Lightning... crikeys, mate!!
Wow... last night I experienced the scariest driving situation I've ever experienced in my few months of driving. This went beyond the two idiots who almost hit me while I was still learning to drive. LIGHTNING!! I'm not just talking lightning. I'm talking the kind of lightning that lights up the whole sky, crackling with deafening roars, and beating up the rain clouds so they release their contents in torrential, monsoon-like downpours.
It started out okay, just a little storm that would pass over, right? So I started driving down this little street when I noticed that not only was the lightning getting stronger, louder, faster and brighter, but the rain clouds weren't being as stingy with their rain as they had been a few minutes earlier. It was actually pouring!! Then I felt water tugging at Dante's tires and slowed down as I plowed through what seemed like a good half-inch of water on the road. For a long moment I debated whether I should turn back or not, but where I wanted to go wasn't far and I figured I'd be okay. So I tested the brakes (they worked) and continued on toward the main drag.
Which was well-lighted by store lights and street lamps. The rain was dumping down pretty good, but I knew I had to learn to drive in that kind of rain sometime and the last time I was in
rain anywhere near like that was on an interstate going at 60mph and hydroplaning. So I pushed forward. The speed limit was 40, I checked my speedometer to make sure I wasn't speeding. No chance of that! I was going 30 - and nervously. Again my thoughts turned to returning, but of course I was even closer now and there was no safe place TO turn around now. The rain started pounding against Dante's windshield as if it was seeking shelter from its own drenching nature. I increased the speed of the wipers as I approached the highway but it didn't help all that much. I looked forward to the well-kept smoothness of the highway where I figured I might be able to speed up just a little bit.
Instead of going 55-60, however, I checked the speedometer and realized I was still going 30 - and visibility was getting worse! Lightning crackled all around, shaking the ground that
Dante rolled upon, lighting up the sky and the rest of my surroundings in blinding flashes that made me blink in pain as my eyes adjusted to the contrasting degrees of light.
The wipers did nothing to help me see. I played with them a bit, turned them on, off, slower, faster. The water continued to run down the windshield as if I were in the rinse cycle of a
car wash. Then I felt the splashing. And Dante's wheels were no longer touching the ground. I slowed to 25mph as the wind tossed me softly from side to side with its indecision. Finally
his wheels grasped the pavement beneath the water and I was able to keep control. The rain swept into another direction temporarily and I was able to see what was causing the sensation
of splashing. The highway itself was all water! It was so deep that it was splashing up Dante's side and part of his front end and contributing to the river running down my windshield. It
was like plunging frontend-first into a river.
For a split second I considered calling my boyfriend to let him know I was still okay. That thought was instantly pushed out as Dante's whole body was rattled with the vibration of another strike. The bolt was in front of me and to my left off in the distance; I saw it right through the flood on the windshield as if it were clear as day. The sky glowed purple for a moment after the bolt dissipated into the ground.
Within a few moments I was finally, after what seemed like ages, at the turn in the highway that would lead me to my destination. As I slowed even more to safely make my turn, some idiot behind me sped up and passed in this tiny little rinky-dink car! I thought to myself, this guy's nuts, that little tiny thing is bound to get swept away in the water if he's not more careful
than that!!
I pulled into my boyfriend's driveway, beseeched the lightning to avoid me as I got out of the vehicle, and bolted for the door. Despite having darted through mostly water that had
collected all over the dirt driveway, my feet never got wet. I was dancing on its surface, that's how fast I was running!
God bless his soul, my boyfriend opened the door as I approached and ushered me in just as another peal of lightning lit up the landscape in its purplish glory. His eyes were like saucers,
wide and almost wild with worry. He listened to my agitated summary of my ordeal as I untied my shoes and absently marvelled at how dry my feet still were. Then he hugged me close. I kept pulling away to tell him more but kept finding myself comforted in his arms again and again. I guess if I had been frightened with my experience, not knowing how I was out there in that mess - which caused me to take three times as long getting to his place - well, it must have been exruciating for him. He later said he'd considered calling my cell but didn't dare lest he cause one more distraction in what must have been an already distracting situation. I thanked him for that one and admitted I thought about calling him but didn't dare. More thankful
hugging ensued.
I'm telling you, lightning is nothing to disrespect. It's powerful, awesome, and destructive. They say one of the safest places to be is inside a vehicle during a lightning storm, but I think they mean a /motionless/ vehicle, not one that's attempting to drive through bouts of pooled water and torrential rain and blinding peals of lightning!! Give me the safety of motionless shelter any day!!
THAT is MY rant for the day.
~nv
It started out okay, just a little storm that would pass over, right? So I started driving down this little street when I noticed that not only was the lightning getting stronger, louder, faster and brighter, but the rain clouds weren't being as stingy with their rain as they had been a few minutes earlier. It was actually pouring!! Then I felt water tugging at Dante's tires and slowed down as I plowed through what seemed like a good half-inch of water on the road. For a long moment I debated whether I should turn back or not, but where I wanted to go wasn't far and I figured I'd be okay. So I tested the brakes (they worked) and continued on toward the main drag.
Which was well-lighted by store lights and street lamps. The rain was dumping down pretty good, but I knew I had to learn to drive in that kind of rain sometime and the last time I was in
rain anywhere near like that was on an interstate going at 60mph and hydroplaning. So I pushed forward. The speed limit was 40, I checked my speedometer to make sure I wasn't speeding. No chance of that! I was going 30 - and nervously. Again my thoughts turned to returning, but of course I was even closer now and there was no safe place TO turn around now. The rain started pounding against Dante's windshield as if it was seeking shelter from its own drenching nature. I increased the speed of the wipers as I approached the highway but it didn't help all that much. I looked forward to the well-kept smoothness of the highway where I figured I might be able to speed up just a little bit.
Instead of going 55-60, however, I checked the speedometer and realized I was still going 30 - and visibility was getting worse! Lightning crackled all around, shaking the ground that
Dante rolled upon, lighting up the sky and the rest of my surroundings in blinding flashes that made me blink in pain as my eyes adjusted to the contrasting degrees of light.
The wipers did nothing to help me see. I played with them a bit, turned them on, off, slower, faster. The water continued to run down the windshield as if I were in the rinse cycle of a
car wash. Then I felt the splashing. And Dante's wheels were no longer touching the ground. I slowed to 25mph as the wind tossed me softly from side to side with its indecision. Finally
his wheels grasped the pavement beneath the water and I was able to keep control. The rain swept into another direction temporarily and I was able to see what was causing the sensation
of splashing. The highway itself was all water! It was so deep that it was splashing up Dante's side and part of his front end and contributing to the river running down my windshield. It
was like plunging frontend-first into a river.
For a split second I considered calling my boyfriend to let him know I was still okay. That thought was instantly pushed out as Dante's whole body was rattled with the vibration of another strike. The bolt was in front of me and to my left off in the distance; I saw it right through the flood on the windshield as if it were clear as day. The sky glowed purple for a moment after the bolt dissipated into the ground.
Within a few moments I was finally, after what seemed like ages, at the turn in the highway that would lead me to my destination. As I slowed even more to safely make my turn, some idiot behind me sped up and passed in this tiny little rinky-dink car! I thought to myself, this guy's nuts, that little tiny thing is bound to get swept away in the water if he's not more careful
than that!!
I pulled into my boyfriend's driveway, beseeched the lightning to avoid me as I got out of the vehicle, and bolted for the door. Despite having darted through mostly water that had
collected all over the dirt driveway, my feet never got wet. I was dancing on its surface, that's how fast I was running!
God bless his soul, my boyfriend opened the door as I approached and ushered me in just as another peal of lightning lit up the landscape in its purplish glory. His eyes were like saucers,
wide and almost wild with worry. He listened to my agitated summary of my ordeal as I untied my shoes and absently marvelled at how dry my feet still were. Then he hugged me close. I kept pulling away to tell him more but kept finding myself comforted in his arms again and again. I guess if I had been frightened with my experience, not knowing how I was out there in that mess - which caused me to take three times as long getting to his place - well, it must have been exruciating for him. He later said he'd considered calling my cell but didn't dare lest he cause one more distraction in what must have been an already distracting situation. I thanked him for that one and admitted I thought about calling him but didn't dare. More thankful
hugging ensued.
I'm telling you, lightning is nothing to disrespect. It's powerful, awesome, and destructive. They say one of the safest places to be is inside a vehicle during a lightning storm, but I think they mean a /motionless/ vehicle, not one that's attempting to drive through bouts of pooled water and torrential rain and blinding peals of lightning!! Give me the safety of motionless shelter any day!!
THAT is MY rant for the day.
~nv
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