As threatening storm clouds loomed overhead Friday night, the streets of Floyd teemed with residents and visitors alike. As I walked among the throng, it quickly became apparent the town has become a desired destination not just for music lovers but also for those just curious about what is happening in this Southwestern Virginia hamlet.

Friday Night Jamboree mainstay Clyde Williams (above) held court in the alleyway between the Floyd Country Store and Angels in the Attic, leading a jam session of musicians. Across the street, Dogtown Pizza dished up stone-oven baked dishes from the back of a pickup truck.  Just down the street, a sketch artist offered sidewalk portraits. Cars and motocycles circled the streets looking for a place to park.

Music spilled out of venues from Oddfellas at one end of Oxford Street to Cafe del Sol at the other. Anchoring the festivities, of course, was the Jamboree at the Country Store.

There’s a magic on the streets of Floyd on a Friday night and that magic now extends into the weekend. The summer season also brings Saturday night music to Pine Tavern on U.S. 221 north and the Oak Grove Pavilion at Zion Lutheran Church.

On June 20, music will officially open the Warren G. Lineberry Park between Winter Sun and Angels in the Attic. Area wineries also feature weekend music throughout the summer.

Y’all come.

(Photo from 2008. Sorry, I didn’t shoot any new photos Friday night. I was too busy enjoying the music.)

Could it be sunlight? Could it be that light that shines down upon life here in the country when Mother Nature is not dumping inches on top of inches of rain upon us?

God, let’s hope so. Thursday’s deluge destroyed what little was left of the driveway at Chateau Thompson. I graded it enough last night to restore some semblance of a surface but will have to let it dry more to finish the job.

Flash flood warnings expired at 6 a.m. today and the National Weather Service says we might have an "isolated" thunderstorm or two today but that the next three days should be sunny and warm.

We can dream.

In recent years, we’ve reached this point in Spring with worries about another dry season.

Not this year.

The ground is saturated, rain continues to come in buckets and even Mountain Lake is filling back up.

A warning from the National Weather Service warns that flooding is possible if the expected thunderstorms roll into the area on Thursday and Friday.

Which begs the question: How much is enough?  Our driveway looks like an aerial view of the Grand Canyon, the stream at the bottom of our yard threatens to overrun the already soaked grass and area around it and the weatherman keeps talking about more and more rain.

I’m not ready yet to start chanting "rain, rain, go away," but if this keeps up I’m liable to stand out in the middle of the storm, look to the heavens and scream "enough already!"

Bill McKibben is not an easy man to pigeonhole. His publicity materials say "Bill is a futurist, philsopher, environmental activist, professor at Middlebury College in Vermont, an advocate and strategist for sustainable local economies, and author of a dozen books on subjects from climate change to the politics of the global economy."

That’s a mouthful in anyone’s lexicon, but his message is simple: We had better find a better say to sustain ourselves because we can’t last long as a society if we continue to depend on oil from the Middle East or big box store items from China.

The key for survival, he says, is developing a sustainable economy that uses food we grow for ourselves, materials provided locally and energy from renewable resources like the sun.

He delivered that message Tuesday to a capacity crowd at the Floyd Country Store. The event — sponsored by Sustain Floyd — is part of the expanding sustainability movement in the area.

What drives more than a half-million bikers and thier passengers to sit under a hot baking sun in a Pentagon parking lot for six hours?

Rolling Thunder.

What makes it worth the risk to participate in the world’s largest group motorcycle ride where the bike overheats, the clutch turns rubbery and Bermuda Triangle-threatening potholes await you on Washington City streets?

Rolling Thunder.

It becomes worth it when thousands of people line Memorial Bridge, Constitution and Independence Avenues to cheer, when young children reach out their hands and the procession stops so motorcycllists can stop and shake the hands of two wheelchair-bound veterans — one from Vietnam and one from the current Iraq war.

It becomes worth it when you’re stopped during a lull and a Vietnamese woman your age comes out of the crowd, hands you a flower, kisses you on your gray, bearded cheek and says "thank you" before disappearing back into the crowd.

On this day, on Washington’s teeming streets, America is not divided, America is not partisan and American is not driven by personal interests.

Rolling Thunder began as a public demand for accountability of prisoners of war and missing in action from Vietnam. It remains that, and more. Now it serves as a reminder that we owe so much to those who serve and that all too often we are delinquent on that debt. The rider beside me in that hot parking lot Sunday morning served in Desert Storm and Iraq. The one behind me served in Vietnam. Like all of us, they rode to honor all brothers and sisters who serve and especially to recognize those who did not come home alive.

It took me 11 years to return to Rolling Thunder.  It won’t take that long again.