Bud Light claims it's all about drinkability. Verizon Wireless boasts reliability. For storm chasers, however, it's adaptability that's the key.

Monday evening's weather models showed slight potential in two places: Northwestern Nebraska and the general area of the Texas Panhandle and Southwestern Oklahoma. These two areas were roughly 650 miles each from where we were currently sitting huddled around the computer. The bigger problem, however, was that each of these areas were at least 830 miles from where we wanted to be on Wednesday, which happened to be Central Illinois. (As a point of reference, it's 838 miles from West Chester to Jacksonville, Florida). And we definitely wanted to be there on Wednesday, because The Storm Prediction Center had issued a Moderate Risk Outlook for that area, and a larger Slight Risk Outlook area extending from most of Wisconsin & Michigan Southwest through almost all of Oklahoma. Big weather, it appeared, was imminent.

Sadly, we decided to sacrifice the day's chase for the prospect of better chasing the following day. We did, however, go to the National Frontier Trails Museum in Independence, MO. The museum is dedicated to the journey west, across the prairies, over the mountains, through the desert, and to the coast, in search of the early American dream. The museum features films, displays, authentic artifacts, maps, and other information that shows just how difficult the journey was, and about who these brave souls were. Independence, by the way, was the starting point for the famous Oregon Trail, and I'm happy to report that since leaving, no one on our tour has died from dysentery.

Afterword, we stopped for some authentic Kansas City food at Smokin' Guns BBQ. Just in case we weren't convinced the pork & beef sandwiches weren't delicious (which they were), the 4-foot trophies, plaques, and 1st place ribbons that literally covered the walls floor to ceiling, front to back strengthened its claim as Kansas City's best. While we stopped, we had a chance to check the latest models and radar. Thunderstorms that had formed in Oklahoma early in the afternoon had begun dropping hail up to 2" in diameter across parts of Oklahoma and Kansas, so we decided to head in that direction. However, after driving into Kansas, the storms moving towards us became disorganized and dissipated above our heads.

After turning around, disappointed, we stopped to deal with some of the technical difficulties back in Kansas City. We would need the technical (a.k.a. laptop w/ mobile internet & GPS) to be without the difficulties tomorrow as we chased down the weather. When we stopped to fix the laptop, we had more technical difficulties, this time with the van, whose electronic locks had shorted and were locking and unlocking at will and with no apparent rhyme or reason. That was easy to fix in relation to the laptop, though, and simply involved removing the proper fuse from under the van's dashboard. After dinner and another trip to the computer store, we headed back to the hotel to get some rest.

At last glance, the models were showing even more favorable conditions for a significant severe weather outbreak on Wednesday, including tornadoes, near Springfield, Illinois. Roll-out is around 6AM, so a little sleep is in order. With any luck, we just might see some tornadoes tomorrow...