Storm Before the Podcast Episode 17: Storm Chasers Cassie and Mason Frey

In this episode, Lori Grace Bailey welcomes storm chasers Mason and Cassie Frey to discuss their passion for weather and storm chasing. The conversation covers their personal journeys, experiences in storm chasing, and the challenges they face. The Freys share their love for storms, how they met, and the thrill of chasing tornadoes, all while navigating the ups and downs of their adventures together. In this conversation, Lori Grace Bailey and the Freys share their experiences with storm chasing, personal struggles, and the journey to sobriety. They discuss the challenges faced during their adventures, the emotional toll of missing significant storms, and the impact of addiction on their lives and relationships. Through candid reflections, they highlight the importance of support, personal growth, and living authentically. Their stories serve as a testament to resilience and the power of friendship in overcoming life's obstacles. In this conversation, Cassie, Mason and Lori Grace Bailey discuss the importance of chasing storms for personal fulfillment rather than for external validation. They emphasize the need to balance personal responsibilities, such as family and career, with the passion for storm chasing. The discussion also touches on the significance of taking time for oneself to avoid burnout and the necessity of addressing personal issues before pursuing storm chasing. They reflect on the future of storm chasing, acknowledging the challenges posed by personal commitments and the evolving nature of their pursuits in the field. In this engaging conversation, these chasers delve into the world of storm chasing and photography, sharing personal experiences and emotional connections to their craft. They discuss the thrill of capturing tornadoes, the challenges of working with film, and the importance of vulnerability in their journeys. The conversation also touches on quickfire questions that reveal their preferences and aspirations in storm chasing, culminating in a heartfelt discussion about the significance of supporting one another in their pursuits.

Keywords: storm chasing, weather, tornadoes, supercells, storm chasers, adventure, personal stories, meteorology, community, experiences storm chasing, addiction recovery, personal growth, overcoming challenges, relationships, military life, sobriety, life lessons, emotional resilience, road trip stories storm chasing, personal growth, responsibilities, passion, family, photography, mental health, individuality, chasing business, future planning storm chasing, photography, tornadoes, emotional connection, vulnerability, chasing experiences, capturing moments, personal growth, bucket list, quickfire questions

Transcript

0:01

Welcome back to another episode of the storm before the compact podcast. I am your host, Lori Grace Bailey. And today I've got some friends of mine who've actually taken me shooting and we've done some storm chasing together. And we've even had a little session out by White Sands and maybe we'll talk about that in a little bit. I think we will. But I want to welcome Mason and Cassie Frey. So how are you guys doing today? It's cold. are cold. It's windy. It's central Kansas in March. So yesterday it was seventy five and sunny and today it's now I think what it's like thirty four and blowing snow. So. gosh. Well, it's like going to be 90 tomorrow here in Arizona and then it's going to be 104. Oh, so. you guys are supposed to get bent with the heat for the next couple days. And I go to NTC in 10 days. Oh, yeah, you do. Yeah, I do. go to NTC. The second time within a year, I go to NTC around the same time of the year. And it's going to be just ungodly, ungodly hot, ungodly hot compared to here. No fun, no fun. Well, you guys Stormchase, but you guys just moved away from where I'm going to eventually be moving to. So thanks a lot for that. But you guys are now in Can... Well, now you guys are... I don't blame you also because now you guys are in Supercell Central, I think I'd like to call it, right? At least it's supposed to be, Kansas. We'll see. Well, if Kansas ever decides to wake up, yeah. I mean, Kansas has been kind of, you know, one of these days. It will eventually. I've never had any luck here. I think I've been chasing since 2010, and I still have never seen a tornado in the state of Kansas. Seen them in Nebraska, seen them in Missouri, seen them in Oklahoma. Never seen one. I've even seen a tornado in Iowa, but I don't really count it because it was like a bird fart, but. A lot of people are like, I'll take a bird fart. And then the rest of us listening are like, what's a bird fart? And we'll fill you in. It's a really, really dusty tornado, basically. In other words, just like a land spout or a gustnado, basically. That's a bird fart. But really briefly, you tell anyone who doesn't know who you are, who you guys are and how you guys met And maybe tell us your story really quickly. before we talk about storms. I'm Cassie. I'm from Oklahoma, northeast Oklahoma, where all we get is QLCS, you know, QLCS spam. 32 years old. I've been chasing, year five. Mason and I have been married. This is going on year three. We've been together for four years now. And you're from Ohio. Yeah, was born and raised in Ohio. You name a multitude of different weather events and we get it from blizzards to ice storms to derecho's floods, uh your normal general like summertime thunderstorms to violent tornadoes. It's pretty much a wide spectrum when it comes to Ohio weather. If you don't like it, just give it 30 minutes. It'll change. ah Enlisted in the army to get out of Ohio. Now I'm still doing that. I know that if people watch this by video, they're going to be like, what's up with the beard? Don't worry about it. If you really want to know, just do your own research. um I've been chasing for 16 years. This will be year 16. I started chasing before I had a driver's license, Won't get into the... that you knew what you were doing when you out there. mean, you guys find tornadoes in frigging New Mexico, so that's a good thing. I'm not gonna lie that when we got the one in November that was by sheer dumb luck. Yeah, it was we drove down a we drove down an oilfield supply road It was a dirt road that was barely even like a road It was just kind of like open pasture on both sides and we just drove out there and it was one of those tornadoes really that's neat and then it just kind of fully condensed No, it wasn't even fully condensed. It just kind of did its thing for like a minute or two. then I, I didn't call it a tornado. Yeah, I didn't call it a tornado for a while. And then the National Air Service was like, that was a tornado. I was like, was one of the design like confirmed. and you're like, hey, we got a tornado on this. came out and came around this. I was like, what? Hey, you know, I'll take, I'll take any, I'll even take land spouts. I don't care, but I prefer my land spouts in Eastern Colorado on the off the Palmer. Not, not some Arizona bird fart. Yeah. You're like, that's a, that's a dust devil. how did you guys meet? And And how did you combine your love and your love for storms? that's that's actually a good one, Laurie. I like I'm proud of myself for that one. So, I went to the 2022 National Storm Chaser Summit back when it was still real small. I think there were like a hundred ish people are there or something like that. I was my friend Anna and we did the summit thing all day long. And then my friends, Anna and my friend Cody Dunkle, Anna Davis and then Cody Dunkle tried to drag me to this bar after because some of Cody's friends were meeting up. I didn't want to go. I was tired. Bedtime's 930. Time to go to bed. But I had a drink or two, so I was like, you know what? All right. I'll go spend, you know, an hour or so, and then we can go back to the Airbnb and go to bed. And Mason's there. It was my social function. It was myself, Adam Reagan, Dakota, and Stephanie Maynard. We held a Storm Chaser Social in Norman every few months. We held it the weekend of the summit. When we planned it, months before that we were like, oh yeah, this seems like a good weekend. And then we looked and I was like, oh, well, the summit's in town. So maybe we'll actually get like more people than just, you know, what we thought. And it ended up actually being pretty sizable. Like we had people like Chris McBee was there, Bill Oostabond. There was all sorts of people there. But I, I noticed him. I thought he was real funny. He was also cute, but I was also in a relationship at the time. So like, I just kind of like bookmarked him and put him in the back of my head. until I'd say five or six months later when I was no longer in a relationship and I had happened upon the same discord as him. So we started sending me... sounds so cringy when you say it like that. though. There are so many people that meet and chat and I mean, both of my kids, that's how they came to, know, their best friends are the same thing. You know, there's nothing wrong with that. I think we have to understand this isn't Gen X anymore. Sorry. I'm okay with that. I'm okay with being older. you know, having to find someone in a bar or a church. That was kind of the way you did things back then. So. Yeah, so we kind of like halfway like we halfway Yeah, healthy split and You know, we just started like exchanging memes and talking and then we set a date to go out to black mesa do we want to go hike black mesa on the oakland panhandle together? On the way out his truck broke down. It was an entire debacle. we were stuck in gaiman And it was also like the hottest period that I've ever had in years. was like 105 degrees outside. We couldn't run the air conditioning in the truck. I was pretty convinced, like when we got back to Lawton, I was pretty convinced. I was like, he's never gonna want to see me again. This was terrible date. and then... I can't say much. think fast forward to like, I don't know, almost four years later and we just had our first baby in November. Yeah, which was crazy to think. It's like... When you really look at it from the retrospective things, it's like four years ago, we didn't even know who, five years ago really, we didn't even know who each other was. then within that five year period, we met, dated, decided, we didn't even get engaged. We just got married. We just said, you know, send it. Got married, then had a baby. Yeah, essentially. We really did. We just really just do everything, you know, by the seat of our pants. We don't really do anything like... We're not one for planning. No. Why half-ass two things when you just whole-ass one thing. The kid was, it wasn't like we're gonna sit here and say the kid was not planned. no, the bow was very, very planned and very prayed for, so. He was planned, but. by the way. He is already... He's gonna be... When you guys are walking in the mall, he's gonna be like, my gosh! People are gonna do that. Mason's gonna be like, Mason's gonna be like, all me. It's all me. They're all just big chick magnet. Babies are chick magnets. It's funny. He's definitely a big healthy split between yeah, like he one day he'll look like Mason the next day He'll look like me. So he's he's he's handsome though. Like I'm not your smile. Yeah, he's he's got my one dimple So that's something I I'm proud of but yeah, he's he's to see a picture of Bo, you guys have to go to their page, and we'll link to that So both of you have always had a love for weather and you both love to chase storms. What what makes chasing storm? What makes weather? special to you. Cassie, I can imagine you go first, you seem to light up when I see you at the edge of a supercell. when I first met you guys in Texas somewhere near Earth, Texas or whatever, you guys light up really big with storms. How did you come to love? doing this. grew up in Oklahoma in the 90s. I'll start with that. can't beat that. One of my first memories is sitting down and watching. It was was May when I sat down and watched TV with mom and Gary Engel was on TV talking about the tornado that just plowed through more Oklahoma. um And it was a lot of my childhood was a lot of hiding in closets and hiding in bathtubs and you know. Stuff that, and I was never scared. It never scared me for one second. I was never a kid that was scared of storms. um It always just kind of fascinated me and my mom, she also liked weather. We would watch tornado documentaries together and you know, of course the movie Twister exacerbated all this, I'll say that. I loved the movie Twister as a kid. But when I told my mom and I was like seven or eight, I was like, I'm gonna be a tornado chaser whenever I grow up and I'm gonna be a meteorologist. and I always wanted to chase. I don't think, I think that of all the things that have changed in my life, that's something that's never changed is I've always wanted to chase. I've always loved weather. Even back when I had no idea how to chase, I was always on the SPC or I was, I was looking at stuff that I didn't have any idea about. Just, just curiosity. And you know, I watched a lot of Of course I watched a lot of Reed and stuff like that but yeah, because we grew up we grew up in the golden generation of storm chasers watching like storm chasers. just want to say is because like his storm chasers was on TV. It went from, you know, serious scientific TV show to like, I don't want to say not sitcom, like no. Kind like Big Brother-esque, like a game show. But it was still good to watch. Yeah, so it's just, it's always been a constant in my life. I've always wanted to do something to do with the weather. Meteorology ended up always being out of the cards because I have learning disabilities and I ultimately decided that I can place myself in better. spaces than struggling my way through a math related degree. And I figured, you know, let me pick up a camera and get my best shot. So here I am. And you're charismatic as hell too. mean, come on. um is wild because I have probably the words, words where social anxiety, you can't see it, but my hands are sweating right now. I'm terrified of. this stuff, even doing a podcast. But you know what? We rise above our fears, right? Even me doing a podcast, I'm getting good feedback finally, but damn, man, you know, it's not easy just getting up there. You're worried. You know, what are people going to think? Is this stupid? Am I just treading water? And then I also have my own mental health challenges I think what I love about doing this and why I'm so glad to have you guys on is that there's that community of support, right? Like none of us are perfect. And I think there is no perfect storm chaser. I can't even think of someone who's perfect. And then there's drama. is no one's perfect in it. But the good thing that I like about this community, which by the way, you two have just been awesome. You guys have been awesome to me and I've just been really grateful to know you and the first time I saw you was, where was that? that Earth? Earth, Texas, right? There was that mematis. and Leveland wanted to- It was Leveland, I remember, because, um- We were pulled over- We were pulled over just looking at the storm, just like, hoping it would do something. I fangirled, because we pulled over and I was like, that's Lori. was- Mason was like, well go say hi, and I was like, I can't, I physically can't, I can't move myself forward to go say hi to I think I walked up the hill. Yeah, you did, and I was like, no, like, I was like- and I was like panicking, I was like, please stop, I- I don't- I can't Because I'm the- I'm the social one of the two of us, because, I mean- I've gotten used to that aspect of what well I've gotten used to the aspect of just going up to people and just being like hey What's going like that's something the military kind of like? Instills in you when you get to those higher ranks like when you become a sergeant and staffs aren't you gonna go find out what the you know What the hell's going on so you gotta go approach like when you're a private, know, you're like, god I gotta go talk to this major this lieutenant colonel. I'm gonna shit my pants and they were like Whatever I got my ass chewed before I'll just walk up here and talk to this dude. Who cares. He's just a person like I am. He's just old. Who cares? Let's just go up here and talk. No, I cannot speak to like if I admire you in any way, or form. So it's happened with you. How funny, can I just tell you something too? Cause I was out on the, this is funny y'all cause they don't know this either. But I jumped out of the vehicle because the storm was coming, you know, there was, there was a rotation and it was pretty trashy, but the mematis ended up being really, really pretty right after that. So we kind of got out of the core and got out of this ugly storm, but we're actually taking some pictures cause the sun is coming in, the sun's getting ready to set soon. And I'm taking, I'm finally in this open area and I'm taking these pictures. And then I see this red truck up and I was like, man, who the F is in my camera view? And the truck pulls up and I'm like, oh, I've got to compose this shot. And then it was, I was like, oh, it's Cassie and Mason. And then it was great to meet you. And I was like, oh, okay, let's not put this. Who are these a-holes that just messed up my shot? So that was my initial. because she pointed it out to me later. was like, you probably ruined her shot. was like, oh, that's my bad. it's. But it's all good. It's all good. I was actually glad to have met you guys. And so I'm I'm fine with that. Yeah. Me and Liz and my friend, Brookah also was with with with us. Yeah, so. That was 2023. Yeah, that was right before I left the deployment. That was Chase Station in 2023? Yeah. So you all used to live in El Paso, but you always did all these full sends into Oklahoma or North Texas And then you drove back by the next day and you had to work. I mean, what are you? Are you crazy? There were days where it was like, why am I doing this to myself? I'm beat down and exhausted. post-deployment chasecation. We were on our way back. We had just done the weather social and hung out with Stephen Dakota Maynard and had a day at the water park and did Yeah, did all that. And then it's like, we're having lunch with them in Oklahoma City and s***. And she's like, because I was tired, I'm not gonna lie, there was a part of me that was like, yeah, there's a risk, but do I really want to play this game right now? Do I really want to fly too close to the sun and just really bet it all on black? And then what do we do? We drive back with nothing. And it's just a it's a tail between your legs kind of moment. then there's and then there's me. There's me who's in the seat next to him at lunch. And I'm just like. Yeah, we have to bet it all on black. Look at this. This looks so good. We have to go for it and it's on the way home. I'm begging you. And then we ended up. No, no, was Silverton. was Silverton. Yeah, we scored. We got it. And it was like. So that day was we hop and skipped our way across the Panhandle from Canyon all the way to Silverton on back roads, FM roads, the state highways, you name it. We pretty much covered every road in the Texas Panhandle that day. Then we had to stop and help. think it was what? Sullivan got stuck in the mud in a rental. So we had to help him out of the mud with another chaser. the way, down there by Silverton garbage mud. absolute garbage. And then we hear that there was the first tornado of the day, the one that touched down right outside of It had the twins. was the twins. And we booked it. Yeah. We did slightly above the speed limit to get there. Yeah. heard we were booking it. And I was really disappointed because I was like, this is my day. was like, I forecasted this all by myself. I did the big girl thing and here we are. And I missed it. I, this is no, I want to help Brandon. That was like first and foremost, but I was like, dang it. And then I look and I'm just like, okay, there's gotta be something. And I look and I like tilt my head to left and there's a big stovepipe. And she says tornado and. I can't see it because like I'm focused on the road and I've got tunnel vision right now where I'm like trying to focus on the road and I look over and the only thing I see is the pillar of my truck in the way and then I lean my head back just a little bit and then it's like, it's right there. Let's go. So yeah, we got the Silverton for I think that one of the most notable parts about that day was the drive back though. Mason is the patron saint of wake me up in blank town. Yeah. then he doesn't wake up. I think I gave you the wheel. said when we get to Carl's bad, let me take over. I'm like, I like bet you can take over on Carl's bad. um So we get to Carl's bad. stopped, put a splash of gas in and I just want to go home. He's taking over. I don't buy myself a new drink. I'm like, hey, wake up. You got to take over and he's Santa. cold. He's passed out and so I'm like, you know what? I'll finish the drive. It's fine I just got to go from Carlsbad to El Paso. It's not that bad We get to Guadalupe and the only thing keeping me going is this disgusting grapefruit Sugar-free monster that I'm gagging my way through and that's the only thing keeping me awake I think I woke up ten minutes outside of all passing. I'll go ten minutes outside of a pussy. Where are we? I'm like shut up go back to sleep. Don't want to hear it. We got home You had to offload. a.m. We got home at 4 a.m. He had to be up and out the door by 6. Yep. And then I just. though. You guys know I'm pissed, right? Cause I missed it. I, we drove to Lubbock that night and the next morning was like, where's that? You know, that, that, I think it was an elevated risk. It was a three, think up in Kansas. And we were like, full sound, let's leave out of here. So, you know, Lubbock area. That's a secondary target. I've only got 10 days out here. I need to attack the primary targets. We drove all the way up there and I get this elevated garbage. I mean, it was pretty, don't get me wrong, because I love all the structure stuff. But I'm sitting out there, Connor Croft and like three other people are out there, Aaron and a couple other people were like, this is pretty. And that was that. as soon as I was like, OK, you know what? This is pretty. I don't get a chance to see structure or supercells at Colorado. Eastern Colorado, this is pretty and I was actually I was legitimately happy for myself I was like hey Laurie you got this pretty little storm and then I got in the car because my my navigation and driving I was done driving, you know chasing the storm and I let Brooke or Liz drive and I sat in the back seat and I opened up my phone and I was like, Tornado in Silverton tornado in Silverton if you know if you're a storm chaser and you miss a target and you just start swiping through Twitter and you're going tornado That's a pretty good angle. re-totaled his car in Silverton. this Silverton. I'm like, Silverton is... I think he was what like three-quarter mile down the road for us. We passed them or 10 miles from our hotel, think is where But that if I had just stayed in Lubbock, we would have nailed it. And so I'm just like all of my joy was literally sapped to nothing. And then I was pissed and then I had FOMO. And it's it's reality, though, right? Like, have you guys missed have you all missed storms and like how do you deal with that? How do you deal with with with Failure. Well, so there was, was it 24 as well? Yes. It was. So I wanted to bank on the dry line one day. It was the day that Midland got the tornado. And I was like, no, dry line will do it. Dry line will do it. Let's just stay. I don't want to go all the way to Midland. If we're going to go to Midland, then we might as well just go home. I'm sitting there. We're out by Denver City. getting three inch hail. Yeah. And I'm like, you know what? That's a fat boundary and that supercell is headed right towards it. So I think we should go. at least start heading towards Big Spring, like we should like start heading that way. And Mason's like, no, let's not. And gorgeous supercell, DVD size hail. then, and then I- Tornado emergency for Midland. And there's an EF3 and I think it was an EF3. Yeah, EF3. But and then I mean we've had we've had a ton of failures like there was a in November 25 There was also that tornado in our Hobbs Center You were actually in the bathroom That's why we missed it Yeah, we missed that That tornado that Reid caught like the snaky one. We stopped at the loves. Yeah, yeah, then there was Then there was 11-4. Oh, we won't talk about November Oh, no, we will. We will definitely talk about November 4th of 2022. Don't, don't. Okay, so we, I just moved into my apartment in El Paso. We had just gotten everything situated and we were like, it was moderate in Eastern Texas and we misunderstood the... just the size of Texas at the time. yeah, we were not aware of the size of Texas for some reason. So we were like, yeah, we can get that. Let's just get some sleep. We'll wake up. We'll be at a Dallas by like noon. We'll be fine. We get up, we start driving, we then get to Midland and get bogged down in traffic on I-20, which that slowed us down. Then it was the jump across everything else and it was just insane how much traffic we were dealing with trying to get to Dallas. And then there was, think one of the biggest hang ups was, you've driven through the Midland area at any point in the past three years. That's what I was talking about was I-20. The I-20 construction that they're doing. And then when we get to Dallas, we're trying to play dodge them and freaking rush hour traffic at like 2.30 in the afternoon in the Metro. And eventually it just turned into, okay, what's the quickest way around the city? Okay, we'll get on the George Bush Turnpike. And the George Bush Turnpike was just empty. But still, it's like, instead of it being like a nice 20 minute cut across the city, it was turned into a 45 minute like jut all the way around it. All in all. hate metros, yeah. We didn't see anything that day. I actually cried in a Bucky's and he bought me a sloth, like a stuffed sloth that made me feel better. So we kind of licked our wounds in the Tarrell Bucky's parking lot. Then we got dinner, bought, this is back This is pre-sobriety for me. This is back when we both drank. We bought a six pack of Angry Orchards, went to a Motel 6 in Louisville, Texas, pounded back a few fucking Angry Orchards and then went to bed. Yeah. basically drowned our sorrows and then woke up the next morning and And then I had to go back to Oklahoma City because I lived in OKC at the time Yeah, but we had to get your car from one. Yeah That's that's frustrating but it's still not as frustrating as some of the other s you guys have gone through in your lives, right? I just think it's awesome by the way that Riley's a part of your family by the way. And I just think that that's, that takes some incredible strength to be able to bring somebody else in and up into that. And I think by the way, if you don't know who Riley is, she's an amazing person. I'm just gonna speak praises of her. The little bit that I know and the photos that I've seen of hers, I have a feeling you all need to buy her camera or something, but yeah, you guys. she definitely needs a camera because she's got a knife for things but You know you all have gone through some really tough things and how did you how did you persevere through that? And it seems like you all were meant for each other I have to just say this that that kind of yin and yang. Am I right here because You both have gone through some really tough things, but then you ended up, you know, solidly, you know, now you're this solid magnet together. Like this bulwark. I don't know, he's the, I guess, crazy to my calm. I'm not, if you've met Mason, he's always up to something. He's always got something going on. He's just constantly active and I'm more of like a, like chilled out kind of person. I definitely don't slow down easy. We've helped each other through a lot. Addiction, mental health issues. Just the general struggle of day to day life sometimes. Especially when it comes to the military life because I did not think that it would be this hard. But some days it really kind of takes it out of you. Both sides. Yeah. when you're gone for and you're deployed for so long. know my heart felt for you because I have a brother who was in Desert Storm and had a career in the military as well, and my father as well. And all I can say is, you know, military brats, man, I feel for every one of you. It's a long, lonely road, you know? How did you get through that, Cassie? And then you, Mason, because you were deployed. How did you? deal with the day to day just wishing you could get back home. But Cassie, what about you? So I've had a problem with alcohol for a long time. It was after mom died that I really kind of had a problem with it. But when he left, I don't remember the months because he left in August. I don't remember August, September, October, November, December, and most of January. I was kind of blacked out that entire time period. I finally decided to get sober with a bunch of stumbles. um in January. I lost my job, of course, because you can't keep a job if you're blackout drunk all the time. I lost my job. I lost my friends. I asked a lot of really stupid things of my friends just trying to get by. You know, I and I'll never forget I asked Jessica Moore for assistance because it was the withdrawals in January that really kind of kept me down. I think it started when everything's feeling so rough. Yeah, and every time I would like, like every time I'd be like, I'm gonna do it this time, the withdrawals would set back in, I'd start shaking, I'd start feeling sick, and I'd fall back into it. But I just remember sitting there and like thinking, I was like, I'm gonna lose everything if I don't stop, because my friends were starting to distance themselves from me. I was gonna lose everything if I didn't just cut it off. So I went and picked up some Pedialyte, some Gatorade, some stuff that's easy on the stomach. And I just kind of spent the next like, it took me two weeks to get through it. And I think for the next like year or so it was, it was really rough and I had some stumbles, but I think we're going on year three now and Hmm. pretty much both of us, because I stopped drinking shortly after I came home. Because we tried to do the social thing, and then we both realized that that wasn't going to work. So we just decided that we're both going to be sober. And I'm just now starting to get to the point where I'm comfortable being around alcohol. But that's kind how I dealt with him being gone. And then after I sobered up, it was a lot of a... just really sad feelings and I had taken a part-time job and it was a lot of me trying to keep myself busy with work and then coming home and trying to get the house together for him and for when he came home and learning a lot of recipes to cook and just kind of trying to get by. You're here now though. You're here now though. You you you made it You guys are together and you're thriving I from what I see I've seen you guys face to face. I've I've We've broken KFC together broken bread get it. We've broken KFC together. We've broken KFC muffins. I was huh? thought you're Yeah, yeah but she was there at the birth, so. Yeah, it's a little different when you're there for the birth. Like outside of the birth, like you were the first person to meet the baby. Yeah, so. Have you managed to heal those hurts and all the byproduct of the drinking, right? There's a byproduct to it. Other people start to like, hey, man, I'm trying to help, but. in. You gotta help yourself, you know? You gotta take your step. and so with my friends and especially some of my closest friends, I've managed to repair most of it, but I know that there's always gonna be a scar. um And like thinking back on it, there's just so much shame that I have to end up letting go at some point. um But, you know, I just hope that one day they can just fully forgive me and start putting scar cream over the scars. you um know, overall they were still there and I can't thank them enough. You know, we, we, have to battle that. Like once you overcome something, the past is still trying to, there to haunt you. have so many things, gosh, there are certain, certain days that I just go by like, you know, with, with my own relationship with my wife. And I'm just like, I'm such a putz and she doesn't see it that way, you know, but I have to forgive myself first and foremost. and, you know, we're still together and it wasn't easy. And it's, it's so important to be self reflective, but at the same time acknowledge that, man, you know, everything is a process. Healing is a process. Do you feel that sobriety, you feel stronger now that you're on this end of sobriety and I'm sure that temptation is still there. So, I think that temptation is always gonna be there for me just because it was such an ingrained part of who I was at the time. But there's no better feeling than waking up knowing I'm not gonna feel like crap. Feel like crap the next day because I haven't drank myself sick. So, I can think better, I can move better, I can be more active, I can make better decisions. But there's always gonna be that little shadow behind me that's just like, a drink sounds really good or you know, something like that. I mean, I can't really say I was an alcoholic to that extent, but like I definitely at times I partook in the crazed drinking culture Because there were some dudes, like I can't remember this back to when I was a private and I was like 20, 21 years old. There were dudes that would go to their their bear terms and they would have a 30 rack and Addy lights and that would be their after work beer is the whole 30 rack Now I feel like Now, because I was like, I'm gonna say I was a social drinker. was not an alcoholic. I did not need that to get through my day every day. But now as someone who's given it up and I feel much. more grounded in my life and you know things are going the right way and things have kind of bloomed I guess you could say in the way like in a spring you know fresh spring light I feel a lot better about myself I don't feel as like cruddy like you know as you get older like alcohol just does not go through your system the same it does at 21 and 22 so like at 28 you're just like this hangover is brutal and then that's you know Sunday morning and then it's Tuesday afternoon and you're at work and it's like this is day three of this crap and I'm over it I'm just ready to just not do this anymore and then now that we're both on this path and we both have decided that This is what we're gonna do with our lives. I'm I feel so much better with myself. I really do The the health aspects of it like we're not tearing our bodies apart by just perpetually drinking and drinking and drinking Yeah that it's nice to finally like put my foot down and like say we go to some kind of like event with friends and put my foot down and say, no, I don't drink, you know, like, and be firm about that and not have to be like, like I'm finally at that point where I can like look somebody in the face and be like, no, I'm, I don't drink period, so. And I wasn't even expecting to ask so many questions about your sobriety as well, because that's, it's deeply personal. And to be able to share that, think that it's brave to have to feel and sort through those emotions, the guilt and everything else, and to be able to come out at this end of it. You two are stronger than I, now than when I first met you. At least that's been my observations. You two are really, you're really fun to be around, but also I feel safe when I'm around you guys. You know what I mean? Well, thank you. Yeah, thank you. a good feeling. I feel like you have my back. Also, if zombies were anywhere, I would be going to your place. Because Mason, think, coupled with my own Second Amendment hobbies, I think that we would be in good shape. Anyways, that was just my little thing I wanted to share, by the way. Thanks for sharing that. And it's just a personal blessing to have you guys, your friendship in my life. So knowing that you guys have gone through so many difficulties and yet you still chase the storm, you still put yourself at risk, you still enjoy getting after it, what are some lessons you would share with others or what are some things you would, some takeaways that you would want others to know who are going through similar paths? You know, does that make sense? Mine is specifically speaking to younger girls and younger women. Just do it. Do not waste your early 20s thinking, what if I don't make it? What if I'm not gonna be good enough? What if I don't know what I'm doing enough? stop with the what ifs and just get out there and do it. Because my biggest regret in life is the fact that I was too scared to start when I was way younger. Wow. So that's my biggest piece of advice. you're, for some reason, a 16, 17, 18, early 20s woman, just do it. You will thank yourself in the long run. Gotta rip the bandaid off at some point. And in terms of those struggling with addiction, use stuff like chasing as a way forward. I knew that One of the things that got me out of the hole is the fact that I know I cannot chase while I'm drunk. I know that I cannot take good pictures while I'm drunk. I know that I cannot succeed in my own terms of success if I have this traveling behind me or with me all the time. I think the one thing I would say when it comes to young men, don't spend your life embellishing, impressing anybody else when it comes to the way you live your life. Live your life wholly the way you want to. Don't. Don't worry about what everybody else thinks. That's not what life is about. At the end of the day, you, whatever your pillar of faith is or whatever your life belief is, you're not impressing anybody else. It's solely you at the end of the day and whether or not you're gonna be happy the last moment you close your eyes. Like, I sit here and I think about my life and yeah, there's some stuff that I definitely have done in the past or like that. younger me did that was definitely childish, stupid and immature. But I sit here and I think about it now where I'm like, those moments led to where I am today. It led to the life decisions and the actions that have now made today possible. And I will never change any of that for as long as I live because it's led me to this beautiful life that I have with you. It's led me to this beautiful little life that we're carving out. And ultimately, the only person I'm really worried about impressing in this life is nobody else but you and my loved ones. That's what really matters. I don't give two shits about, you know, random guy number 34 on the street or whatever. Who cares? That's not there. That's not who you need to be worried about impressing. It doesn't matter if you impress, you know, 100,000 followers on YouTube or whatever, whatever your life decision might be. As long as you can think every moment of the day that, yes, this is something I will view with happiness when I close my eyes for the last time. That's what really matters. ah But as far as like storm chasing and anybody wanting to get into that or anything like that. Chase for you. Yeah, that's the best. Yeah, honestly. Yeah, thank you. You kind of took the words out of my mouth. I know we talk about it a lot. Yeah, don't. go into that because I don't think we say that enough. I would love to give it a shot, but I don't have the time for that. At best, maybe we'll get two weeks this year. You have a baby. I have a baby. I have a very chaotic career in the military I should have been being looked at for my E8, for Master Sergeant and First Sergeant by now. I'm well behind my peer group and I will fully own that. But at the same time, I'm happy with the way my career has gone. But at the same time, I can only chase at the behest of the Army and when I can get the time to sneak away from this place for two weeks. And now it gets even harder as I climb up in rank because I have responsibilities and those responsibilities are the other nine people that I have to take care of from day to day. I'm surprised I don't have white hair by 35. Like I'll be 35 in two years. Yeah, I know there's just for men, but I'm not gonna. I'm also not gonna dye my hair. I've already kind of said that. Like if it's my time to age, it's my time to age. There's no point in hiding it. But the thing is, is like when people are like, you know, you don't chase as much. You have not seen these many tornadoes. Who cares? is again where I get into like the the the soldier side of me. I don't give a shit I don't have the I don't have you know, the indispensable time between March and in mid-june to just wow in six days There's gonna be a violent outbreak of tornadoes in central, Illinois. Let me just drop my life and leave I don't have that. I don't have that luxury also Max velocity Ryan Hall Connor Croft Brandon Coppock, Paige and Bryce, they have it down when it comes to streaming. And they also have a great, well, don't think- John from Murfreesboro, Tennessee is gonna get his information somewhere. I don't need to be putting out the same stuff that everybody else is putting out. I'm gonna go, I'm gonna take pretty pictures, help where I need, and then I'm gonna go have Texas Roadhouse. Like just take time. Take time and get away. But chase for you. Chase for you. Don't dedicate everything to just being out on the road all the time. Take a week, go spend time with the people you love, go take a vacation. Carve a little bit of time out of this life. Chase for you, yes, but also remember to take time for yourself. Because if you don't take any time for yourself, you're just gonna wear yourself down, and you're gonna be exhausted. It's almost like we don't celebrate the individuality of every single chaser, right? Like you have the pageant brices and you have these other people who do the live streaming and then they they're on the road almost all the time. Then you have those people doing the van life, right? That, you know, they they adventure all the time. They live out of a van. Then you have other people like me. since I started chasing, I had a 50 hour week, 50 plus hour week job. trying to protect the homeland and come home safe then, and then trying to plan out taking care of the family and all the other stuff. We all have responsibilities is what I was trying to say. I've actually had this discussion, private discussion with at least a handful of chasers who said, Lori, I'm, you know, my wife is fixing to leave me if I decide to pursue a career in chasing. Guess what? It's time for a tactical pause. And people don't, I keep using that word, that term, tactical pause. In the moment you have time, there's something wrong here. If you feel that pull, and yes, maybe I'm preaching to the choir, maybe this is falling on deaf ears, maybe it's not the right thing to say. But if there's that problem in the relationship, fix that first. The storms will always be out there, right? everybody just needs to to focus on reality. I think it's so essential that you can take care of your personal business before you go dealing with chasing business. that was another loriism. Deal with your personal business before you do chasing business. And if you can make chasing business your personal business, more power to you. Like, where are you guys at as far as, you kind of on a, on a pause right now before you, before storm season comes in? Because now you don't really have to go far. You don't have to full send if storms come to Kansas. I'm sure chasing is still in the pie in the in the plants a big part of it. We are still chasing. We've gone on to kind of localizations this year. Nothing, nothing spectacular. We have to be realistic this year because of the baby. um There's also the fact that like we have to be realistic as far as like my side of the house to. Yeah, with the army. Yeah, because we're I'm missing the peak season yet again that everybody traditionally knows that, you know, the March through May kind of thing where it's going to be we're going to be at an end to end of April. So it's like, okay, that's another that's another year where the middle of the season is gone. Then there's also adding in the fact of we don't have I won't have second season most likely will not have next year's storm season most likely because I'm going to miss it because I'm probably going to be in Europe. I have no idea when we're leaving or what any of that. like it just Wow. looking like 2028 might be the year that we get to finally do some full on chasing again. Looks like it, but we will see. We're doing a chasecation this year. We're taking little man and giving him to grandma for a week and a half. my biggest worry for some of the people who dislike me in the community. If you see me with my kid out on a chase, it's gonna be for structure shots and like far far away tornado stuff. we're not getting close, no way. No zero metering. But as far as the way some of these people drive, as far as projects, I don't think we have anything much going on. We're still gonna do photography. Most if not all of the pictures from this chase season on expired film, expired 35 millimeter film. So because that's what my Silverton shot was on. And I think it. kidding. Do we have that here? Is you let's pull that up. Do you mind if I bring those up now? So you take it away. What is this shot? Oh God. So what a memory. This was Chasecation 2023. are, it did not look like it was going to do anything spectacular. So to start Chasecation off, went from El Paso, Texas to Finley, Ohio. It was a straight up 24 hour drive. God. We went to see his mom and we spent less than 24 hours in Finley before we checked models and saw that Amarillo might do some cool stuff. didn't even, we barely slept. We didn't really sleep and then we drove from Finley, Ohio to Amarillo, Texas. So this is in the span of probably about 72 hours. Yeah. I don't think I've ever felt worse than after we got through with that drive. But that was- a text story of That's I'm gonna text Lori a picture, because I just, you don't have to show this on the podcast, but this will give you an idea of how absolutely exhausted we But that was me sitting here thinking how worth it it was. Because that was one of the prettier supercells for 2023. was. Yeah. and everything in there, beautiful. Nice clean too. It went tornado warned um out near Panhandle, Texas. And yeah, she'll love that. Oh, that's fine. They terrible pictures. Oh, this one. I was seven months pregnant in this picture. This was our paternity shoot. You actually took this photo for us. um yeah, was about to say who took this photo because they're obviously really good at nailing exposure because it's great no. Phenomenal. We could not have asked for a better photographer. That's all I'm saying. That was our... not posed let's put it that way This was in white sands and there was a haboob that it just pretty much ripped through the whole area so we had to duck and cover for a little bit and then it passed and then you guys got upset up and There was there was lightning but we didn't actually get a shot now that would have been like Life-changing for me to get a bolt, you know in this image here with like in the background You guys tried, you just, had them sitting guys, by the way. I had them sitting like, now just be all lovey dovey within there. just all, you know, this is not in this shop, but there was this storm off in the distance, dropping lightning pretty far away. They were safe. We were safe, trust me. But, um, we tried and we tried and they were like, okay, we've, we're kind of lovey doveyed out now. And we just kind of gave up and then we came over here. We saw the rainbow. I saw the rainbow and I was like, you guys, just, just, and I didn't have to. The greatest thing about being a photographer is not having to pose people. You direct people. If you're going to be a portrait photographer, don't learn to pose people. to direct them. And I didn't even have to direct. They just said, over there. And these two were just, I mean, they were just connected at the hip. And it was such a blessing for me to be able to capture these photos. there's They'll share them, I guess there's links somewhere for the whole set, but we got some really cool shots of them walking along the dunes with the little footprints and a whole bunch of stuff. And no, I'm not really available for these kind of portraits anymore. I'm trying to change things up and do storm chasing. um But maybe if it's a... best things that anybody could have ever done for us though. This was one of the best days. So I was seven months pregnant with our son. Laurie has the blackmail pictures of me trying to get up the dunes at seven months pregnant. that was the... yeah, what you don't see on the other side of this dress is a massive slit down the leg and my panties were just showing the entire time. The poor families that were just there to sled. You guys kept covering them. there, they were just like getting like... Me and my granny panties. Yeah, the free granny panty shot. You know what? It is what it is. And I love that this is natural wind. It's not, know, some photographers will hook up wires to dresses and do this and that. Now this is, this is the blowing wind. It was insane chaos. Even at this point, it was still really windy. was insanely wimpy. I just saw the moment and the fact that these two are madly in love with each other and you see it. And it's just a blessing to be able to share that. And for me to be able to have captured that and shared that with everybody. Okay, we could stay on this photo, but I won't, promise. And then you're boo. So this is probably about two minutes after I had not even two minutes. This one's a little intimate. This is after, and I know some people know how hard the birth was on me, but this is after, this is day three of being in labor. um And this was after three hours of pushing. And this was also probably about 30 minutes after like- My epidural wore off. Well, yeah, no, her epidural wore off at about 45 minutes before she gave birth. And she was just like, I'm tired. I'm tired. want to stop. And I'm like, hey, we're almost there. You just have to go a little bit farther. That's it. And I could see she was exhausted. Like, I couldn't imagine having to put in that kind of work. I... But a stronger woman couldn't. I think it changed. I think it changed both of us. It kind of showed me the extent of what the female body can do. And seeing that little life in my arms that I made from literally just two selves, I watched them grow, got to see them on ultrasounds every week because I was a high risk pregnancy too. ah Yeah, there was a period there where it was like either every week or every other week we were at the doctor. just having him in our arms and he was a very prayed for and very plant baby so he he was very welcome you can see Mason's crying in the picture oh yeah no I am crying any any father you know that is any father who sits there and says oh I didn't cry they're full of shit no oh yeah that is you, uh so you weren't pissed at him at this point? Yeah. OK, good. the only, I was just, there was a point where I was scared because I was so tired. I didn't want to have a C-section. Yeah, no. That's what I was trying to talk her through, was like, hey, if you keep going, we're almost there. This is why it's important to make sure you choose who you have a child with. Hmm. So you're saying good job, basically? Good man. Good job. ah Good coach. Oh, this day. Ah, so this is, uh, second? wasn't there, you left. I'm trying to remember. I'm trying to remember. No, this is Crowell, Texas. This is actually, so this was a very, this is one of those moments where it's like, when I tell people like chasing while you're in the army is kind of difficult. And sometimes you get lucky with command teams, officers, people you work with. So. Everybody in my chain of command at SIL throughout my entire time I was there I had three commanders? Three commanders. uh And a bunch of different officers appointed over me and NCOs appointed over me that were in charge of me. ah My arms room officer. So we had to get ready for an inventory. And she told me, cause she was a closeted storm chaser of sorts. And she told me, she's like, hey, so here's the deal. You're done, right? And she like looked at me with like this like intent like you need to tell me that you're done because I need to hear that you're done kind of face like the one where like yeah you did the thing right? Yeah, yeah, yeah, I did the thing. did the thing. So she's like all right I'm gonna release you at 1400 if they ask me where you are you're handling something else. I bolted out the door got to my truck drove home got out of uniform as fast as I could. I didn't even really check like Models or anything. Yeah just I was like alright so it was like a day that I think it was like Seminole Oklahoma also had a tornado like there were a bunch of chasers like gauge shot all them that were all in like Seminole and I was like do I want to see a rain-wrapped like wedge in the woods or do I want to go out on the flatlands of like the Red River Valley in Texas and go see a tornado I drove yeah I drove like I got there maybe like an hour before the storm like produced this tornado. I got there right after another tornado had dropped and produced and I was trying to get like caught up with a conga line and then I saw down the road because I was on another road not this road. I was like okay I see the conga line I need to turn around go back because I'm gonna get ahead of them and then I stopped maybe about two miles from here was watching the storm come together and I was like okay I need to move up. got up maybe about a mile from where I had stopped before and then stopped and took this picture from the side of the road. My truck was backed into the ditch to get off the highway. I was kind of in a... right here on the, you know, on the right lane or you didn't park your truck blocking both lanes? could have tried that, I just don't have the money for No, he's not employed by News 9, don't worry. We can leave that shot in there. Yeah. But it was definitely one of those days where was like, am definitely either going to be either reward or it's going to be bust. And it was definitely a river or that Texas red mud being sucked up Yeah, is that hail on the road to look like a little bit of peas? that's I think that's just the way like some of those roads out there and rule like Like Red River Valley of Texas. They have that grainy like texture It was just perfect perfect day Dude, that's that's a that's beautiful, man. Did you I would have printed this and put it on my wall. That's for sure. Love the structure. It's clean. I know you guys just moved to Kansas, so you have time to put new stuff on the walls. I hate you. I know what this is. I've only I never want to see a picture of Silverton in my life. We kind of tormented you with this one, I guess. um so we kind of tormented you with this one. Sorry So I'm gonna preface this by saying One of our friends in Amarillo Scotty Vandervoord um Amarillo class on Twitter um I've been talking to him for a long time about how I wanted to get into film and I want to preface this again by saying coming out of alcoholism, lost my job. I'm not made of money. So me getting a new camera. saw him like a week, a week before we took this photo. That was the same weekend. Was it the same? Yes. I could have sworn it was a couple of days before. But we like I, I've been telling me I want to get film, give any recommendations, hopefully on the cheaper sides where I can save up for it. I don't have a job. I'm a stay at home mom, blah, blah, all this stuff. I don't make money. So I'm at the behest of what what he gives me. I know it sounds bad, but... It does sound kind of bad, but I treat you pretty good, think. You do, you do. um it's both of your money, come on, we know. Yeah, but we went and had dinner with him at Sharkey's Burritos in Amarillo and he presented me with an old Olympus, I think it was an OM20 and a roll of film and I remember having no idea what I was doing with this film camera. I was just like, I'm gonna set up what I think is correct. It was more the look on your face when he gave it to you because you're like, oh, this is to borrow, right? And he's like, no, no, gave it to me. This is like, So. um I set it to what settings I thought would be best. I had no idea what I'm doing film wise. um I just kind of had like, okay, so digital, put film, hopefully. that is though, too, though, man. Like, look at how much detail. Zoom, zoom, zoom, zoom. look at that cow, like, you know, sniffing the other one's butt. No, I'm just kidding. But seriously, there's there's high resolution using that kind of that film, too. It's just so much detail into the image. And the color. um I'll never forget because like that film like we pulled it out of the camera and I think I was like We were still doing like half days We still hadn't like gotten all our equipment back and I We had rotated as a platoon like who the NCOs were gonna be on rail I got off at noon and she was at work still and I took her and dropped her camp her her film off at a camera shop in El Paso because it the only one in the El Paso area that dealt in in film Yeah. Yeah, and dropped it off and they said, what's the email? And I gave her her, I gave them her email and they said, it'll be in about 10, 10 to 12 days. So pick her up from work, tell her that. And then when we got these back, the look on her face alone before, I didn't even look at the picture yet. She's she's just looking at the picture. Yeah. and you don't know you don't get to touch imp and go There it is. You have to wait sit and wait for film to be developed kiddos. If you don't know what that's like, oh brutal actually at work. I remember when I got the email and I'm I was a terrible employee and I was just, you know, checking my email at work and I got the picture and I was just like, I wanted to cry because I was like, this is the shot that I've been wanting for a long time. Like this, this is it. I got the actual like thick tornado, the stovepipe on film, but it does not compare to this. um I showed it to Mason. I was just like. I did it like this is this was one of my like. bucket list shots. And I think what's really good is that like, so I wanted to get close to the rope out, like I wanted to be able to like film and like look straight up the thing and like, see the whole like structure of the of the rope out. She was yelling at me. like, was like, no, drop me off here. I do not want to be up his butt. I want to get this right here. I almost stopped. I almost stopped dropped her off, like she said, but I was like, you know what, I'm gonna hang here. This is the better. This is a better spot to look. I don't need to be up its butt. It's not even a dirt road either. So what a what a privilege. I think the only other people on that road were like two or three, like I know Jim Tang was on that road. Jim Tang was like a couple hundred feet behind us. like he is. He's spectacular person. Yeah, he is. um But yeah, I got this shot and I got there, I think I got a couple other shots and I kind of been keeping a few to myself. I shared one on Twitter the other day. It was just, it was the Denver City Supercell with the tractor out front. Yeah. But yeah, my goal this year is to do everything on expired film. um If I can do. If I can. Oh, had set my phone up. No, this was a was there's this I don't know. You probably know about this, Lori. There's this junkie little lightning trigger on iPhone, right? yeah. No, that was your fault. Yeah. Because I had set up. I had done the time lapse earlier. Yeah, you did the time lapse that I. it. Phil was the one. Phil from Stormfront Freaks is the one that told me about it. But you know what, man? Look, you've got the little teeth on the supercell in here, and you've got the little bolt. And I don't that's the two of you, because that does not look like Mason. OK. Somebody is looking down at his phone instead of at the storm. This was a day in New I I was trying to see if it had rotation. We had been waiting for this thing to do something. This was a New Mexico day. I think this was in September or something. I say this was our second Clovis day of 2020. I don't remember. But I know that there were two targets. There were two targets. There was one up near Clovis and there was one down near... This is coming into Roswell. This is when Roswell got really badly flooded. Oh yeah. Oh, the drive back. That's another story. But a lot of people broke off, went for the Northern Target. They went to Clovis. to Clovis. And we were, we had to work the next day. So we were like, you know what, we're going to start heading back towards El Paso. going to go to Roswell, call it a night. There was a cell down there that kind of looked a little cute, I guess. Didn't look like it was going to do much, but we headed towards it. And then it just It's shaped up to be a gorgeous storm. There were, there was, you would have to ask the groundhogs if there was circulation on the ground, because there were a bunch of times where it looked like it was on the um, wasn't Amy Howard? Oh, the only people I know of that were on the storm with us were Ryan Scholl and I think Amy Howard was on the storm. Yeah, because I think we posted the picture and then Amy Howard was like, Oh, that was you guys? Yeah. Yeah. Because she was like, I think not even 100 feet. She's just like right behind us, yeah. Yeah, there's there's clear rotation right in here. Beautiful. And then it's all backed and everything. and we watched it, you know, until it got too dark and we decided to... LP there. Yeah, I think we called it and then went went home. We Side note we tried to go home through Roswell, but they closed all roads in Roswell because they were flooded so we had to go back up to Vaughan and Then go all the way back down through like what was it Tularosa? Yeah, it was Tularosa court court. Mm-hmm Carrizozo or whatever the hell that town was called. Yeah. It was it was Yeah, and instead of getting home, you know, like a decent hour, like nine o'clock, we got home at like, I think it was one and I had to work the next, we both did. We both had to work the next morning. Getting up in the morning was just... um Well, we went through so many different things and you all, you know, I've asked questions about, know, what advice you would give. Usually I reserve those till the end, but we kind of went right into it. You know, you were talking about some heavy stuff. I appreciate you being so vulnerable also. It's, hard, right? I mean, we're, talking and we know other people are going to watch this. but I, honestly, I think, I think it's essential that we have these conversations and that other people know that none of us are perfect. We're all stumbling forward, right? But I think it's important that we support one another and also learn to forgive each other and most importantly, learn to forgive ourselves, right? There's so much that I have work to do on my own self, at almost 55. So, you know, there's so much to do. Yes, I'm almost 55. No judgment here. I think there's a lot to gain by listening in to this to the full podcast and not just a clip or a snippet, but a real quick. want to just do a quick lightning round with you all before I let you all go, because your baby's probably like, where the heck is mom at this point? if you if you had to take either from a Either from a photography perspective or a chasing perspective mountains or oceans go Okay tornadoes or structure you can only be one tornadoes. That was not lightning. That was very delayed. I know, it's such a struggle though, cause like, I'm not gonna lie, I'm kind of a self-professed structure slut when it comes to it, so it's like... So if you could choose any vehicle to chase in, what would be your ideal chase vehicle? 1994 Geometric. my gosh, the three cylinder? Are you kidding? that three cylinder, that's like 40 horsepower. I'm gonna stay, I'm just gonna stick in the red, the red Colorado. It's such a, it's such a unknown vehicle. Yeah, everybody sees that red Colorado with a snorkel pull up and it's like, yeah, there they are. there they are. Sunrise or sunset? Sunrise. I'm gonna, yeah, sunset. I'm of, I'm stuck for sunset. Good, good, good. And by the way, just, I like the red truck, just don't get into my composition. That's so funny. I never told you guys, I was like, who the F are these people getting in my shot? And then I was like, oh, it's Cassie and Mason, sorry. And I forgot, I couldn't get your name right either. I was like, Craig? And you're like, Mason, Mason? I don't know, I kept screwing it up. You're like, it's okay, we forgive you. I don't know. I'm such a dope. it. no, you're not. oh things. I was struck by lightning, y'all, you know, in 1998 So, okay. What's your top item on your bucket list? We got to let you go, but what's your final, final thing? What's your top bucket list item now? You've already gotten a couple of bucket lists like that. Silverton tornado. Ooh, that's a... what kind of question is that? Uh... She's talking like... I think she's talking like, you know, like tough like, like things, things we haven't seen. Yeah, what's something you want to capture at some point in the future? I want Chapman 2.0 on film. Chapman Kansas. The Avaline Chapman Kansas 2018 I'd say. was 16. Just like a photogenic gorgeous wedge or Bennington. I I want a Kansas wedge on film. Like no I don't want a Plevna. I don't want a Greensburg. Yeah. way the film captures all the detail and the contrast. That sounds good. say a Kansas wedge, like I said, 16 years, still haven't seen a tornado in this godforsaken state. uh I want to go back and chase South Dakota, because the only thing I ever saw in South Dakota was just a little wimpy little noodle. I want to see like a Manchester. I want to see a Manchester or like a Bowdoll. That's what I want to see. ooh. A super-soul over the badlands. There we go. That would be, yeah. We have access to that now. We can do that now. Yeah. We don't have to drive two days to get there. Do so y'all need to knock it off guys, this has been fun. Thanks for so thanks so much for just being vulnerable again, but also having fun sharing some of the fun stuff too, You guys have gotten gone through some really tough stuff and then you get to enjoy the chase. Right. You guys love each other to chasers who I can't get my spouse to come. I can't get my kids to go chasing with me. You all are very lucky and you know to be able to love what you do and to be able to love that same passion to get out there again also. So I just want to thank you again for coming on the on the podcast. Thank you one final thing. Where can they find your links? The easiest way to find you on social media. You can look me up on Twitter. That's where I post most of my chasing related stuff. It's going to be Cass wait no Cassie Fry underscore WX Yours is Mason. Yep. No, yep. F R E Y Even though it is it looks like it's it's spelled the same way as the phrase from Game of Thrones, but it is not set the same And then Mason you can find him it masonfrya underscore wx yeah i always forget if it's underscore it is yeah and then um that's really the only form of social media that we have Thanks again, guys, for being here. But please like and subscribe and all that stuff. Take care of Mason and Cassie. Take it right.