That's where this one starts. It's a pitch-black South Dakota night in the mid-1980s, and Lyndon Anderson is driving north on U.S. Highway 281, the road that connects one end of nowhere with the other.

He's bored and tired and tapping his fingers on the steering wheel just as the clear night sky spontaneously combusts. The car stops.

Anderson gets out and stares. His eyes are magnets to the magnificent red glow.

"I was glued to it," he remembers. "It was an amazing show."

This is the part where supermarket tabloids talk about UFOs and bodysnatching and the president being an alien. Anderson's tale is more pedestrian. He accidentally saw a terrific showing of the northern lights.

He wouldn't find himself in the right place at the right time for another 15 years.

The next time Anderson saw the northern lights was May of 2000. He'd heard on the radio there was going to be a good show that night, and there was. He loved it. He wanted more of it. The only way to see more shows was to know when they were coming. So Anderson dialed up the Internet and searched for all things aurora borealis.

He stopped after he found two sites: www.spaceweather.com and www.spacew.com. Both contain more information than you want to know about the northern lights, and forecast when the next shows will occur. Anderson directs anyone who's interested to those Web sites.

"You waste way too much time looking (for the lights) if you don't know when they'll be out," Anderson said. "Forecasting is not an exact science, but it is a good general guide. The Internet has allowed a lot of people in the United States to see the northern lights, when normally they wouldn't have known when they were coming."

Anderson has witnessed 12 to 15 showings of the northern lights this year, most of them from his dad's farm near Baldwin. Anderson has spent many nights alone there, photographing and admiring the lights. He's become skilled at shooting the lights, and has amassed quite a collection of photos. Some of them are available -- with the stories behind them -- on Anderson's Web site, www.prairiejournal.com.

Anderson will offer advice about viewing the lights, photographing them and why they occur at a seminar at 11 a.m. Saturday during the Bismarck Tribune Sport Show.

"A fun part of this hobby is being able to share what I know and showing people my photographs," Anderson said. "I can hardly wait to get my pictures developed (after each showing)."