With the end of the storm season coming to a close, and my work on Texas Metal, a MotorTrend show, starting soon after, this was my last chance to really score big. Fortunately, there was a really good chance for that. Though, procrastination would come to be my biggest fall. Starting in Haskell, there was not yet much to see, but I knew that would be the case. It wouldn’t take long and storms would be firing up, which made me shift to Old Glory. The structure of what I was seeing was so captivating that I would end up spending too much time capturing time lapse. As I’m sitting there, I notice a developing wall cloud north of Aspermont. While I did record it, I should have made my move to get on U.S Highway 83 south. That procrastination I mentioned earlier. This is where it would show its ugly face. Finally, I made my move, taking Texas Highway 283, ultimately pushing for Stamford. The further I get from the storm, the worse the contrast was getting. Regardless, I was keeping a close eye on it, both in person and on radar. No sooner than I cross the Brazos River that this storm goes tornado warned with a confirmed tornado! I could hardly see it but I was immediately frustrated because of my procrastination! All I was doing was begging for it to stay on the ground long to at least get a photo! Finally, I reached just north of Anson and got that photo, as it was roping out. I felt good but I was not the happiest camper. However, it was starting to push more east so I thought, ok, I’ll sit here and wait. Based on its path, it should pass just north of me. As it’s getting within a mile or two, I realized that what I had hoped for was not the case at all. This beast was coming right at me! Problem was that I couldn’t go north because that’s into the core so I decided to try for the south. It was almost the right idea. Before I continue, take a look at the thumbnail to the video. See, that’s close, but as I began to push south, that feature was coming right into my path at very high speeds. There was no chance I could safely get away. In fact, that photo was taken almost instantly after I parked. This was now a “wait and see.” Probably not even 60 seconds after I took that photo, I saw in front of me this really massive kick of dust. It literally looked like a vortice of a tornado but given how close I was, there’s no way of knowing for sure. Seeing that, I became a little nervous. I was at the wrong place at the right time. The key was not to panic so I decided to start recording instead. Though the storm had lost its greatest tornado potential, it still wanted to give me one last show but not visually. Listen really, really close to the episode, when the fun really starts with the longest clip. Often, I’ve heard tornadoes described as sounding like either a freight train or a jet engine. Part of my job in the military included guarding over jets. When I tell you I heard what sounded like a jet engine, I knew this was the moment. This was what would come to be the most talked about part of the 2023 chase season. Although nothing touched down, if it had, I’d have had the closest, and arguably deadliest, view. Watching the wind fly by me and the dust flying with it, I was more than mesmerized. After the storm had passed, I met the homeowner of that house you see in the episode. I don’t remember the guy’s name but I asked him what he thought about what just happened. He said it was one wild ride he was sitting through. I mean, sir, “that’s no moon! It’s a space station!” Thank you for being a part of this new series. I’m so excited you are coming to be a part of my journeys. While 2024 would prove to be an adventurous year, it became more exciting because I decided to make this series. I look forward to seeing you over at Season 2.