BACK TO UFOS!
In the summer of 2019, my wife moved from our home in Wyoming to Lincoln, Nebraska. I was to follow a year later after wrapping some things up out West (little did we know a pandemic was coming). In the between time, we would take turns making the 500-mile drive to see each other.
It was on my way back from one of these visits that this strange encounter took place. I had stopped along the way to fish in one of the reservoirs (of course) and the sun was setting; it was time to get back on the road. As my car came up from the little depression the reservoir was situated in, a massive thunderhead came into view in the West, directly over I-80. With no other option, I plowed headlong into what would turn into a hellish storm.
It was biblical; torrential rain, lightning that was WAY too close, and powerful winds from all sides. My knuckles were white and my butthole was COMPLETELY clenched when, about 45 minutes past Paxton (home of Ole's Big Game Steakhouse), the tempest started to lighten up as I made took the dog-leg to the northwest.
As I drove up the rolling, empty hills, the rain turned to a gentle patter, and the moon started shining in the clouds. At first, seeing the moon calmed me down; it was a sign that the storm truly was lifting. But then my brain kinda wigged out. The moon should have been New that night, but instead of a pitch black sky, there was a big-ass light up there. I looked again, and really freaked out: this moon had clouds BEHIND it. When I saw that I damn near drove off the road. It just sat there for a minute or two as I watched; a massive, glowing sphere, hovering in place. Then, like someone flipped a switch, it disappeared. Gone. It didn't fade into the clouds, there was simply nothing there.
As you might imagine, I was a little shaken. Had I imagined it? Was it the stress of the drive just getting to me? I was stone sober, and wide awake, and in familiar territory. It was concerning, to say the least.
But what really messed me up was when the damn thing CAME BACK a minute or two later. It just *bip* turned back on; same size, same moon-level brightness. I gawked at this thing for maybe 30 seconds, then it proceeded to rotate in place, revealing that it wasn't a complete circle, but had a cutout, like a pie with a quarter eaten. After it stopped its rotation, it again disappeared into the night.
I've seen a lot of weird shit in my time, but most of it has at least a semblance of a rational explanation. This thing, however, makes no sense to me. The size, brightness, movement, none of it resembles anything I've seen or heard of. It doesn't help that it showed up after a massive electrical storm and in an area just chock-full of nuclear silos. I still get the heebie-jeebies when I drive through that area at night.