Devil's Tower

No UFOs to be seen.
We got slammed with heavy rain, lots of lightning and thunder and violent gusting winds about 12:30 a.m. today.
I don't mind a little storm, but the possibility of hail is a little daunting when you have nothing to protect yourself with but a couple of layers of ripstop nylon. I found myself imagining baseball-size hailstones and wondering how to cope. My best solution was to put on my helmet and get under my Thermarest air mattress. But no hail developed, so it wasn't necessary.
The storm dragged on for about 3 1/2 hours before it blew itself out.
I'd had the foresight to park my bike on a concrete slab in the lee of a big steel electrical box, so it came through unscathed.
Dave Stech wasn't so lucky. His was one of several bikes in the camping area blown over and it cost him a mirror and a saddlebag mount.
My Galyan's/Eureka tent performed beautifully. Evertyhing stayed dry and it didn't wick any water in from the fly.
I got a breakfast sandwich and coffee from a food trailer in the camping area and, after dumping my images at the 8:45 a.m. photographers' meeting, hung out at the campground until Wayne Garrison and Peggy Rose finished their stint as shuttle drivers.
Then Wayne, Peggy, Michigan Mike and I headed for Devil's Tower, stopping for gas at Moorcroft and at a cafe where we all had breakfast - them for the first time and me for the second (I considered it lunch). Then it was up the road to Devil's Tower where I shot several images of BMW MOA rally attendees taking in the scenery.
We returned to the Moorcroft cafe for fried ice cream, then rode back to the campground.
Wayne and Peggy took off to teach their second country line dancing seminar and I read the local paper and drank beer with my fellow Indianapolis BMW Club campers.
Dinner was a cheeseburger and iced tea at the food trailer.
I'm in the cyber cafe to update the blog, then to the ATM and off to the Beer Garden for some socializing and libations.
It looked like we were going to get a bit of rain a few minutes ago, but it blew over and only dropped a few sprinkles. The forecast is for possible storms this evening, yielding to clear skies after midnight.