Still here at the KOA in Talico Plains TN. Glad they gave me a cabin to wait out the storms!. Well in tornado country there are two alert levels, one is Tornado watch the other is Tornado warning, the second meaning you better be prepared for a Tornado touching down in your area. So yesterday after the first and second storms went through and it was just beginning to get dark we were all ordered to go to the main building because of Tornadoes warnings in our area. These are people that are used to these things and I can tell you they were very worried. Luckily we were missed by an actual Tornado touching down but in the darkness thought we could see one in the distance. A storm like I have never seen in my life nor probably anyone that is reading this. The sheet lightning was absolutely continuous for quite some time, one on top of the other covering at least 180 degrees of the horizon but without any thunder, which I don't understand, but combined with the sheet lightning was lots of fork lightning and it had plenty of thunder to go with it. All this combined created quite the light show for sure, in fact it was amazing, something never to be forgotten. Just before we all got called to the main building I hear a tree in the distance break and then heard and watched a colorful explosion of a transformer on the main street to the south of us.Since I have been here the wind has been different than I am used to, one minute it is calm and the next it will hit in a short burst like someone has slugged you, well during the storm that was even more pronounced and although we didn't get much rain initially after the Tornado warnings were lifted we sure got the rain. One second nothing the next it completely soaked in half a second. as I experienced while I was outside trying to see in the dark was was banging and crashing and checking to see if my bike was still standing. Now it is morning and all is calm, dark but broken clouds and very little wind but much cooler than is normal. I attempted to get still photos of the lightning with out success, but I did capture some on my phone with video, not sure if it will work out or if I can post it but I will try.
Maybe I can add some video footage of the storm from my phone later if I figureout how.
During all this it was nice to visit with people. I met a couple from Michigan that were on there way home from Florida after being there since Jan. They had a fifth wheel toy hauler that they carried there motorcycles in ( non Harley) so that gave us something to get started on, trying to figure out the Harley culture. They also had picture of them on there bikes at Deals Gap.They were well educated and had Canadian friends so were easy to get to know and talk to. They call there friends there southern cousins cause they are actually further south even though they are in Canada, bottom of the great lakes I guess.
Today I am on to my first rally, the weather will be cool but dry, after than it goes bad again so I may just end up heading down to Florida after all. Trouble is I guess I can't ride home even if I get tired of all this because the weather up north is still far too cold due to this crazy weather that seems to be happening all over this spring.
Nice roads, nice scenery.
Wow, what a trip, huh?! Not much time to take in the great roads before having to run for cover from a storm you'll never forget. Just wish I was there "enjoying" the light show with you! Glad you are OK. It sounds pretty spectacular, and maybe a bit too exciting... at least from here, reading about it. Take care.
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