June 21, 2008 – Down day, drive from Lusk to Buffalo, WY
Day 4 was a down day as an upper level ridge was building across the northern Rockies. We decided to take a leisurely drive up to Buffalo, WY via highway 20 and I-25 from Lusk. We were hoping an isolated picturesque storm would form off the Big Horn mountains, but it wasn’t to be. We stopped a couple times along the way after leaving Lusk to see a view of the old abandoned towns that Vince was interested in, such as Lost Springs, Manville, and Keeline along Highway 18. The Lost Springs population according to the highway sign was One. An updated sign in town said Three. Anyway, it was interesting to see. The Union Pacific rail line runs through there along Highway 18, and there were no less than 3 full coal trains that traveled east, supposedly coming from the Wright or Verse areas. We got to Buffalo in the early evening with a convective-free sky. We stayed at the Big Horn Motel again on Main Street in downtown. The motel owner also owns a small ice cream parlor/mini-golf establishment a few blocks down a walking path along the Clear Creek, so we checked that out. The little parlor was busy with a big line as they had some outdoor "family in the park" outing right there at this small park next to the parlor.
Today, Sunday June 22, we will head east-northeast from here, likely into far southeastern Montana. A resumption of storms is expected today. We will probably use Vince’s laptop on the chase today since southeast Montana is a giant cell data void area. Vince has the satellite-based Baron Threatnet on his laptop so we can continue to monitor radar and the like. Thus, there will likely be no live-chase mode updates on the website today.
