I had planned to go storm chasing with Mike Olbinski (with whom I chased with in 2017 and 2018) in 2022, but with dire (i.e. no storms) forecasts, we decided to cancel that trip and flip it over to this year, 2023. But… the best laid plans of mice and men, as they say. With even worse forecasts (a ridge of high pressure over the Great Plains which would mean very little chance for supercells or tornadoes), we cancelled once again and shifted the trip to 2024. Instead of doing nothing, I decided to keep my flights to Denver and go out there to photograph grain elevators in eastern Colorado and western/central Kansas.
Strasbourg, CO
Wonderfully dramatic clouds
… and more dramatic clouds.
The first day was a long, exhausting, sometimes a little scary but good one. I started off with a 4am alarm for my flight out of Toronto and ended up at my motel in Burlington, Colorado at 10pm Toronto time. I flew into Denver, picked up some food/water for the road and headed south and east towards Burlington. A few days before the trip, the weather models seemed to show the possibility of a storm or two in SE Colorado, but I sort of forgot about this as I followed my scouting map to some very cool-looking elevators, old, abandoned trains and schools. Around 3pm it started to rain, then started to pour and suddenly I remembered that possible storm. Then I got clobbered by it – pouring rain (flash flood warnings), hail, and lightning all around. I made a dash to the southeast to get through and out of the storm - a bit of a hairy drive. Not very good storm chasing technique to get chased by the storm! You might think that I was, at that point, rethinking the cancellation of my storm chasing trip, but this wasn’t the sort of storm that would have produced a supercell or tornado, and the rest of the week remained quiet.
I shot almost until sunset, then headed to Burlington and the Chapparal Motel. After a rejuvenating sleep, I headed out at dawn (5:30am at this time of year) because conditions looked good for a second day and I wanted to make the best of it.
Lincoln, Kansas
World’s Largest Czech Egg in Wilson, Kansas.
Elevator row, Wilson, Kansas.
In the morning there were overcast as well foggy/mist/smokey conditions, probably created by the wildfires burning in Alberta. I photographed around Burlington (Colorado) for a couple of hours. Then I headed further east, into Kansas, stopping at sites I’d marked on my scouting map along the way.
One of the places I stopped - Wilson, Kansas - had a wonderful row of old elevators… and the World’s Largest Czech Egg! This colourfully painted 20-foot tall egg symbolizes the history of Czech settlement in and around Wilson, the Czech capital of Kansas. Eventually, after a long day of driving and a lot of miles covered, I arrived in Salina (Kansas), about 60% of the way across the state.
This trip was shortened from the eight days that I’d planned for storm chasing, down to six days, so there was lots of ground to cover in a short time. My idea for the trip was to explore and photograph as much of the area as I could in order to see if I wanted to make a return trip next year.
My only full day in Salina was a blue-sky day, so I had a bit of rest in the morning, which was welcome after driving over 600 miles in previous day and a half. In the afternoon I explored Salina: went for a walk in Oakdale Park and visited the huge elevators in town where I stumbled across a fantastic mural by Guido van Helten on the massive, old HD Flour Mill. In the evening, I took a drive out to the west of town, to visit a couple of elevators on a beautiful, peaceful prairie evening.
HD Flour Mill.. Mural by Guido van Helten.
Rough Rider, Oakdale Park, Salina, Kansas.
Salina, Kansasa
Skiddy, Kansas.
Beautiful peaceful prairie evening.
The next day I started heading back west towards Denver. I started off in Salina, waiting out the blue skies in the morning, and head out after lunch. There were a few sites on my scouting map that I really wanted to see that were out of the way, but I headed to them anyway. I severely underestimated the times (stopping along the way to shoot really adds up after a while) and ended up arriving at my hotel in Colby close to 10pm after a full day of driving in just an afternoon. It was a good day, though, with some cool sites and hopefully some good images . My only regret is that I ended up missing the chance to meet up with a photography friend, Christina Alpert, in Leoti.
Kansas back roads.
Kansas back roads.
Ardell, Kansas
Dighton, Kansas
On my last full day, I left Colby (KS) after waiting a bit for the promised light clouds to roll in and headed west towards Denver. I wasn’t expecting much in the way of shooting, but I thought I’d take the long way since there seemed no reason to rush to my hotel. Some high clouds came in and softened the light and I might have actually got a few shots: a lovely surprise bonus shooting day, driving through the wide-open landscape of the Great Plains that I love so much.
Old and new elevators. Amy, Kansas.
Big skies, Kansas.
An exciting last night in Bennett, Colorado.
There was some excitement on my last night when the fire alarm went off at my hotel in Bennett at 1am. At least three fire trucks, an ambulance and police arrived and we were kept outside for about an hour for a fire in one of the stairwells.
The next day I flew home after my short “Lemonade from Lemons Trip”. After the disappointment of not going storm chasing again this year, I didn’t have high expectations for this make-up trip, but I was really pleasantly surprised: pretty good conditions and cool sites to shoot. Of course, the beautiful open space of the Great Plains, which remind me so much of the Canadian Prairies, did not disappoint and I really enjoyed photographing new and old grain elevators which looked quite different from the old, wooden ones that I usually photograph in Canada. Thank you, Colorado and Kansas, for a lovely trip!
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