I started the day in Rapid City, SD (which is where my iPhone charger still is unfortunately) and headed south past Mt. Rushmore and through the Black Hills. Then I took Nebraska’s Route 20 east. Route 20 is a scenic byway called “Bridges to Buttes” and it’s gorgeous. Ahead in the distance, I could see two cumulonimbus cells over-developing (meaning the two biggest thunder storms you’ve ever seen were blackening the sky). It looked like two giant nuclear bombs went off.

I passed one of the cells and the clouds were about 500 feet overhead and swirling hard. It was looking nasty! I motored on until I reached Ewing, NE and the cell moved into the path of the road. You can’t see in the video, because the darkest part of the cell was behind the trees, but the skies were black. I also began to notice that I was no longer passing cars in either direction and the cities were basically shut down. Something was clearly wrong.

I looked at the GPS, and it said the nearest lodging was 20 miles ahead (that ain’t gonna happen!) and 20 miles behind (that ain’t happening either, as the storm I passed was right over that city.).

I chickened out, made a u-turn and I pulled over. A local guy pulled over in his car and asked me if I needed a place to ride out the storm. I did! I ended up spending the evening with the family if Bill and Pat Graber. Bill runs a first-class and award-winning trucking company out of Ewing with his wife Pat. His son Michael and Michael’s wife Erin just got a new Peterbuilt that was absolutely gorgeous. They run livestock to Texas and back. Bill’s daughter Jaimie has a hair dressing salon in town and lives just a few blocks away. She’s got an extremely cute little two-year-old boy who was just adorable.

We rode out the storm in Bill’s shop, had a couple of brews and enjoyed some pizza. Jaimie said a few times that she has the best parents in the world, and that her family were the most giving people. She’s absolutely right! The entire Graber family were some of the nicest people I’ve ever met.

Several of the Graber’s friends stopped-by the shop during the evening and thanks to the Grabers, this will probably be the highlight of my trip. New friends! It’s a beautiful thing. Hopefully I can repay the shelter someday in San Clemente.