Wild nature

After leaving Ft. Wayne, IN we returned to the rest area where Vincent and Perry had stopped on Saturday. We turtle hunted in the wild flowers behind the truck area. It seemed bleak with acres of land behind the area, including at least an acre of beautiful daisies. While Perry looked for Speckles Frisco romped, Vincent played flower ninja by kicking the heads off of flowers with well placed kicks, and I looked (via the view finder on the camera) for Speckles. We eventually gave up. It just seemed an impossible task. We also were worried we WOULD find a turtle but get back home to find Speckles and then have THREE turtles.

We stopped for dinner on the way home at a Ponderosa that Perry and Vincent had visited on one of the trips to see me when I taught at Western Illinois University for the summer. Walking outside we noticed the growing storm clouds. By the time we were on the road (we had to get gas and walk Frisco, who had been not so patiently waiting in the car during dinner) the sky was black and was full of fascinating lightning. Living in Florida you see lots of lightning but I don't think I've seen anything like this. It would flash and zigzag across the sky and never actually go down, but rather look like an electric spiderweb. Eventually there was ball lightning and then strikes coming down. Perry tried to capture the lightning on the fireworks macro on his camera (thanks Sara for encouraging him to even look at the macros). While only one showed up at all (we just aren't as fast as lightning...and our camera isn't fast to reshoot) it was an interesting way to drive home. Me pointing out the lightning as I drove and Perry trying to get the shots (Vincent even expressed interest in the lightning).

-- Stephanie