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(meteorobs) Defeat...and victory! What a great 'crash'...!




Hello everybody,

Just returned from our long and memorable journey. A little bit two-faced.
Part of our group (Betlem c.s.) reportedly saw the outburst, though we don't
have exact details yet. We (=the team including Casper, Carl, Koen, Robert
and me) didn't. I guess we went 'a bridge too far' or maybe 'not far enough'!

In short: the front speedied up dramatically. We really couldn't beat it,
though Robert drives very (very...!) fast. Short before reaching Berlin,
Hans Betlem et al. decided to cancel the campaign and return. In the
vicinity of Hannover, they met large clearings. Reportedly, they have seen
and photographed the outburst but we don't have exact details available yet
(only a short message on our answering machine).

And then, what about us? Listen to a frightening story. This was really
incredible. Never had such a dose of bad luck before, though I must stress
we have had a great time! In short, what should YOU think when you:

-suffer a boiling car engine after 75 km's of travel because your car rentel
company didn't check the level of the cooling fluid before giving you the
car for rent....

-see your GPS receiver ($270) sliding of the dashboard and dash away through
the open side-window of your car when you are taking a strong twist in the
road at considerable speed.... (and amazingly, it survived! Those things are
really very robust...!)

-Get to within 124 km of the Polish-German border near local midnight after
a 600 km (~400 mile) frantic chase to beat the front rolling over Europe
like a steamroller...and then having to surrender because the drivers have
reached their limits of capability and you know it will take you at least
300 km's extra to have any real chance of bright skies...

-Meet a giant traffic jam due to an accident on your way back which get's
you stuck on a highway near Magdeburg for 3 (three) hours...

-See a truck crashing into the side of the highway (moving in a direction
perpendicular as it should be moving) only 50 yards behind you (and only
seconds after another truck almost crushed you between himself and the
crash-barrier...)....

-!!! coming home, read that there HAS been an outburst over Europe, that was
seen by those in your group that surrendered first (that means: the WEAK
ones...!) and not by YOU...! After all these desperate efforts...!!!

...I guess, we have had our dose of bad luck... But Boy, what a great time
we have had! After we quit (at location 52 degrees 41' 03" N, 13 degrees 35'
07" E, northeast of Berlin. We left from De Bilt which is in the center of
the Netherlands at 52 degees 06' 41" N, 5 degrees 11' 15" E. Look this
distance up on a map!) we drove back to Berlin and (after checking in in a
nice Hotel) ended this hectic effort with a cool drink and some food at the
famous Kurfurstendamm in Berlin, just next to the famous bombed ruin of the
Gedachtnisskirche. We have done all we could, but we were beaten by the
unexpected rapid 'blitzkrieg' of this monster front, and (may I ad) by some
slight incompetence of our meteorologists who didn't tell us that it might
be better to stay around Hannover or even the Netherlands... Even some parts
of the Netherlands seem to have had some (considerable) spells of clear skies...

Next time, our scenario will be to move in advance, one or two days earlier,
to an area with good prospects, and if neccesary 'crash' from there even
further away. If we had gone for Poland one day earlier, we would have had a
first class view because we would indeed have reached deep enough to the
east. Also, we think we are not going to argue for long with our other
people about maximum distances, scenario's etcetera (as we did now): we just
go if we think it  has a chance. Even if it means that we don't take our
photo-equipment with us. This was another reason why we decided not to go
into Poland: it would have meant that we would have to leave one person (and
one driver!) with the equipment. We didn't want to take it into Poland ($20
000 of high-tech equipment!): Poland is not a member of the EU and we
expected trouble with customs. You never know whether you can 'lose' your
equipment or many hours due to arguments with customs-officers in that way... 

Well, to finish it all: we had a great time, nice to see Berlin again, it
was a great experience, but we were beaten to only a few hundred kilometers
by fate, and we didn't see the event while it has been visible from
Europe... What a mess!! Should we laugh or cry?!? You tell us! This was
really one of the most strange experiences I ever had...


-Marco Langbroek

Dutch Meteor Society


PS: after all, I think our decision to get a hotel in Berlin and not to go
back was a very wise one after 12 hours on the road, with many kilometers
(and hours) to come the next day. But sadly, if we had taken the risk to go
back at once, we might have seen the event, like the other group that gave
up the chase earlier did... But I am lucky for them and all of you who also
saw it (congratulations!). Murphy, thou art Devilish! This really was the
limit for us. Next time, we do it differently. More efficiently. We learned
a lot of this experience, and that of course is a good thing too...
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