SPRING VALLEY – Beth Croes is always up for an adventure. Whether that’s storm chasing, training as a storm spotter or opening a coffee/food truck business, you can be sure that she’ll throw herself into it 100%.

You may have seen Croes’ detailed and informative weather updates on local community social media pages. Or perhaps you’ve seen her working at Half Fast Brewery in Spring Valley, substitute teaching for Spring Valley schools or operating her brand-new coffee/food truck business, Wake & Bake Coffee.

Croes blames/credits her wide array of interests on her “ADHD hyper focus.”

“My husband (Aaron) is a patient man,” Croes laughed.

Croes, who is originally from River Falls but now lives in Martell, was watching a storm chasing show and realized it was right up her alley.

“I fell in love with it,” Croes said. “Storm spotting, storm chasing.”

She became certified through the National Weather Service SKYWARN Storm Spotter Program, which has between 350,000 and 400,000 trained volunteer severe weather spotters.

“These volunteers help keep their local communities safe by providing timely and accurate reports of severe weather to the National Weather Service,” the NWS website states. “Although SKYWARN® spotters provide essential information for all types of weather hazards, the focus is reporting on severe local thunderstorms.”

In an average year, the United States experiences more than 10,000 severe thunderstorms, 5,000 floods and more than 1,000 tornadoes, according to the NWS. Croes believes everyone should be weather aware.

“It’s a really easy class and I think everyone should take it,” she said. “People need to be weather aware, especially with all flooding we’ve been experiencing across the country. I don’t think people understand how dangerous those storms are, especially after a long dry spell. If there is a chance there could be bad, bad weather … if nobody knows, it does freak me out.”

People can find Croes’ weather updates published on the Spring Valley Community Facebook page. She bought and installed a weather station at their home that the NWS can tap into.

While her husband is supportive of her weather obsession, he doesn’t particularly love it, Croes said.

“I love tornadoes. I absolutely love tornadoes,” Croes said. “I’ve never been caught in a tornado. I had to promise him that I wouldn’t drive myself into a tornado.”

When the tornado touched down recently near New Richmond, she was stuck in the Spring Valley Middle/High School girls locker room with about 40 kids.

“All the kids know that I love storm chasing,” Croes said. “It was comforting for them, the information I could give them. ‘We are safe, there’s no reason to be scared.’”

This year, she created a Spring Valley version of Ms. Frizzle’s Magic School Bus for second and third graders. She used 18 fans, tinted out the lights, sprayed water and cologne that smelled like dirt to teach them what it was like to be in a tornado.

“They absolutely loved it,” Croes said. “I had one kid last year who said he is going to become a meteorologist someday.”

Her dream is to ride with extreme meteorologist and storm chaser Reed Timmer in his armored vehicle into a tornado someday. Croes is one of 200 members of Timmer’s Team Dominator Storm Recovery organization, which provides supplies, support and hope to those affected by extreme weather events. After flooding in North Carolina this past spring, Croes spear-headed efforts to gather donations for people there in need. Area businesses, such as Table on Main in River Falls, Half Fast Brewing and Spring Valley schools collected donations, which filled a U-Haul truck and trailer.

“We drove it down there and back in three days,” Croes said.

It’s that can-do attitude and ambition that led Croes to start a coffee/food truck business.

“Working at the brewery, there is such a need for food, especially on Sunday nights,” Croes said. “I heard people talking and wishing there were more options.”

During a two-week trip to Australia in March, Croes convinced her husband they should open up a coffee shop. When an offer fell through on a local property, she changed her focus to a coffee trailer.

“We can be open whenever we want and I can move it,” she said.

When her husband gave the green light, she was one step ahead, as she already had one ready to look at.

“It was exactly what we wanted. I wanted to put in an offer right away,” Croes said. “I waited a solid five minutes and told them we’ll take it.”

Her husband wasn’t surprised, considering she bought a house when he was out of town once.

Wake & Bake Coffee serves hot and iced coffee, cold brew, creamers made fresh every week, and breakfast quesadillas made with homemade sourdough tortilla shells.

“Everything has to be local,” Croes said. “Everything is fresh. When we run out, we run out.”

Wake & Bake is open 6-10 a.m. Thursdays, 6-11 a.m. Fridays, 8 a.m. to noon Saturdays and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sundays, From 4-6 p.m. Sundays, the truck turns into “Half Baked,” serving gourmet loaded baked potatoes using local ingredients. They are currently parked at A+ Auto in Spring Valley.

“It’s a ton of fun,” Croes said. “My kids (ages 6, 10 and 11) are always asking if they can help out in the food trailer.”

To stay up to date on Wake & Bake’s offerings, follow them on social media.