Caught In The Storm

Yesterday morning I met Mom at 7am to play tennis, but just as I arrived at the courts it started to rain.  It only rained for about 5-10 minutes, but it was enough to make the courts unusable.  So instead we walked the mile-long path that went around the park and called it a day.

When I got home, it was overcast, but didn't look bad.  I checked the weather and it showed a 30% chance of rain was still 3 hours away, so I put on my headphones and went walking.  I walked out about 2.5 miles before turning back to go home, and when I turned around I saw this:

Oh snap

Where did this come from?

Just then the wind picked up and the temperature dropped noticeably.  I stopped to take this video of the edge of the storm - the bump in the middle is when my hat blew off:

I started walking back (quicker now), trying to make the wooded section of the path where the trees would provide some cover.

Aw f**k, I'm not going to make it

Sure enough, it started pouring down before I could get there.  I took off running and made it into the trees, but it was raining so hard that they weren't much shelter.  So I took off running again and ran through the wooded area to the cover provided by the elevated highway where I stopped to catch my breath.  Needless to say I was already soaked.

It's really coming down out there

I'm not the only one caught in the rain

Hey, where'd he go?

After sheltering under that side of the highway for 10-15 minutes, I remembered that it wasn't too long ago that the bridge was flooded over, so I ran to the other side.  I stayed there for another 10-15 minutes and the rain wasn't showing any signs of stopping, so I decided to keep going.

If I stayed on the path, there was a long curving open stretch before I could reach a park area with a covered pavilion.  I decided instead to follow the underside of the highway as far as I could, then cross over the field to the pavilion.  I took off through the dirt and weeds where the rain was quickly making rivulets, then small streams, as I navigated my way toward my destination.

After a short distance I dashed out from under the highway, jumped a fence and ran across the field to the pavilion.  Then the lightning and thunder really started, so I stayed put for the next half hour.  After it let up a little, I trudged through the rain to the next highway overpass, camped there for another 10-15 minutes while the rain slacked off a bit, then was finally able to walk home.  It was quite an adventure.

The final rest before the push home