Get the bad one done early

Every trip, is going to have a "worst day". Usually you don't know which one it was until after it's all finished.  But in light of that fact, I submit my entry in hopes that it wins as the worst.  Even though this is only a short ways into the journey, and Chip hasn't even joined up yet, I think it's got a chance.  

I had a big day planned, early start, lots of miles, dodge a couple rain systems and cover about 750 miles in hopefully more comfortable conditions.  As my English friend Mark always says "the first casualty, is always the plan" Now for the reality...

Wake up, pack up, gas up, and roll out.  On the road headed west at 630am out of Mitchell South Dakota.  Radar showed a rain system West of me that was moving north, had a chance to get ahead of it.  Stopped and put on rain gear just in case there was a miscalculation.  There was, a big one.  Riding fast across the open prairie, miles away from anything, I was watching the clouds south of me, and for about 15 miles or looked like I had a chance to get ahead of it.  Then it got dark fast, and the wind started picking up, then it hit. Hard.

  I had only a short time to make a decision, I could try to find a way across the median and head back, into the storm I had just outran. Or I could continue forward in hopes of breaking through the one in front of me.   I chose option B, and it wasn't great.  Within about 20 seconds of the rain starting, it became torrential, the breeze became 50+ mph gusts, and the lightning became almost constant, and very close.   Cars and trucks turned on their hazard and pulled off the road, I turned on mine and followed 20ft behind a semi,(hoping the lightning would pick the taller target) i could barely make out his tail lights as the wind and rain pounded far worse than any storm I've been in. The lightning was a strobe light,  so close and constant that at times it would white out everything I could (almost) see.

I've never fought a bike so hard to keep it upright, and I've never been so tempted to lay a bike down on the side of the road and run for cover. But this is South Dakota, and there is no cover.  After the most terrifying couple miles of my life there was an exit that went down and under the interstate, just before leaving the interstate, several lightning flashes revealed an overturned trailer in the median.  There were about ten cars and trucks huddled under the bridge as the storm continued to rage. I joined them, thankful to have survived.  Pulling out my phone and looking at the radar showed a large section of red that had grown as it hit the interstate.   It was 745am.   It took over an hour for the storm to pass.   But that's not all. 

A couple hours later I was on a two lane road about to cut across the corner of Wyoming into Montana when I felt the bike twitch like it had ran over something.  I hadn't seen anything, but the coarse tan reddish asphalt acts like camouflage.  I checked tire pressures on the dash and all was well, for about 30 seconds.  Then the warnings started flashing and I pulled over on the shoulder in a hurry.  A hissing hole in the rear tire like a nail had been pulled out of it.  Riding gear hit the ground and I pulled out the patch kit as fast as I could.  After plugging the tire I spent about 15 minutes pumping it back up with a hand bicycle pump(that's going to be replaced with an electric one, soon) 

With about 5 hours of riding left after the patch, my headset started going on the fritz, turning off, turning on, resetting itself, quite, loud, then finally it died.    So I just tucked my head down and headed to Bozeman Montana to spend the night my friend Greg's house, in silence. 

So this is my submission. But in the end, as usual, it all worked out just fine, really.  Headset was opened up dried out and is working again. Tire patch is holding good. And I didn't get electrocuted. All good things.  

KS