This is also my first blog-thingie, and I HATE writing. Blech.

(Interstate 25) Ok so, I started out at about 1:30PM MDT. My wicked-awesome now-caster (mysteriously known as, "SteveH2O"), advised me to get somewhere north of Colorado Springs and park until things started to coalesce a bit. The storms that were over Castle Rock had already passed too far east for me to catch.

Scant moments later, he calls back and says to go out east of 'Springs, as somethiing was really building out there. So, I turn around and head back south.

(Hwy 94) By the time I got about 10 miles away from the storm, I could see that it was starting to weaken. Sure enough, the NWS comes on and cancels all the warnings associated with it. Steve and I talk, and he says that there is a potentially HUGE storm, right the heck over my house (in Pueblo West). I was about 1.5 hours away at this point, so I decided to continue east and take Boone Rd. south, and maybe I could intercept it as it moved eastward. I decided I would stop and take a few shots of the KPUX doppler radar site as I drove by.

As I approached the radar site, the storm approached the Pueblo Chemical Depot. Which was just to the east of me. I could see that a very well defined RFB had formed. As I crested the hill upon which KPUX sat, I see 2 huge white vans full of people taking pictures of the storm. I said to myself, "Self, I must be on the right track." I pulled over to say hi and offer directions to the Depot. They quietly said hi back, and acted as though I were politely offering them herpes. I left, hoping that they would take the posted exit to the Depot. A military reserve upon which they would not get far. Jerks.

I traveled a bit further down the road, rounded a bend, and saw a bunch of cars pulled over. Cameras and laptops peeking over dash. So I pulled over again, and spoke with some REALLY nice hobby-chasers from Canada, and one from Florida.

The storm really started to go crazy as it passed slightly to the north. Wanting to stay ahead of it, I got on Hwy 50 and headed east. The storm was right over La Junta by the time I got there, and had produced a HUGE wall cloud. The bottom was just boiling. You cannot even see any rotation in the videos because the entire thing was rotating, if only moderately. There was really nowhere to go but east, and I wanted to stay ahead of it, so I went east hoping that the storm was moving just a little bit more to the north than the road, as I did not want to do any core punching. Didn't work.

Fearing that the hail would get larger and completely smash out my windshield, I pulled over and watched as the storm passed me. At about sunset I saw a couple of ropey tubes weaving through the clouds, and even poking out a bit for a few scant seconds. Then I went home. The End.