Mother Nature is showing her power of late in the form of storms and torrential downpours. Now the National Weather Service, (NWS), recommends we take shelter in a strong building during a thunderstorm. Lightning and wind are the most destructive elements of a storm and too much water can be destructive. We've all seen those results.

Even though thunder does little or no damage I guess we call it a thunderstorm because its loudness makes it the most recognizable sign of a storm.

As part of its warning to alert the public of a potentially destructive storm the NWS calls lightning one of nature's most proficient killers.

Grandson Brandon and I seem to be making a habit of getting caught away from home by these violent whims of nature. In 2008 we found ourselves in a restaurant in Georgia, a mostly glass and flimsy stand alone building, when a tornado came through the area. We began our journey when winds abated, but after we had gone only a short way another storm arose. Soon we heard the sirens of the tornado warning system but had no choice but to park and hope for the best.

Fast forward to this week. Brandon and I were again on the road, a business trip to northern Indiana, when a few miles north of Knoxville on the return trip the NWS interrupted the radio with one of their emergency announcements.

You know the kind; a loud and irritating buzz and tones followed by another buzz before and after the details are given. I don't like those sounds. I'm sure they are designed to get people's attention to something they need to hear, and in that way they do the job for which they were designed.

This particular warning was of a powerful thunderstorm with winds up to 60 miles per hour, torrential rain, continuous lightning and possible quarter size hail.

This storm was near Maynardville and moving east. It was gonna intersect our line of travel. We faced one of three possibilities; we would pass before the storm, after the storm or meet it somewhere on I-75.

Our record is still perfect. We met the storm head on. And it was a dandy one, possessing all the elements of a strong East Tennessee thunderstorm in abundance.

Our pick-up was the only shelter we had. There was no safe place to park so the best way to use it was to keep moving.

Some folks parked on the shoulder of the interstate with emergency flashers blinking. That's really asking for big time trouble when others are driving with those flashers going. It is an all too common and fatal occurrence for a driver to mistake a car parked on the shoulder as one moving in the outside lane and crash into it at full speed. We put the flashers on and crept along at the pace set by nearly every driver, one between 30 and 35 miles per hour.

We finally found an exit and left I-75 for a safer spot in which to wait out the storm. Now Brandon was at the wheel and he did an admirable job of keeping his head in a situation in which he has little experience. Hmmm.

He was driving last year as well so maybe this string of bad luck should be called his instead of ours.