Day 18 - Riding in the Rain

As we thought it would do, we woke to rain and rode in the rain all day. You know, after you are wet, it really is not that bad. It really wasn't poring all day but it was a nice consistent rain.  You get so wet, it is just running down your face and your arms.  I wore my jacket, but it really isn’t rain resistant, so it just gets wets and keeps you warm.  I did stay warm while I was riding, but as soon as you stop, the cold starts to set in.  I think this moisture is the remnants of the hurricane (or tropical storm, I don’t know what it was) that hit the gulf states a few days ago.  We are supposed to have rain for the next three days.  I am hoping that it doesn’t turn out that way.

I did do quite a bit of research on the type of panniers I was going to carry so that they could take the wet and keep things dry.  I went with Arkel panniers.  They are made of this canvas stuff and will get wet, but they have an inner liner that will keep the insides dry.  I also bought the outer liners to go on them when it is wet just to help things have a better chance of staying dry.  It all seemed to work as none of the items in the bags got wet.  I was a little worried about it today and knew it was the testing day.

We rode through the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area.  It would have been nice to ride through in better weather, but it was still very beautiful.  There were mountains on one side and river going through the middle and it was very green and with the rain clouds hanging on the side of the hills, very pretty.

We are staying in a motel again tonight because of the rain.  The way this trip is handled, Dave our leader has a certain budget that is to pay for all our lodging and meals from the amounts that each of us paid for the trip.  We do not stay in “Hiltons” when we stay in a motel.  It is probably a little more like the “Rupert Motel” so I don’t think it costs a tremendous amount more than camping, but I know that we cannot keep this up every night, but it is sure nice after a day riding in the rain.

We are in Delaware Water Gap, PA.  We have said goodbye to New York and New Jersey today and will be in Pennsylvania for a few days. I have logged about 725 miles on my bike since the first day. We are spending a lot of time together.  I think at times I am carrying on conversations with that bike.

I have to be honest.  I was thinking while I was riding today, “You actually paid money to do this (riding all day in the cold rain)!”  We ran across a lady that was hiking the Appalachian Trail and had been on it since Memorial Day and was taking refuge from the rain as well.  I think I would rather be on the bike.

A picture of the rain clouds and the hills.