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2004 Tour Schedule

Notice: This page contains all the information required to book a tour on Silver Lining Tours, L.C. (Please print this screen and save it for your perusal!)

Click here for an easy print version of the 2004 Schedule.

We at Silver Lining Tours are pleased to offer the 2004 Tours. The prices below are for a complete tour package that includes: arrival day lodging, lodging on each of the tour days, tour t-shirts, a professionally edited highlights tape and an end-of-tour meal. The only items excluded are airfare to and from the meeting city, daily meals and incidentals (e.g., souvenirs).

HOW TO RESERVE A SPACE:

1. Email David to obtain a tour agreement and the password to access our online brochure. Carefully read the tour agreement and call David Gold with any questions.
2. Sign the agreement, returning it to Silver Lining Tours along with your non-refundable $500.00 deposit.
3. Inform David (via email or phone) that you have mailed or are about to mail the tour agreement and deposit – at that point your spot is secure.
4. Make your flight arrangements to/from Oklahoma City (Tours 1 – Master) or Denver (Tours 5-8).

For the 10-day tours, room-sharing parties will receive a total discount of $300.00. For the 6-day tours, the room-sharing discount is $200.00. Larger discounts are available for groups of 4 or more (provided at least 2 people share one hotel room). The initial deposit is $250.00 if signing up prior to July 1. 

Our Different Offerings Explained

Here it is in plain English: the longer you're out in the Plains the better your odds of seeing tornadoes. However, we have long recognized the fact that many folks simply cannot take off enough time to do a 10-day tour. During the first half of the storm chasing season (i.e., roughly until early June), a tour length much shorter than 10 days runs the risk of ending empty-handed (i.e., no storms) due to the fact that the atmosphere can take time to reload between storm systems. Offering shorter tours is acceptable later in the season when the low-level moisture takes up quasi-permanent residence in the Great Plains owing to less frequent cold front passages. It is our perception that severe storm frequency is high enough then to justify a tour of about one week. We have found that the 10-day tour length strikes a very nice balance between spending enough time in the field to increase your odds to acceptable levels and the amount of time people can take off from work without depleting their annual vacation time.

So, the 10-day tour is for you if you can take off the time and want to maximize your probability of seeing a tornado. It is also cheaper on a per day basis.

The 6-day tours, offered in the early summer, are for you if you can't take as much time off but still want to have a decent shot at seeing great storms with expert storm chaser and SLT Tour Director Roger Hill.

Here is an article explaining some of the trade-offs of chasing in the "early" versus "late" season storm chasing.

Tours 1, 3, 4 and Master Class will be led by tour owner David Gold and Tours 2 and Tours 5-8 will be led by Tour Director Roger Hill.

The "Master Class" Tour:

Bill Gargan and David Gold will once again offer the highly popular Master Class edition tour, designed for those that want an educationally intensive and more personal experience. This tour is designed to teach participants the subjects of severe storm forecasting, strategy and storm observation. The material is covered much more comprehensively than is possible during the other tours. Each participant will be taught concepts that can be used to make his/her own chase forecast, tactical decision making in the field (e.g., how to pick one storm versus another) and how to use and interpret the myriad observations and data available on the Internet. Even though the Southern Plains tornado season is usually winding down, the Northern Plains and Midwest are entering their peak tornado season during the time period from mid to late June. It is emphasized that this tour will be most beneficial to those who already have some kind of prior background knowledge in one or more of the following subjects: meteorology, engineering, thermodynamics, mathematics, physics or storm chasing experience itself. Those that have NO prior knowledge or experience are encouraged to consider another one of our tour offerings.

We limit the size of this tour to 6 participants so that we can focus on each individual and better teach the concepts to the group. We ask that each participant bring his/her own notebook computer (if the participant doesn't own one, we will provide it). We will also provide a packet of learning material, including a forecaster's manual and software for analyzing weather observations.

More about the 6-day summer tours:

OUR NEW LEAD VAN: In 2004, Tour Director Roger Hill will once again be conducting tours in a brand new diesel power train Ford 12-passenger van, customized to withstand severe hail and completely outfitted with amazing electronics designed to make your travel experience even more interesting. No other tour will have a vehicle designed so intelligently and sturdily. Here is a description of some of the van's features. Pictures of the van's exterior are provided. When customization is complete interior images and descriptions will be included.

• Severe weather experts with years of storm chasing and forecasting experience!

• A customized 12-passenger van. Pictures of this van, SLT1, and descriptions of some of its features are found here.

• Portable computers with GPS navigation.

• Ceiling mounted 6" LCD screens for video playback and display of weather info being analyzed on our laptops.

• A unique rear audio system designed to allow participants in the back and in the other van to clearly hear conversation in the front of the lead van. This same system allows seamless van-to-van communication with no radios required!

• A unique video switching box that allows us to show on the overhead LCD screen video captured from a dash-mounted camcorder.

• Cell phones for frequent data downloads on the go; with the current cellular network and an external antenna we enjoy connectivity about 85-90% of the time. During the past two years, we have averaged over 2 hours of cell phone useage per chase day!

• CB radios for back-up van-to-van communications.

• A Motosat 2-way satellite Internet system.

• An improved wireless transmission system that facilitates data-sharing between vans.

Finally, remember that only people 18 years of age or older may attend the tours solo. However, minors can join the tours if accompanied by a parent or legal guardian. Said parent must be willing to indemnify the tours. Each year we have one or two parent/child teams joining us and it is always lots of fun!

Smoking inside the vans is forbidden.

1. TOUR MEETING LOCATIONS: Tours one through Master Class will begin and end at Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Tours 5 through 8 will begin and end at Denver, Colorado.  Upon arrival at the airport, a hotel shuttle will transport you to your hotel in Oklahoma City and Denver. We have developed a long-standing relationship with a certain Oklahoma City hotel. We always book each tour's block of rooms months in advance. You will be transported from the airport to this designated hotel via the hotel's free and reliable hotel shuttle bus. Additional details will be mailed to you two months prior to the start of your tour. This information always includes details such as: suggested packing list, typical tour daily itinerary and arrival day logistics (the "arrival day" will be described in the next item below). Try making online travel reservations

2. WHEN TO ARRIVE AND DEPART:  Each trip is bracketed by so-called "arrival" and "departure" days. These dates are established for the purpose of allowing people sufficient time to travel to and from the base city. For each of the dates listed in the schedule table above, you must arrange to travel to the base city on your tour's designated arrival day and you must arrange to depart (unless, of course, you plan to stay in that city afterwards) on your tour's designated departure day. The ARRIVAL DAYS for the 2004 tours are: April 29 (Tour 1), May 10 (Tour 2), May 22 (Tour 3), June 2 (Tour 4), June 13 (Master Class), June 5 (Tour 5), June 12 (Tour 6), June 19 (Tour 7), June 26 (Tour 8). The DEPARTURE DAYS for the 2004 tours are: May 10 (Tour 1), May 21 (Tour 2), June 2 (Tour 3), June 13 (Tour 4), June 24 (Master Class), June 12 (Tour 5), June 19 (Tour 6), June 26 (Tour 7), July 3 (Tour 8).  Example: If you are scheduled for Tour 2 (May 11 to May 20), you would arrive at Will Rogers International Airport (OKC) on May 10 sometime during the late afternoon or early evening. You would leave OKC on May 21 after NOON local time. The Tour 3 participants should arrive during the late afternoon or very early evening of May 22. Due to the fact that we give a comprehensive orientation on the evening of your arrival, we require that all attendees arrive at the meeting city prior to 5 pm (if at all possible) on your arrival day. We also strongly suggest that you schedule your return flight to leave after NOON the day AFTER your last tour day so that we can maximize our driving range on the last day of your tour.

3. ORIENTATION MEETING: We will have an important orientation meeting at 7:00 pm of your arrival day. We will give you a presentation designed to help you get the most out of the tour. Also, we will discuss very important safety practices so that the tours are a safer and more enjoyable experience for you. Afterwards, we will go to dinner together!

4. COST AND PAYMENT DETAILS: Tours 1-4 cost $2600/person (but only $2450 per person if sharing a hotel room). Due to the more personal and educationally intense experience created on this tour, the Master Class Tour costs $3300/person (but only $3150 per person if sharing a hotel room). The summer tours, tours 5 - 8 cost $1900/person ( but only $1800 if sharing a hotel room). This includes all expenses EXCEPT airfare, food and incidentals. It also includes bottled water. It includes, of course, ground transportation and lodging during the tour.  We require a non-refundable deposit of $500.00 to reserve your slot payable by personal check, cashier's check, or money order. Only $250.00 of that deposit is due before July 1, 2003. The deposit balance ($250.00) is due by July 15, 2003. The balance of the tour fee is due when you show up on your designated arrival day.
   

5. TOUR TRANSPORTATION: We will travel in the following combination of highly-equipped vehicles: The 12-passenger van SLT1, with AT MOST 6-7 participants. For 2-van tours, we customize a second 15-passenger van. SLT1 will have a driver and tour guide up front, with a rugged, experienced driver in the second. All drivers are pulled from our seasoned line-up of grizzled SLT veterans.  Both vans are equipped with the following set-up: computer navigation systems; cell phone-laptop computer combinations for mobile data downloading; LCD screens located in the front of the vans to allow you to watch videos during some of the long drives, as well as data transmissions from the laptop; our proprietary system for clearly audible van-to-van communications. A mobile broadband satellite internet dish and mobile DirecTV are included in SLT1, as described above.  Again, the Master Class edition tour will be limited to a maximum of 6 people in one 15-passenger van.

6. TOUR LODGING: The tour pays your lodging on each of the ten tour days as well as the arrival night. We are going to do our best to ensure that you not spend any time in a roach-infested fleabag motel! You will get a clean, comfortable room each night that you're with us. Although we do not have an unlimited hotel budget, we always do our best to ensure a reasonably high caliber of lodging on your tour. During the past few years, here are the motel/hotel chains we have used most often: Comfort Inns and Suites, selected Best Westerns, Americinn, Holiday Inn Express, Quality Inns/Suites, Red Roof Inn, Fairfield Inn, Hampton Inn, Hilton, Super 8 (chaser favorite), Amerisuites, Wingate, Country Inn and Suites, Baymont Inn and Candlewood Suites. Also, Accor Hotels, a well-respected and wealthy European corporation, has bought Motel 6 and some other "budget" chains and is doing an amazing job at completely renovating these properties. We will look for and use these places wherever they exist.

7. WHAT TO BRING WITH YOU: You should plan on bringing a medium to large soft suitcase or duffel travel bag as well as a camcorder, camera or laptop computer. We strongly discourage you from bringing hard-shell suitcases or overly large daypacks! Make your best attempt at packing ten days' worth of clothing (again, these types of details are expounded in the additional tour information that every participant receives two months prior to the start of her or his tour).

8. WHAT WE DO DURING "SEVERE CLEAR": Much of the success of your tour (i.e., the number of tornadoes and/or storms that we witness) depends on the atmosphere. Although we offer our tours during the very peak of the climatological tornado season, the large-scale weather pattern does occasionally become unfavorable for frequent severe thunderstorm episodes. We have not yet had a tour during which there were no severe storms encountered, but during these occasional inactive severe weather regimes, we can go 2-3 days with no significant thunderstorms. On days when there are no storms expected (of course, we hope those are very few!), we will offer a few tried-and-true recreational options. These activities are weather-related whenever possible. Examples from last year: we toured the Storm Prediction Center/National Severe Storms Laboratory in Norman, OK; we toured three National Weather Service Forecast offices; viewed tornado damage; the famous Big Texan steakhouse in Amarillo, Texas; we even throw cookouts and barbeques on dud days! We often find ourselves in the vicinity of beautiful state and national parks. We have visited Devil's Tower, Mount Rushmore, the Badlands (we love South Dakota!) and the Medora Badlands National Park (western North Dakota).

9. EDUCATION: We work very hard to give you a meaningful education. While you are with Silver Lining Tours, you will enjoy a unique opportunity to learn from us. You will have plenty of time to learn about the formation, structure and dynamics of severe thunderstorms, tornadoes and other interesting weather phenomena in terms you can understand. You will be able to watch your tour guides actually prepare the morning forecast on many days. You will be shown our systematic approach to severe weather forecasting. You will enjoy the advantage of gaining insight while you are watching the atmosphere in motion. We feel strongly that if you come to our tours with a genuine interest in increasing your understanding of the atmosphere, you will walk away feeling like you have really learned something! We pledge to work tirelessly at increasing your knowledge about severe thunderstorms, storm chasing, forecasting and weather. We will answer all of your questions to the best of our ability.

10. ADDITIONAL PERKS: Each participant will receive a complete professional-quality video of the tour highlights from all 2004 tours, a Silver Lining Tours t-shirt and an end-of-tour banquet. It is emphasized that the quality of our highlights video has become quite excellent due to our wonderful relationship with Alister Chapman, a world-class professional videographer. This is yet another advantage of taking your storm chasing adventure vacation with Silver Lining Tours!

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