The Case of the Stalking Storm

BOOM!!!!
That is the sound that woke me up at 1:15 am Tuesday. Well not boom per say, but the noise of thunder from a lightning strike way too close for comfort.
BOOM!! BOOM!! BOOM!!
The thunder kept rolling through my room, only pausing for a moment to increase my level of consciousness, I did not need this I had an exam at 8 am that I had to look forward too, not to mention that after that I was starting off on my road trip to North Carolina.
BOOM!!! BOOM!! BOOM! Boom. boom, bo...
Finally the storm moved away from my house and the thunder reduced in volume and I struck back out into the land of the sandman. I woke up with 45 minutes less sleep than I felt that I deserved but still enough to do well, I think, on my exam; and definitely enough to start out on my drive with high hopes of the adventures awaiting me.

Plop, plop, plop, plop, plop!
That is the sound that cast a dark cloud on my road trip, well actually the dark cloud caused the sound but it is a good metaphor. Around and hour into my trip I ran into a rain storm, actually the trailing end of the rain storm that woke me up the night before.
Plop, plop, plop.
Driving in the rain has never been my cup of tea, so trying to drive in the rain when one of my windshield wipers is slightly defective is so opposite what I wanted to do I almost screamed. Well, actually, I did scream at points.
Plop, plop, plo...
At times the rain stopped on my drive. These respites were mana from a greater realm, and in them I started to see the joy of taking a drive across the country. The small country towns with their rustic buildings and fun names, the great expanses of open land that hold such peace in their seeming eternity, even the cities take on a different light as bastions of civilization and light and life. But then,
PLOP, PLOP, PLOP
The rain starts falling again, as does my increasingly fast descent into bitterness.

BOOM!!! BOOM!!! BOOM!!!
That is the sound of the storm that already awoke me once and is now forcing me to stop driving for the night.
I had finally caught up to the heart of it, that evil, maniacal storm that started by waking me up and then drenching my hopes of a fun filled drive, and now well now it finally showed how evil it was.
BOOM!!!! BOOM!!!!
I had been on the road for 10 hours and had spent the last 3 in the tranquility of night time driving, without the menace of rain, when I saw ahead of me a sky-spanning lightning strike. The thunder came running down from the cloud and hit the highway speeding towards a head-on collision with my ear drums.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!
I recognized that thunder immediately. It was the same thunder that had woken me up the night before. The lightning strikes that followed were also familiar to my eyes, they had been there colluding with the thunder the night before too. Pure evil.

Plop, plop, plop, plop!
That is the sound of rain falling outside a Super 8 in the early morning. The remnants of the evil storm was still looming overhead after I awoke. It would not leave me alone.
Plop, plop, plop, plop!
It followed me through me through Columbus.
Plop, plop, plop, plop!
It even endangered my life in West Virginia. It really opened up and formed a down pour just as I was passing through the treacherously mountainous landscape of I-77. It did this just as I was stuck between two semi-trucks, it really hated me that storm.
Plop, plop, plo...
Finally I lost it about halfway though West Virginia and I could truly enjoy the beauty of the vistas afforded by the Appalachian range.

Vroom!
That is the sound of my car, and the others around me, as I drive blissfully rain free through Virginia and North Carolina.
Vroom! Vroom! Vroom!
Oh the sound of joy.

Plop, plop, plop, plop!
It found me again in North Carolina hours later. I fear I will never be dry again.
Plop, plop, plop, plop