Blowout

The sunset is incredible this evening, as you can almost see.

There’s a big boomerang-shaped black cloud off to the north side of the dazzling layers of reds and oranges and suddenly lightning abounds, flashing all around the edges of the horizon, originating from and illuminating the black cloud, flashing so frequently and bouncing around over every inch of sky, it seems like each bright stroke is vying for a bigger and longer explosion than the last one.

I’ve been in many lightning storms, and the ones in the Midwest have been the most brilliant but this one is greater than all the others combined. Soon the sporadic lights are accompanied by high winds and skies so dark, for the seconds between bursts, it seems I been submerged in a deep cave under the earth.

The rain starts, completing the storm’s wild symphony. Few trucks and even fewer cars have remained on the road. It takes all my focus to keep my truck in the proper lane and plunging forward. I slow down, sit forward, grip the wheel, and let the storm fill me with awe and wonder.

Suddenly, there’s a loud bang bang bang & I wonder if the engine has fallen out. The truck keeps her forward momentum, the temperature needle stays the steady course, and then I wonder if I’ve lost a solar panel or a part of my camper.

My last dread is perhaps I’ve hit something. It is impossible to see much of the road and even more impossible – and dangerous – to stop. The truck seems to be running as usual so I continue, hoping that I’m not exasperating any damage by continuing. I do the math and think I’m about 10 miles from the next rest stop, where I had intended to stop anyway.

I do make it to the rest stop, hop out and quickly check my tires first. The lightning has mostly – but not totally – subsided & I have no intention of becoming toast! The back outside tire on the right has blown to bits. Nothing I can do about it now – or nothing that will not cost me a fortune being Sunday night and in the middle of nowhere, I do not have – so I’ll just wait until the morning.