Chasing a tornado in Mason City Illinois

Mason City, Illinois - We met a local named Jon on our path who was driving out towards the next town of Easton chasing tornado's. Caleb and I decided to join him in his pickup truck and experience our first tornado chase. We hit some heavy storms and some crazy fog but found out after cruising for some time that the tornado touched down somewhere else. It was quite the experience no-less and we definitely got a taste of an "interesting" local personality.

Side note: I realized after the fact that I left my keys in this guy's truck. Luckily, he told us the local watering hole where he'd be drinking (the place was called Stupid's). We found his truck outside the bar - it wasn't locked, and I was able to grab them without further incident.

Jeff

Road Trip Soundtracks

For everyone who made us awesome road trip mix CDs,

Thank you very much. It was very amusing experience to find different ideas of road trip by listening to music. I could see there was a lot of creativity putted in the CDs. We have listened to all of them already. I enjoyed every single one of them.

Anyways, I'm really interested in American "idea of road trip," and seeing it in Mix CD was great!
Thanks,

Shimpei

Quick Updatge DAY 1 to DAY 5

We left Syracuse Monday, July 6 in the afternoon.
Now, I'm writing from Chicago, Jien Kun's place and this is the morning of DAY 5, Friday.
On the first day, we got far as Ashland, OH. We camped there. DAY 2, we stop by at Ohio State University art gallery in Columbus, OH and got to Mason City, IL. We stayed there 2 nights and got Chicago yesterday at DAY 4.

There has been a lot of things happened already. I want to start filling up the details when we get back in the car.

Shimpei

July, 5 2009
Day One:
Up at 7am. Sun-burnt, crispy. Steamy(screamy) HOT shower; Dad's advised cure for the worst burns. Aloe; temporary relief. July 4th at the beach(Long Beach) was a blast. Truly fun in the sun with Ariel, Tymisha, Hal and Lexie. Amidst an ample/varied supply of sunblock I managed NOT to re-apply. Will I ever learn? Tender, sun-burn style hugs and out the door. Present: Jeff snaps a pic. Astoria, 59th st. bridge(another picture), FDR, 8th Ave, park the car(thank god its Sunday. No meters.). Painfully hoist bags(one hiking pack, one camera gear backpack, one plastic bag bulging with AAA maps. Thanks mamma!). Raw sting; Port Authority. Ariel and I gingerly navigate the greyhound terminal. Love you, little brother. With every turn comes more burn(poetic). On the bus. Anxious relief. I made it, but my gear rides below in an over-stuffed cargo hold. Don't get crushed. Sleep. Ariel keeps me up to date on the wimbledon final(big sis, maybe you scalped tix?). Longest grand slam final in history. Federer wins. A/C blasting. Sun-burned goose-bumps. Pull my arms inside my white t. Sleep. Short stretch in Binghampton. Cheesecrackers. Cheese burps. Sleep. Syracuse. Gear is intact. Relief. Unfortunately, so is my sun-burn. Jeff rolls up in my new home. His maroon Scion. Snapshot. We cruise the 'cuse, stop for burritos, head to his house. Now, we pack. Tomorrow, we embark upon roadtrip'09: The Epic Buffet.

Lookout...

    I'm coming for you!!!

   

   

   Jeff

Films

Films I've ordered from B&H Arrived today.
I'm glad they made it on time.
I'm bringing about 100 rolls of 35mm B&W films and 70 rolls of 35mm color slides, and 20 rolls of 220 color and 120 B&W.
I'm not sure if this is enough but I guess I can buy some more films on the way if I need.

Films are so expensive...
But I don't think I switch to digital yet.
This on and previous photo are shot with my cellphone camera which is my only digital camera.

I don't even know how to rotate this photo. I rotetad in preview but the change I made does not seem to reflect...
Does anyone know how??

Shimpei

Shopping

We went a few stores to shop for what we needed for the trip.
Walmart is definately cheap. We got a lot of stuff like propane stoves, ramen noodles, beans and etc. It's kinda fun to prepare for the trip.

Shimpei