Rain. Wait, is that the sun? Hey it's getting too warm for all of this rain gear. Oops - here comes the rain again. And again. And...
My dad saved me from getting soaked first thing in the morning, but I did get wet several times during the day. When I first woke up this morning it was still raining, so I slept for another hour. The next wakeup time was gray, but no water falling from the sky, so I headed back to Pitkin's for breakfast. Then I packed up, and right before I left I called my dad for Father's Day. Good thing, because when we were finished with our conversation it was pouring rain again. I stayed where I was until it changed to a drizzle.
I met Karl & Lori in the parking lot of the general (junk and more) store in North Hudson. They gave me their phone number and a map to their place in Old Forge in case I need a place to stay there.
I rode up Blue Ridge Road from North Hudson. It was gorgeous, and nicely rolling - followed of course by a long uphill that included a good chunk of 8 to 11% grades. It was one of those deceptive hills too. At one point my eyes were sure that I was going downhill, but I was still moving uphill at a pretty significant grade. I know it's an optical illusion - but I'm always amazed when that happens. The long uphill was were it first started pouring. I had just started to overheat, and had just stuffed my rain gear back in my panniers. Time to put it back on again. It was an on-again, off-again rain day. The rain was serious when it happened, downpours, not drizzle. But in between rainstorms the sun almost showed it's face. I was almost able to dry out between storms. It was definitely a better weather day than yesterday. The temperature was usually in the mid-50s when it was raining, warming up to the high 50s and low 60s when it wasn't raining. I heard some nice rumbles of thunder, but didn't see any lightening.
It was a bad day to stop and rest. Every time I stopped I was swarmed by black flies. Yuck! I guess that's another good reason not to be camping right now.
I pulled into Newcomb and stopped at the Northwoods General Store for something warm to drink. I was pretty wet at that point and definitely needed to warm up. I ended up talking with the owners and with Pat. After I asked how much further it was to Long Lake, Pat offered me a ride. He said he was heading back that way, and was driving a truck with enough room in it for my gear. I think I surprised both of us by accepting his offer. He said he didn't know if I was too much of a purist to accept a ride. I learned the hard way on my ride in Washington back in 1999 that sometimes accepting a ride is the smart thing to do - and I'd had enough of riding in the rain for the day. Hey, what's 13 miles in the overall scheme of things? Pat rides too, and he said he offered me a ride because he'd like to think that someone would do the same for him in similar circumstances. I have offered my house as a place to stay, and I never hesitate to offer help to other cyclists. I was happy to accept the ride today!
There were a couple of hummingbird feeders hanging outside of the store, so I was able to do some hummingbird watching. The store owner told me that one day one of the birds allowed her to hold it! She said she wanted to see how close she could get to the hummingbirds. She walked pretty close to the feeder, and the bird just sat there and watched her. She actually reached out and picked it up, and it just allowed her to hold it! When she put the bird back on the feeder it took a drink and then flew away. Isn't that just amazing?
Pat drove me around to look at the different motels. The Shamrock looked like it was the most convenient, so we pulled in here and just caught the owners as they were leaving for a Father's Day dinner. They set me up in a room, and turned the heat back on so I could warm up and get my clothes dry. What nice people! They recommended the Blarney Stone Pub for dinner, excellent choice. The restaurant had a hummingbird feeder in their window too, so I was able to continue my hummingbird watch.
The rain is forecast to continue for another couple of days. I hope it breaks soon. And my poor bike hopes it stops too. I'm starting out every morning with a cleaned and re-lubed bike, but it's amazing how much crap it picks up from the road in the rain.
