We lined up at Melbourne airport (Tullamarine) mid afternoon for our 2045 departure to LA..to say that we weren't excited was an understatement! We noticed straight away that the airport looked almost deserted, with just a few people poking around the duty frees...the toilets were empty...then we remembered that the thingamajig volcano in Iceland had cleared half the earth's airspace.of chundering jets. This is not a promotion for V Australia, but the better than cheap fares, brand new Boeing 777's and a choice of 45 movies, not to mention games, TV and if you want to, you can chat to your next door neighbour..but being from a town with a population of 941 (Trentham), it feels a bit strange being crammed into a cylinder with 1/3 of of Trentham's population equivalent.

Flying eastward at 35,000' at 900kmh cuts the nighttime down to 6 hours, but after 4 movies, we felt like snoozing, but the wanker in the row behind us kept kicking the seats....so we were looking forward to landing at LA and arrived in just under 13 hours...40 minutes early. We hightailed it to the Radisson, a hot shower and bedtime...it's funny how you meet people when you least expect it! First of all a semi pro surfer carrying a 6 man tent on his back, heading for Mexico..this Ocean Grove chap works 6 months as a chippie and then spends the next 6 months wave slapping himself around the globe...next in line was an old friend, Claire McDonald..who's brother is the famous stormchaser Macca...we knew Clarie as a 16 year old...now in her mid 20's, she's heading over to Canada for a year's adventure.

After collapsing in bed, 3 hours later at 3am, I'm wandering around like a zombie, unable to sleep....today we travel on an 8.18 flight from LA to Denver..where we pick up our hirer. The only flights appearing to be landing at LAX were from Australia or China, there were no European flights....however the LA domestic airport was a different story. As the bus passed along the various air company entrances (dozens of them), we noted long queues...it was no exception at the united checkin...after waiting an hour in one queue, we finally made it to the head of the line, where we discovered that you check your own baggage in and struggled with a touch screen...fortunately Jane is more patient than me...I just looked around for someone to strangle!.....we finally check our bags and get directed to another queue where we wait another 30 minutes outside on an unseasonably cold LA morning...We finally line up at security where a smiling Mexican gentleman asks for ID.From this point on, Americans become bamboozled when they see something out of the ordinary, and that is an Australian drivers licence...they get this strange vacant look and look at both sides 3 or 4 times and at that point you announce that it is an Australian licence. The most favourite saying at places like this, when you have passed through is 'have a nice day" . We forge onto the next obstacle where we are told to remove everything like shoes, belts, jewellery, wallets, in fact anything that looks like it might set off an alarm...we pass through an opening that resembles a Stargate...I notice an old guy on the next one trying to hold up his pants. Americans are always very polite in this situation and pretend to ignore what is going on (the guy holding up his pants). A very large Negro woman takes a fancy to our camera bag (for the third time on this trip) and gets stuck into it with a sniffer machine....finding nothing, we get "have a nice day"....by this time, we are 10 minutes past our plane loading time so we are in a bit of a panic. We go up a long escalator, around a few corners and find our gate...we are among the last on our Airbus 319..interestingly, we don't get greeted like we do in Australia, everyone has to find their own seat. We depart LA domestic 14 minutes early - United Airlines hold the No 1 position for on-time departures and arrivals.

We are soon flying across the southern suburbs of Los Angeles (Anaheim) and already we can see the snow on the nearby ranges. A big cold pool low pressure system had been lingering over northern California for several days. A flight to Denver was good, especially with the views of the snow covered countryside underneath. There were vast areas of snowfields...in, fact, we've never seen so much snow! It appears that winter was lingering well into April across the Rockies. We approach Denver International airport form the south, circled around and landed 20 minutes ahead of time! According to the pilot, that was good news...then he announced the bad news...we have to wait for a parking lot - but cheerfully he told us we'd still get in 4 minutes early! There is absolutely no comparison between Denver International and LAX!! It is a mind blowing experience.....the sheer opulence almost makes it a very pleasant experience to be in an airport...the escalator/people movers speed you along at near 20 miles per hour, and you can still walk at the same time..we make our way towards the baggage claim and find that you have to board a train (subway) - the first thing you hear is country and western music blaring away as the doors open and then again as the doors close. I spin my head to look for the driver...there ain't any! There's no steering wheel or driver's controls - absolutely nothing! These trains are fully automated, and worse was to come! They run on rubber tyres.....nvertheless, they run very efficiently, and we race off to the baggage claim. This undergrownd 'rail system' is clean and efficient. We arrive at the baggage station, called the 'Baggage Station', and wander off through an opening to the escalators where we find our bags miraculously doing loop the loops around the conveyor.   With the knowledge that big storms were brewing on the nearby plains, we go looking for our Thrifty car hire booth. Finding that, we are directed to a bus where we find a friendly helpful driver.A 10 minute drive in and out of pick up stations at various locations along the airport and we arrive at the car hire. Annoying prolonged paperwork, and into the car lot to pick our vehicle. Large car hire companies in America allow you wander through a lot to literally choose the vehicle for your needs. This is a pretty good set up! We choose a reliable, bright red Dodge Charger with 36000 miles on the clock.

Denver airport is a great place to start chasing....it has easy escape routes to the east on the I70 with not too much traffic...we point our Red Bull Charger to the east and line up for the mammatus cascading down from a supercell in the distance.....

see Day 1 stormchase.....

Power station generates its own cloud as we leave LA

The unseasonably cold weather brought snow to the hills behind LA

Rocky Mountains snowfields. The massive surge of arctic brought wide snowfalls to even the lower areas of the Rockies.

Snow covered farmland

Frozen lakes, central Rockies

Spectacular fresh snow fall - high Rockies, a few places had more than 30cm in one day.