An Introduction To Misadventure

Published on October 26, 2019

Hey there fellow chasers, writers and weather enthusiasts!

Allow me to introduce myself! The name is Cheyenne, or as some know me; Cupcake. I’ve been actively chasing for 2 years, so I’m rather new to the chasing scene. However, I have always had a passion for photography and severe weather.

Growing up on a farm in rural Manitoba, the weather was always a big part of the business and the outcome of our crops. It was the one variable to our livelihood that we couldn’t control and it was always what made us, or broke us.

As I grew up and the farm dissolved, I had the chance to enjoy what nature had to offer. I was no longer scared by hail but intrigued. I was no longer leery of lightning but excited by it. This curiosity grew and I’d spend hours outside either on my porch or tucked in the sheltered part of my yard to watch these massive storms roll in and light up the sky. Once I had a camera in hand, this only ignited something else. My love of photographing these storms.

It wasn’t until we made the jump from Farmervision to Cable TV that I saw Reed Timmer and the early 2000’s discovery lineup of the show “Storm Chasers” that I realized there was a place for what I adored doing in my own back yard. Of course, the show took place in Tornado Alley, a place I thought of as a far-away fantasyland of endless skies and dangerous storms.

Years later, when my mother had finally felt up to taking to the road and adventuring again after a health scare, I had suggested a few things. A road trip, a jaunt to the West or simply a weekend in Fargo. But none of those ideas really stuck. I knew this was our first vacation together, and I wanted it to be something exciting, new and memorable. I had to give it way more thought. It’s not like she and I hadn’t gone out to see these storms before either. We’d take little side trips to watch the storms roll in all the time. Sometimes we didn’t have to go anywhere and we could watch from home. This gave me the idea I wanted. What if…we… went storm chasing. But for real.

I held onto this idea for a little bit. Struggling with how to actually bring it up. Does one just walk up to your mother and say ” Hey let’s go storm chasing?” No. At least, not without a plan. That’s where Francis came in. See, he was living in Manitoba at the time and running tours. He had started reaching out on facebook with sponsored posts and posts on his main NZP facebook about booking with him for Spring 2018. In my mind, the pieces of the grand puzzle were falling into place and my plan to drag my newly invigorated mother to Oklahoma and beyond was coming to fruition.

As time wore on, I reached out to him to see what this all entailed and just before Christmas, I dropped the bomb on my unsuspecting mother. I brought up the topic of vacation and she was still at a loss as to where to go and what to do. And that is when I unveiled my plan for us to go storm chasing together, armed with specifics from Francis.

She agreed to go. I wasn’t shocked, but I was excited. What made this trip a little bit cooler was that Francis also had his father with him. A father/son and mother/ daughter storm chasing week was ahead of us and what a week it was.

Because of this opportunity, the last couple of years have been filled with some of the fondest memories I have to date. I want this to be a place to keep sharing my memories, mistakes and misadventures for all to learn from and enjoy.

I do so look forward to filling this space with what happened in 2019 and what has yet to happen in 2020.

-Chey