Evanston Aug 9

The next morning I was up and packed by 7:30. I loaded the bike I discovered all the damage. Replaying the previous night, I thanked God that I wasn't hurt. There is a saying about making an omelet and cracking eggs. I guess the scratches on my bike were just part of the price of an incredible omelet. Realizing that's why I have insurance, I fueled up and hit the road. My goal was to get home if I could.

Stopping in the middle of Nebraska at a rest stop, I napped for 15-minutes. I was making good time but was running out of daylight again. I hope to be in Morton by 5:00 am on Wednesday. As the dark closed in I started slowing down a little. Deer are nothing to mess around with on a bike. I stayed behind cars and hung with traffic. As I drove I started to wonder if I was seeing things. A line of light kept appearing to the left on I-80 up high. I watched it appear and disappear over and over again. It was the beginning of a big thunderstorm. As I approached Des Moines the lighting lit up huge storm clouds. I was almost totally sure that I was going to slip by it. Once in Des Moines the storm seemed to suddenly be all around me. The lightning was everywhere and close. I pulled off the interstate to find a place to hide out while the storm passed. The closest thing was a Git and Go gas station. I pulled in under the pump island and put a couple of gallons in and ran into the store. I grabbed a fountain drink and watched the parking lot turn into a river.

It poured buckets for 2 hours. The lady that was running the shop told me that a lot of the rivers and creeks were at flood stage. So I had to spend two hours making small talk with a 3 time divorced mother of four that grew up in Alabama but really felt like Mississippi was her home. She was a talker let me tell you. Thank God, too. Every minute she spent explaining her life was what I like to think of as "dry time". She was a nice lady that could have kick me out but instead let me have a couple of free refills and a milk crate to sit on. Not bad for 2:00 a.m. and three hundred miles from home. So as the rain let up I told the lady thank you and good-bye and headed to the closest hotel.