Man v. Nature

It's getting too cold to ride my motorcycle. I garage it in Rockford in the winter.
It was warm this morning and I decided today was the day.
I checked the forecast knowing there was a storm coming, TWC said it would hit at 1pm.
I strapped up, zipped up, buckled up, and headed out at 11am.
Rocketing down I-90 I noticed the clouds were thick and moving fast.
I rounded the curve through the Des Plains oasis and was confronted with the storm.
The sky was sickly green, puke green, and veined with lightening.
The temperature dropped thirty degrees in ten feet.
Rain poured down sideways, I was soaked in a moment.
The wind tried again and again to blow me off the road, I almost hit a traffic barrel.
Realization dawned, this was a piss pour, ill conceived journey.
I entertained the idea, briefly, of carrying on, powering through.
While I considered I noticed something out of the corner of my eye.
On the opposite side of the highway a billboard was shivering.
As I watched the supports cracked, the billboard disintegrated.
The wind shredded canvas, splintered board, and scattered debris across the highway.
I took the next exit, pulled into a gas station, and got my barrings.
I could continue on, I could wait out the storm, I could turn back.
I turned back.
The first ten minutes I was in the middle of the storm.
Wind, rain, lightening, me and the motorcycle.
I got out in front of the storm and beat it back to Chicago.
It was dangerous and not particularly smart.
But it was fun, I felt alive.
And it was a good piece of riding if I do say so myself.