The Storm

Thursday evening was rather violent in eastern Oregon and Idaho. Around 6:00pm we were crossing "cabbage" which is a LONG climb over a mountain in Oregon. I felt like we were running from the storm. It was beautiful, the darkness encroaching on the plains below us.

"in the shadow of the storm"

But as the storm developed the cloud formations were more and more wiched looking.



We finally got ahead of it with just a sprinkling of rain, only to discover upon rounding a bend in the moutntains, that we were heading straight into another storm that was dark and ominous looking. Winding our way through the eastern Oregon hills and forests, we watched the clouds change colors, admired sunligh beams that broke through, counted a total of 6 rainbows within an hour, and watched lightening on the horizens around us.



This was something I've not seen before.

"after the lightning"

It is now 9:30pm, dark, and we've crossed into Idaho. We are about 30 miles west of Boise. On all sides, lightening flashes and the smell of smoke is in the air. Its just light enough that you can see the edges of great thunderheads outlined against the black sky. The wind is blowing and occasionally the ghostly form of a tumble weed floats across the road in front of us.

We still have 5 hours of driving before our destination of Idaho Falls, and we'll probably stay ahead of the storms.