I drove to Daleville, VA tonight, and as luck and timing would have it, traveled with an immense storm front for about the first four hours, complete with audio visuals. There’s nothing like a good thunderstorm to make you feel insignificant in the grand scheme of things.
What a show! I saw hundreds of lightning bolts, many pretty close up, stunning claps of thunder, all from the front-row seat provided by my truck. The rain cleansed the air and the roads, and kept more timid drivers parked. There were bolts that stabbed the earth, pinning it in million-volt orgies of light. Others hid among the clouds, occasionally peeking below as they redistributed electrical charges from place to place. Still others were thick, coiling, tortured ropes of light, roiling from place to place in a searching manner, looking for a terminal to expend their energy.
One stands out, though. Almost ruler-straight, it struck in a field adjacent to the highway, and seemed like it was a foot or more thick, looking like a luminescent, twisted, glowing rope of twisted cloth. Amazing. It looked sort of like this.
Thanks, Mother Nature.