After waking up around 8 am this morning, I fired up the computer (becoming a regular routine). The models and discussions had started to outline the possible threat of severe weather from Nebraska to Texas. Kansas was looking to be in the slight risk (as was all the other states) so I decided that Wichita Kansas was going to be my target tonight to head out tomorrow. The main reason is that Wichita has AOL for internet and that is a local call (Salina does too but to far north for my liking). I headed west towards Salina. Now I could have taken the Kansas Turnpike and been in Wichita in 4 hours but I had some time to kill and had not taken this route before.

About half way between Kansas and Salina, I saw some very dark smoke billowing up into the blue sky. As I approached the region, I saw some lights flashing and pulled out the camera and snapped 2 shots of a burning truck being extinguished by the fore department (Photos Below).

Continuing on, I stopped in Salina and found the local library and got permission to use one of their computers that was hooked up to the internet. I was concerned that the new model runs and outlooks might have changed since I left Kansas City. This was an interesting thing I read about on one of the lists I belong to and found that it worked quite well on a number of occasions this time.

Finding out that my outlook area was still looking good, I decide Wichita. I arrived at Wichita at 4 pm and decided to get a room close to the outskirts but close enough to stores and restaurants. I headed to Wal-Mart and picked up some fresh film, 8mm video tape and batteries. To explain this, I have had bad luck with print film. If it is not stored properly or old, it tends to cause over-exposures and lines in your negatives. This has caused me to have a lot of good pictures ruined and smeared. If that’s year chasing taught me anything, it is always store your film in a cool place and use it up. Allowing it to sit for months at a time will cause you to be frustrated and mad.

Ok enough of that. I head out for dinner and to get some of the damage of the Wichita F4 tornado in the southern part of town on May 3 1999. As I approached the area, I saw that the whole area was blocked of by National Guards who were not letting anyone in (regardless!). I could understand that due to possible looting so I asked if I could turn around. Disappointing but understandable. With this done, I decided to head back to the hotel and call it an early night. Wanted to be ready for tomorrow.

All Photos are copyrighted 1999 by Dave Patrick.  Any use other than authorized by them is against the law.  If you wish to contact me regarding use of these photos, please e-mail me. I have left any copyrights off the images to show the images unaltered digitally (except where stated)