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Monday, May 7, 2007 - 9:26PM CDT

Phone calls during chases

By DAN ROBINSON

Editor/Photographer

I've run into a problem recently that I need to address briefly on this blog. When we're out on the road, we tend to get flooded with phone calls from friends, family and other storm chasers. This would be fine except for the fact that a storm chaser's schedule is often a hectic marathon with irregular sleep/awake patterns. The numerous phone calls lately have become a safety issue in that many calls have come 'in the heat of the chase' when we're trying to navigate wet roads in and around tornadic thunderstorms, observing the storm environment and shooting video. Storm chasing is an extreme excercise in multitasking, and there just isn't time to chat on the phone. Phone calls during this time jeopardize our safety and concentration on the tasks at hand. Other times, the calls interfere with the few precious hours of sleep that we try to get at any opportunity we can. Since many days find us getting to bed very late - sleeping during the morning, or even into the afternoon on a down day, are necessary for us to catch up on the lost rest to ensure our ability to continue safely the next day.

I don't want to downplay everyone's concern about our well-being out on the road, I do genuinely appreciate it. That's why I try to make it a priority to update this blog every day with at least a quick post about where we are and what we've seen. So in the future, unless there is an emergency, please save your phone calls until after our trip is over. I promise we'll take the time to tell you everything you want to hear when we get back!