Lightning storms were rolling across areas of Idaho and southwest Montana Tuesday evening.

The sound of thunder sends most people scrambling for shelter, but everyone knows you're safe if you're in your vehicle -- right? Don't tell that to Darryl Juden. He's not a believer anymore.

A direct hit fully destroyed his pickup.

His photos showed all that was left -- the vehicle's charred frame -- after firefighters doused the flames.

Juden, of Missoula, talked to us shortly after a tow truck hauled his pickup away, and told us about the unusual experience.

"My car is dead! It's lost all its power and I just get it off the side of the road. I see a little smoke by where my antenna was so I get out and I looked at it. What was a 3-foot antenna is now about 2 1/2 inches. Then I see, all the way across my car on the driver's side, smoke starts to come out of the dash. Two, three minutes later, my truck is engulfed in flames," Juden said.

He says he walked away from the direct hit without a scratch -- and without a truck.

"My wife got hurt worse today,” he said. "She got stung by a bee."

 

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