Riding through the storm

A five hundred mile motorcycle ride turned scary Sunday night as I rode into the teeth of a violent thunderstorm.

I was returning from a visit with my youngest son, Ethan, a senior at Youngstown State, and was less than thirty miles from home when my motorcycle and the beast collided.

It was nearing 5:15 PM. As I approached Columbus from the north, I could see the sky in the west (my destination) was dark and unsettled. I stopped for fuel and was warned by several people about the impending storm complete winds nearing 80mph, and quarter inch hail.

As I continued homeward the sky in front of me became as black as midnight and the huge clouds where churning as if in a cosmic blender.

Thirty five miles from my exit I moved into the express lane to pass a young man in a pickup truck, as I rolled by he made the sign of the cross and pointed at me as if to say, ‟You are about to need some big time help!” He was right! Seconds later a violent gust of wind hit my left side shoving the eight hundred pound motorcycle over three lanes of traffic like it was a napkin blowing across a parking lot. I didn't know what happened! One minute I was riding in the fast lane, the next, I was in the right hand median. I was stunned! I have ridden through plenty of storms, but had never been hit with a gust of wind like this one; it came from nowhere and it was brutal.

To make matters worse, torrential rains began hammering down making visibility impossible. Brake lights came on everywhere as cars and trucks were slowing down desperately trying to get off the road. It was chaotic and a sense of danger filled the air.

Unable to keep the bike under control I needed to get off the road fast, and fortunately I was minutes from an exit that I knew had a large truck stop so I limped for shelter.

After what seemed like an eternity, I arrived at the truck stop soaked and a bit rattled. I grabbed a cup of coffee and found a seat by the window to watch the storm roll through. As I sat there my mind rehearsed the events of my ride. I thought about Ethan and how blessed I am to have him as my son, I thought of the pleasure this trip brought me, and I thought about nearly being killed. I took another sip of coffee as a smiled crossed my face. ‟It has been a good day it doesn't get much better than this.”