Misty and I thought that we had outrun the storms by starting out at 7:16 am. We felt pretty smug when 15 minutes after we sat down at the diner in Montesano, WA, the rain started its hammering outside. It stopped after 30 minutes and to my delight it looked like it was beginning to clear up with sunshine lighting up the street. However after another 45 minutes the rain returned so we did other stuff such as order another coffee, play with dice, or go to a chiropractor.
Two hours pass and we finally return to riding except that on the on ramp two of the girls get flat tires within 15 minutes of each other from the fine shards of glass strewn across the highway shoulder. Thankfully the rain held off at the time, but resumed the minute the tires were back on the bike.
The rain usually started with a few heralding drops and gives me a small hope that it will just stay that way, but of course it gets stronger and stronger until all I can see is blurry patches of grey through my sunglasses. We can't stop or else we risk cooling down and freezing, so we keep pedaling. To see, I have to shake my head to see if I can dislodge raindrops off my sunglasses, somewhat like a dog. At the same time I've hunched like a turtle retreating into its shell, trying to keep all rain out of my collar. After five minutes of this, I can't help but laugh out loud because I recall that I put myself up to this in a completely voluntary fashion. In fact, it was even supposed to be a great idea... :)
The forecast promises beautiful weather tomorrow. I am looking forward to it.
