Lightning Strikes

Last night just before I left work, it got cloudy and began to rain a bit. I'd planned to beat the heat by just going out for a spin right before dark, so I figured if the storm passed quickly, I'd still be fine. Driving the thirteen miles back home in light rain, I could see dark clouds and dozens of lightning strikes off in the direction of, hmmmm, my house. Well, no, my residence did not suffer a direct hit, but when I got off the highway at my exit, the road was covered in debris, leaves, and fallen branches. On the way to my neighborhood, one large tree lay in the road. When I got to my street, Elm Street, which oddly enough is lined with elm trees, I was greeted with flashing lights and a bunch of people doing three-point turns. Fallen trees had completely blocked the road. There were huge puddles everywhere, but at this point it wasn't even raining.

I turned around and took the circuituitous route around town in order to approach from the other direction. On the way, I noticed the traffic lights were out and all the houses and businesses were dark. When I got back to my house, all the neighbors were standing in the street looking at the sky like they'd just seen a UFO. I guess quite a little storm had blown through. There were more trees in the road just down from my house, and of course we had no power. I'd left one window open in my spare room upstairs, and the door of that room had blown open and shit was all strewn about the room (I mean, moreso than normal).

Life without power kinda sucks. Luckily I had some nice hummus and pumpernickel to make sandwiches with, and a half-pot of ice coffee leftover from the morning. The roads were too messy to go for a ride, and it was prematurely dark anyway, not to mention my idea of a good time does not include coming home after a ride to a hot, humid house with no power. So I sat there in the dark until I got bored and finally fell asleep. We got power back around 4:30 this morning, so at least I think all my food will be fine. Tonight I have a massage scheduled, so I may not get a chance to ride today either. Oh well, I can probably use the rest. Hope your day was cooler in more ways than one. Thanks for reading.