Even better than a unicorn

Those who have known me for even 10 minutes know that I am no fan of the cold. I don’t use air conditioning and only rarely use fans. I don’t love extreme heat but can tolerate it better than most. On the other hand, I hate being cold.

So it came as a complete surprise to me that both times I have driven through Wyoming, I really loved it. It’s a beautiful state.

On my most recent cross country trip by motorcycle, I was unfortunate enough to be riding through both Wyoming and Montana in heavy rains and 45° temperatures. Not fun!

However I did see something that I consider even better than a unicorn.

While riding along the edge of a torrential downpour, I was getting soaking wet. Off to my left were skies so dark they were practically black. Off to my right, the sun was shining brightly across the prairie.

The sun made a gigantic double rainbow against the dark grey clouds to my left. It was extremely bright and clear. I could see both ends where both rainbows touched the ground. Underneath the arc of the rainbows were flashes of lightning from the storm in the background.

I was unable to get photos because of the rain. Even if I could have, I’m not sure I could have caught one of the lightning bolts. Still, it’s etched in my memory as one of the most unusual and beautiful nature scenes I have ever witnessed.

Instead, here is some beautiful prairie from an hour or so up the highway, after I got out of the rain.