pra(y)rie thunderstorms...

The clouds had been forming along the northern horizon all day.
The towns were evenly spaced, thirty miles apart.
Ride into town,
hand crank the radio,
listen to the latest forecast.
Chance of severe thunderstorms 30%, mainly in areas of the Nebraska pan handle.
I was on the edge of the Nebraska pan handle.
Ride to next town...
Repeat.
Around 8 i found a beautiful spot.
With fairly clear skies I bedded down for the night.
Mosquitoes forced me inside, where i ate peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and read.
Occasionally I turned to check to skies.
Clear.
Clear, cloudy to the north.
Clear, cloudy to the north and west.
Cloudy.
Cloudy, lightning.
Cloudy, lots of lightning.
Shit.
Around 10 I stepped out into the night.
Lightning raced across the northern horizon, the western horizon, and the southern horizon.
I was surrounded.
Put on the rain fly,
drive the stakes as deep as they go,
cinch everything down,
buckled everything up,
get in.
Thunder begins to rumble, lightning moves closer.
Turn off the head lamp.
Wait.
So quiet...
.
.
.
BOOOOM!
Thunder cracks above me.
The tent lights up with streaks of lightning flying across the sky.
BOOOOM!
CRACK!
The ground shakes,
the tent is completely lit up by lightning so close the hair on my legs stands up.
BOOOM!CRACK!BOOM!
Blinding me as if someone quickly shut of the lights in an illuminated room.
Oh fuckkkkkk.....
What do I do?
Nearest town ten miles back...
Do i make a break for it?
Do i move camp to lower ground?
Do i move my bike away from me?
BOOM!CRACK!CRACK!
.
.
.
shhhhhhhhhhh....
It all stops.
So quiet.
Then
The
Wind
Starts
Howling.
Howling like i have never felt before.
It whips out of the north.
The tent is pushed in against the right side of my body.
Hail.
Big hail.
Hail pinging off the tent so hard i wait for it to be torn to shreds.
Rain.
Buckets of rain.
Rain pouring down so hard it's collapsing the tent.
All the while the lightning is dancing all around and the thunder is rumbling like a train roaring towards me.
i pray.
sincerely.
prayers of fear.
prayers for safety.
i wonder what people do on the sea?
i wonder what will happen when the wind rips the top off the tent?
i wonder what it feels like to be struck by lightning?
but,
it held.
It held and i fell asleep.
It held, I fell asleep, and I slept soundly.
Hell broke loose and I slept the sleep of the dead.
And the next day the sun came out.
And i said thank you.
And i got on my bike
And i rode away.
And i marvelled at the amazement of it all.