One of the most memorable rides of the summer found me an hour west of home, watching an approaching line of storm clouds. The storm front was to the north, heading south east. It was a race against nature in all its fury - our paths converged. Would I make it home before the lightning storm and torrential rains hit?
The raw power of this storm was amazing. The temperature difference between the hot muggy summer afternoon air, and the (seemingly) icy blast of air of the storm front was staggering. I rode through alternating pockets of still, hot, muggy air, and whirling, dust-filled "ice cold" air. I would never have felt these dramatic shifts in a car.
A mile from home the wind picked up with gusts up to 30 mph, and the street lights switched on beneath the dark clouds.
I rolled into my garage - safe and dry - not one minute too soon. The rain began in earnest behind me even as I closed the garage door.
I made it.
There's a certain apprehension, but also a definite invigorating effect from those balmy winds right before a storm hits. I love that part. Until either the rain starts or I get hit by lightning!
ReplyDeleteThe obviously automotive side-view mirror is a giveaway. These pics were taken from the comfort of a car, a chaser vehicle in my race against the storm.
ReplyDeleteI haven't found a way to safely snatch pictures from a moving motorcycle...
There is a way to do it ... I use a FlipCam. The picture's shaky, but I shoot a couple of minutes of video then select the best frames to turn into jpgs. In fact, I noticed a great self-portrait on the chrome mounted on my tank today, but didn't have my Flip handy! You can see my husband shot pics of me with it in my blog post about the 4th of July, http://www.lady-ryder.com/2010/07/steaming-hot-fourth.html.
ReplyDelete