I drove I-40 west to US-81. Nothing much to note other than an OHP patrol car trying to push a mangled jeep across a bridge and onto a shoulder to clear the right lane of traffic. I contemplated getting off at Banner road (the most "direct" route to the Memorial site), but instead drove on to US-81, a few miles further. I-40 wasn't terrible. Underneath the overpasses was actually worse than on bridges. Got off at US-81 and headed south. I know the area pretty well at this point, so I recognized the curving of US-81 and knew my turn would be soon. I got off, still in 2WD, and started heading east on Reuter Rd (aka NW 10th for those only familiar with the OKC street system).
This was my view after passing Alfadale Rd. Being from NE OK, I sometimes forget that there are parts of Oklahoma that are just as flat as SE KS.
Using the odometer on my truck, I identified the likely place where the small car containing the Twistex team (Paul and Tim Samaras, as well as Carl Young), were picked up by the tornado (likely one of the stronger sub vortices within the main circulation).
Having reviewed the footage from Dan Robinson's videos, I can definitely understand why having an underpowered FWD car, such as the vehicles he and the Twistex team behind him were driving, held a vast disadvantage. I've driven enough FWD vehicles to know that if traction control is a factor, it's very difficulty to reach any kind of speed. I've only had RWD (and one 4x4 prior to today) in the snow, so I had to really think to consider traction control as being a factor. If my back end slides, I just stay on the pedal and steer towards where I want to go. With my current Titan, I just kicked it in 4x4 and never slid once. I didn't even spin tires from a stop sign giving it a good amount of gas. Good validation for my purchase as I did buy it so I could help with farm stuff.
I passed Radio Rd and quickly came up to the Memorial. I pulled off to the side of the road to walk up and pay my respects. I did not know them personally. In fact I know very few chasers personally. But I felt, given the mutual fascination with severe weather, and the fact that their research goal led to an aggressive chase style that I would be far less willing to take, I had to pay my respects to what they have done.
I continued down Reuter Rd and, based on my analysis of Dan Robinson's video, this next picture is near the place that he stopped and was subsequently hit by the Rear Inflow Jet. This is also known as "The Ghost Train" by chasers such as Skip Talbot.
The thing that caught me the most off-guard was the silence at the memorial site. It's almost as if nature stays silent in that small area to pay its respects.
It wasn't a chase, but it was related to one almost two years ago. I remember tracking that storm when I was with my Reserve unit up in Kentucky. I remember asking my 1SG earlier in the day, "Please pray for my family and friends today. It's gonna be nasty in OK." Little did I know what would transpire less than 10 hours after I gave him that request...
