bands that refuse to record quality, good mood music. Also, I usually go for a coffee whenever the chance is offered. Driving for five hours through plains can be very tiring. However, past noon I shoot for water so as not to dehydrate myself along the way.

                We, like most chase teams out there, have several good luck charms also. I have a necklace that I was wearing when I saw my first tornado back in’09. My brother has a plaque like thing with a tornado and lightning inscribed on it along with the ROTATE logo on it. As a conclusion, and mostly out of exhaustion and dread of the coming days, I leave you with this post. I will not be checking back until my return on Thursday, July 12^th. Until then, I bid you adieu and many blessings.