Of all atmospheric phenomenon, lightning is my favorite

Tonight while driving back from Atlanta, I had the pleasure of watching a lightning storm in front of me for about an hour. There was no rain and the lightning was mostly behind clouds and it was really quite beautiful. I had the windows down and the air warm was thick and fragrant. It reminded me of the following passage from On the Road by Jack Kerouac:

"I got dog-tired beyond Macon and woke up Dean to resume. We got out of the car for air and suddenly both of us were stoned with joy to realize that in the darkness all around us was fragrant green grass and the smell of fresh manure and warm waters. 'We're in the South! We've left the winter!'"

I'm not sure why those few sentences have always stuck with me, but I often think about them when driving around on warm nights.