Our area is the lightning death capital of the world. It pays to keep that in mind when enjoying the great outdoors. I do NOT want to be caught crossing a large open body of water during a thunderstorm!

I met a man one day who had been struck by lightning while driving his airboat. He had been watching the weather, and even though the storm still appeared to be far away he and his passenger were heading for camp as fast as they could.

The passenger was leaning forward with one hand on the drivers shoulder and the other hand on the back of the seat when lightning struck. It struck the driver in the right shoulder, went through his body, made a hole in the solid metal seat back, went through the passenger and back into the driver again - exiting his body by blowing the tip off his left big toe!

They lost control of the airboat (no kidding!) and crashed in a remote area. They wandered about so disoriented from the lightning strike that they couldn't even find their way back to town. They finally managed to stagger close enough to some farmland that some men found them and got them to the hospital.

I saw the hole in the seat back and stuck my finger through it. I have a lot of respect for anything that can blast a hole through metal. Those two guys were lucky to be alive to tell that particular story!