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What began as a celebratory ride to the 75th annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in South Dakota ended in tragedy when a husband and father of three from Rio Arriba County was struck and killed by a bolt of lightning.

Juan Daniel Trujillo, 37, was on his Harley-Davidson motorcycle in pouring rain Saturday on U.S. 64 near Tierra Amarilla when lightning hit his left hand, said his brother, Michael Trujillo.

Juan Trujillo's wife, Maria, was following him in a truck, also bound for Sturgis. She saw him trying to pull over because of the storm, but the lightning strike occurred before he could, Michael Trujillo said in a phone interview Thursday.

Juan Trujillo, of the village of Los Ojos, was the second person in New Mexico killed this year by a lightning strike, according to the National Weather Service. Motorcycles were involved in both fatalities, and in the last three lightning deaths in New Mexico.

Lightning struck Kalina Jinzo, 40, in May while she was on the back of a motorcycle driven by her boyfriend. They were in Carrizozo, also traveling in a rainstorm. Jinzo, a mother of three, worked at Sandia National Laboratories.

New Mexico had one death caused by lightning in 2014, a 45-year-old motorcycle rider. That strike occurred near Cimarron.

Lightning has killed 22 people this year in the United States, according to the National Weather Service. Four of those deaths occurred in Alabama, three in Florida and two each in New Mexico and Arizona.

During the past 10 years, three people in New Mexico died after being hit by lightning, according to the National Weather Service. That put the state near the midpoint nationally for lightning fatalities. Florida had the highest number.

In that same stretch, the number of lightning deaths nationwide peaked at 48 in 2006 and has been declining since. Twenty-six people died in lightning strikes last year.

The 30-year average for lightning deaths in America was 49 annually. But in the past 10 years, the number has dropped to an average of 32 deaths per year.

Dozens more people each year survive lightning strikes, but they often have neurological damage for the rest of their life.

Mark Fettig, a forecaster with the National Weather Service in Albuquerque, said people often incorrectly believe they are safe riding in automobiles during a storm because the tires provide insulation that prevents electrocution.

But, he said, the protection comes from being inside a metal structure. In Trujillo's case, he had no such protection on his motorcycle.

Members of the Trujillo family had planned to meet in Taos, then make the 11-hour drive to Sturgis for the famous motorcycle rally that may draw more than 1 million people.

As rain came down harder, Juan Trujillo wanted to pull over and get in his wife's truck, Michael Trujillo said. That's when lightning struck him. His wife didn't have any cellphone service, so she couldn't call 911 for help, Michael Trujillo said.

A passing couple saw Juan Trujillo on the ground and pulled over to help, Michael Trujillo said. Maria Trujillo then drove some miles to get cellphone service, he said.

Michael Trujillo said that attending the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally was "one of Juan's biggest dreams." He said that Juan Trujillo had been riding a motorcycle for at least a decade.

Michael Trujillo called his brother "an amazing person." He said Juan Trujillo was a jack of all trades who worked in various jobs, including as a trucker and a heavy equipment operator. Juan and Maria Trujillo have two sons and a daughter.

A memorial mass is scheduled for noon Friday at San Jose Catholic Church in Los Ojos.