[ST] Storm Chasing

["STeve Duncan" <xhippy@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Saturday Morning, I made a run up to Tulsa OK, from Dallas, to visit a 
friend and see my Dad for Father's Day.

I tried a little thunderstorm dodging on the way up with limited 
success...........

Left Dallas about 8:30 with plans to take the long way up, and no concrete 
route, just hoping to dodge the numerous thunderstorms rolling across the 
area.  North out of town on 75 under threatening skies, I was keeping an eye 
on the dark clouds off to the west.  Made it up to Sherman when a black wall 
of clouds started to envelope me from the west and north.  Lightening 
strikes were numerous and the air was heavy.  Hwy 82 east loomed a few miles 
ahead, could I beat the rain?

Not.  It started coming down.  I shunned stopping the deploy the raingear 
and soldiered ahead.  Just as the storm hit in ernest I booked a right turn 
on 82 and was in a race to run out from under the massive thundercloud.  
Round one, Duncan.  Only slightly damp, I'm off to the races, due east and 
soon into the sunshine.  Hwy 82 runs east to Paris, but I did not want to go 
thru there.  The map showed FM-100 heading north a few miles before Paris 
and I took it.  100 turns right just at the Red River onto FM-197 and I 
found a new favorite road.  The flood plain for the Red River is all on the 
Oklahoma side and the Texas side is all hills and dales and 197 was a blast! 
  I saw one very bright yellow sporty bike coming the other way and we 
exchanged hearty waves in between the twisting corners.

FM-197 intersects 271 at Arthur City then north into Oklahoma, a short jog 
on 70 then on north into Antlers, OK.  Antlers is a little 2 horse town, but 
on this day they were having some kinda "festival".  Everyone from 50 miles 
around was there.  This sucked, for me anyway.  I was stuck in a traffic jam 
of Dallas proportions, so I did the Dallas thing and hit the side roads.  
Only problem is that in Antlers, the side roads quickly turn into dirt 
roads, wet dirt roads, also known as mud!  I did my best at backtracking, 
rerouting and finally made my way to 271 north out of the cursed place.

And that's when the rains came.  I saw the spawn up ahead, and had the good 
sense to stop and put on the rain gear, and cover the soft luggage with 
their rain covers.  Good thing as this was a frog strangler.  Worse, it was 
also in the very best part of the trip as far as the real twisty stuff is 
concerned.  True to form, I got to the very best roads just as the very 
worst weather hit.  And it was bad folks.  I've ridden in a lot of rain.  
I've ridden in worse rain than this, although I can only think of three 
other times, just now.  It was so bad that I could not see at times, and 
that is not a good thing.  I searched frantically for any type of overhang, 
natural, or manmade to pull under.  No such luck, this is rural Oklahoma, 
after all.  Miles and miles of driving rain, an hour or more, and the 
lightening was ferocious, hitting within a few hundred yards of me on 
several occasions.  Bad juju.

Finally I roll into the town of Clayton.  Looking for cover, any cover, I 
spy an old closed gas station with a two bay car wash.  Bingo!  I pull into 
bay #1 and relax my butt cheek muscles for the first time in what seems 
ages.  The storm rages, and rages, I am damn glad I found this safe haven.  
I call my friend Walker on the cell, and he is amazed at the sound and fury 
he can hear over the phone.  He is also amazed that I am not in my truck and 
on the interstate.  "Didn't you check the weather" he asks?  Yeah, I did  
:))

Finally the worst seems to be past, so I gear up and head north, but only by 
a different route out of the car wash.  The rain was so strong as to create 
a virtual river in front of the station.  I had to pick my way out very 
carefully and back on 271 then shortly on to Hwy 2 still north.  Now, hwy 2 
was my real goal.  It is a roller coaster on par with the best of N. Ark 
from Sardis Lake, thru Wilburton, past Robbers Cave SP, and on up to the 
junction with hwy 31.  Unfortunately the rain never let up all the way and 
the roads were rivers in places.  So discretion being the better part 
of......... oh screw that, I kept the best pace I could, not as good as I 
had hoped, but respectable.