This Last Weekend in Pratt and Greensburg (Part II)

I forgot to add, that we all stopped at the infamous Greensburg well, where that 3rd picture that says "Caster Iron" with the tornado, was at. "Ecotown" was there filming, so we stayed out of their way and chatted there for a bit as well. Either Greg or Mickey talked to someone there to sell the Storms of 2007 DVD's there!!

They had permanent markers there on the donated monument, where you could sign your name, so we added all of ours to it. There were already a LOT of signatures on there. If you ever drive through Greensburg, it's just a couple of blocks south of the Kwik Shop there. Here is a picture of Derek Shaffer (left), Shane Adams (middle) and Darin Brunin (right) with Mickey in the background there.



Back to the event in Pratt...

People started to show up early, as Greg, Mickey, and Jim were still setting up. The KAKE crew was one of the first to show up and they interviewed Darin and Greg before the show.

At around 6 p.m, the show finally started, with Mickey doing the introductions before handing it over to Greg, with his presentation on "Positive Contributions from Storm Chasers." He then presented the check for over $3,000.00 which was from last year's sales. Here are a few photos (that I'm not too proud of, due to the low lighting situation)...







After that, they showed a few chapters, including the Storms of 2007 intro, followed by an intermission. When that was over with, Mike Umscheid began his presentation on the Greensburg supercell, and was given a standing ovation by the crowd!!



The May 4th Chapter was then played...I couldn't watch it. I mostly hung out in the lobby with Shane, where the booth was, and the area for the free refreshments that the High Plains AMS provided. After that chapter, the May 5th chapter was shown, and the event was closed with Mickey thanking everyone for coming out.

A lot of tears were in the eyes of the people who attended (which was 3/4th's Greensburg residents) and I noticed Darin was a little disturbed about something by his facial expression. I asked him what was wrong, and we went outside so I could have a cigarette, and he told me a resident had come up to him and told him, "That night, while I was watching KAKE television, I was working, running a nursing home in Greensburg. When I heard you say it was a "monster" tornado, it was at that time I decided to get everyone in the basement...and just in time. Thank you." Darin also told me that when he was thanking everyone for coming out, a man turned around and said, "Thank you for saving our lives." While we did nothing more than what anyone else would do that night, that type of stuff just goes to show anyone who storm chases/spots...that is the reason why we are all out there. That is the ultimate reward for such a simple task that we all are capable of.

I couldn't help but think about how I swore I would never report again, after watching certain NWS meteorologists bash chasers. What if I would have stuck to that? What if Darin didn't report that tornado, when KAKE lost contact with Lanny Dean? It's just something not worth pondering over, because it didn't happen.

We hung around a little bit afterwards and chatted with Anita and Rick, giving her a hug and thanking them both for coming out and helping spark the idea of raising money for them and their fellow residents. We cleaned up fairly quickly, then we all headed downtown and had a couple of beers and some infamous pizza tacos at one of the establishments there.

I had a great weekend, and it was great to hang out with everyone and meeting new people I hadn't before.