Thunder

As I have hinted at, we have been blessed with the frequent occurrence of heavy thunderstorms. In fact, since we left New Orleans, I believe we have had one every day! They tend to be short and awesome. Some of them though, went one for hours and were among the most magnificent things I've ever seen. We were at a strip-mall in San Antonio, buying hiking gear for Ivan, when the dark skies started blazing like the Apocalypse and the Great Fire of London at once. There was no rain, just a dry, swirling, ominous wind and black skies torn apart and menacingly illuminated. This went on for hours and I was completely enraptured. On our drive from Austin we experienced another great one. We drove all day, and some time after dark we pulled in at a gas station, to refuel both ourselves and the rock'n'rollercoaster. This was 40 miles east of El Paso. A bunch of mexican looking guys were hanging around the station but otherwise there was nothing at all out there. Then we noticed the Saloon. An old creepy building right next to the gas station looking like it had been a mean old saloon for a long long time.

We both got a corn dog from the store. A very dry and old corn dog. Before I ate it, it coughed on me. I ate it anyway. While we were eating, we were standing by the car admiring the saloon. The Lady in the store, who sold us the corn dog shaped morsels of pain to come, told us it was open most nights with a very tired expression on her face. Not tonight though. We talked about how that was a great shame. Then agreed it was probably for the best anyway, since we would most likely have gotten hurt somehow. Then the lightnings started. Looking at that old saloon while the lightnings blazed behind it, was pretty eerie. Then the rain came and we dived back into the car and got out of there.

As we drove on through the night towards El Paso, we were right at the edge of the storm. Clear skies to one side, the prairie being ripped apart on the other. So we rode with the top down hearing Immigrant song very loudly again and again.