I Survived a Tornado
by Madelyn Miller, the TravelLady
 I was driving to a
restaurant with my friend Judy and all of a sudden we heard a strange noise.
She had just gotten her Mercedes back from the dealer and was “not again.”
Since I test drive cars and write about them on
www.carladynews.com I was pretty
sure it was not a car noise. We were near a hospital so I suggested
the noise was perhaps an ambulance.
We were running late for a meeting and I looked up and noticed the sky
was suddenly dark. I thought it had gotten late quicker than we thought. She
looked up and said. “it looks like a tornado.” I have gotten to know
Judy a little better since then, and now I know she is almost always right.
But we had not turned on the radio and had no idea there was a tornado in
the neighborhood.
We arrived at the restaurant and a large screen TV was blaring news of
the Tornado. We looked at each other. I am sure neither of us will ever
forget the sound of the tornado.
Storm chasers to deliver the adventure of a lifetime
 It’s just early autumn,
but Spring 2011 adventure vacations for one Texas-based company are already
booking briskly. The company, Tempest Tours, Inc., has specialized in
storm chasing tours for ten years. Their mission is to introduce the
science and romance of chasing to guests from around the world.
“We provide an educational experience to our guests while intercepting
the best storm of the day,” said Tempest Tours founder and president, Martin
Lisius. The ‘best storm of the day’ is almost always a supercell
thunderstorm producing tornadoes, prolific lightning and dramatic skies
somewhere in Tornado Alley, which stretches from Texas to North Dakota.
The Tempest team is lead by Lisius, William T. Reid, and Dr. Charles
Doswell, III. Together, they have accumulated more than 70 years of
storm chasing experience. Lisius is best known for his high quality
motion picture footage of storms. Reid is a climatologist and published
storm photographer. And, Dr. Doswell is a former researcher for the
National Severe Storms Laboratory in Norman, Oklahoma and is regarded as one
of the top tornado scientists in the world.
Since 2003, the company has intercepted 132 tornadoes for its guests who
travel from as far away as Europe and Australia to get a glimpse of a
twister. “Even though we can’t guarantee a tornado, we can promise our
guests the opportunity to live the life of a real storm chaser for a few
days,” Lisius said. “That in itself is an adventure of a lifetime for
many of them.”
Tempest Tours will operate nine tours in 2011 from April to July, the
peak of tornado activity in the US. Tours will depart from Dallas-Ft.
Worth, Oklahoma City and Denver. Fees range from $1,795.00 to
$3,195.00 per person for five, six, nine and ten days of storm chasing.
Information, including tour schedule, can be accessed on-line at
www.tempesttours.com.
Persons interested in registering for a 2011 tour are urged to book early as
tours typically sell out.
I have no desire to ever be anywhere near a tornado ever again. But
people seem fascinated by my story of being so close (blocks away from the
center) that I decided to share this safe way of seeing a tornado.
Madelyn Miller is a travel and food writer who is mostly an indoor girl.
Read her stories on www.travellady.com,
www.carladynews.com,
www.yogayaya.com,
www.chocolateatlas.com,
www.coffeeatlas.com,
www.cocktailatlas.com,
www.teaAtlas.com
Photo credit:Marcia Perez/Tempest Tours
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