and it reminded me of one about ten years ago.
I'd been down in Fort Worth visiting friends, and started back on Sunday evening with storms between me and home. Got to a little south of the border before I ran into them: strong, gusting winds, heavy rain, lots of lightning, the only thing missing was hail. I kept going and about the time I passed Ardmore I hit the big one. Rain was pouring and blowing so hard I finally couldn't see the lines on the road and decided to pull over for a bit.
There were headlights behind me and apparently my worries about them running into me were not needed, as they- keeping their distance- followed me onto the shoulder and stopped. I sat there about five minutes trying different radio stations with no luck, there was so much lightning so close that both AM and FM stations were nothing but static.
Finally the rain eased enough I could see a bit, and since the storm seemed to be moving more east than north I decided to get moving and try to get out from under this cell. I got up to a whole 25-30 mph when a gust hit me so hard it shoved me onto the shoulder. Where I stopped while A: saying some words and B: being glad I wasn't in the ditch. The rain and lightning eased up a bit and I got moving. Radio reception was much better though in normal conditions would still have been classed as 'lousy', and another storm alert came on: radar indicated a tornado X miles north of Ardmore, 'just crossed I-35 heading east'.
I looked at the odometer, said a couple of very rude things, and wondered whether it had been in front of me, behind me or off the ground.
Rainy nights like that I can live without, thank you kindly.
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