June 7 and June 8 (positioning day and small storms)

Ardmore, SD

Need a car?  Go to Ghost Town Ed's
Used Car Lot in Ardmore, SD!

Pretty storm east of Weyburn, SK

On June 7, our plan was quite simple.  We needed to head north towards Saskatchewan in order to be in great position for June 9, which was progged to be a great severe weather day.  This death ridge has been causing a lot of headaches, because severe weather cannot develop and stay sustained in this type of pattern.  We got rooms in Spearfish, SD, and we stopped along the way in Ardmore, SD, which is a ghost town.  There were many old cars to be photographed, and the old buildings added a certain charm to the unincorporated community.  After we spent about 25 minutes poking around, we continued our journey to Spearfish and found a small storm to photograph along the way.  We drove 405 miles today.

Crepescular rays

June 8 was pretty much the same idea as June 7.  We needed to continue our drive north to Saskatchewan to be in position for June 9.  Our tour director changed to Chris Gullickson, because Bill needed to be at his job, and he also was in much need of a break before the next tour.  Storms were predicted to fire today in SE Saskatchewan, but it seemed like they would be junky, high-based storms.  When we were at the border, the agent told us that we "dodged a bullet" with our passports because no one had a negative background.  Between you, me, and the fence posts, I think she was a bit disappointed that no one had any warrants or crimes on their record.  Either way, we all received a stamp in our passports, and we were sent on our merry way.  We intercepted a storm near Weyburn, SK, and it was very pretty with the setting sun.  It gave us some lightning, but it was not enough to get a good shot.  However, the rays of sun coming out of the clouds were splendid!!  After driving 454 miles, we got rooms in Weyburn for the night.