Day 2 - Rain, Rain, Go Away!

It was a dark and stormy day.

Among other things.

Today was the day I pulled out the bear ammo, and prepared for the worst. Good thing, too, 'cause there's bear in them there woods. When I left Hagerstown, it was 39 degrees outside with a forecast for rain possibly mixed with snow. I lingered over my coffee this morning, enjoying the warmth, and my state of dryness and mobility.

I left off the top several layers of my gear when I was going back and forth from the house to load the bike, and when it was time to get everything on, I took my arms full of clothes out to the garage and began the process. At the height, I was wearing twenty one separate items (including helmet and boots). When I was about to put my helmet on, I realized my ear plugs were still zipped into my jacket pocket. Which was under my rain jacket. And I was wearing gloves that were bulky. Sigh. Sharon came to my aid, however, and was able to rescue them for me, and I headed out shortly after that, following her van to Interstate 70 for my next leg.

First exit had a Shell station so I got off to fill up and put on my last layer, which was a pair of rubber gloves to go over my riding gloves (think of oversized dishwashing gloves). They are totally waterproof and super cheap...easy to replace. Not so easy to put on when you're already wearing bulky gloves, however. I got the first one on ok, but when it came time to pull the second one on, I was having problems pulling the cuff over the sleeve of my jacket, so I went to the guy filling up his SUV at the next pump and asked if he'd pull the cuff up for me. He looked somewhat askance, but did comply. After that, I headed out on the road. My 21 layers kept me warm enough, I didn't need my heated vest at all, although I did crank up the grips. And it was raining. Never a blinding downpour, thankfully, but it rained steadily until just south of Philadelphia. Traffic was actually pretty good. It moved quite well, and it seemed that folks were paying attention pretty often...I'd see a turn signal get activated by someone who would be coming in front of me, and then it would go off, and they'd stay in their lane while I passed.

With as nasty as the weather was, and as layered up as I was, I was singing hallelujah the first time I went through a toll booth and the sign said “EZPass Toll Paid.” I decided to get an EZPass for this trip after I had to deal with multiple tolls in Chicago back in May, and I found out today the convenience of having one is practically indescribable. My list of the 'best idea ever' for this trip keeps changing as the trip progresses. First it was the grips. Then it was the vest. Now it's the EZ Pass. Without any one of those, this trip would have been somewhere in the miserable range.

I only wanted to stop once between Hagerstown and New Hyde Park, which is a 300 mile trip, so I waited until past Philadelphia to stop for fuel. If I had a helmet camera, that would have gone onto my 'good idea' list, too (though its absence does not make the trip miserable). The thing I remember about Philadelphia are the bridges. I think today was the first time I've been on a double decker where traffic was moving in opposite directions on different levels. The other happy thing about Philadelphia was the fact that I actually saw my shadow on the ground. I looked up and saw bits of blue sky peering through the cloud shreds that were being blown around. When I stopped for fuel, I stood outside enjoying the radiant heat of the sun on my black clothes. I'm not sure what the temp was there, but when a cop walked past me standing by the bike, he asked if I wasn't freezing. I told him I felt fine, and even though I had taken off about four layers at that point, I still was quite protected.

I did have a cartoon moment at the gas station, however, when I took off my outer glove covers. The first one came off, and I noticed my inner leather riding glove was soaked on the outside. Out of curiosity, I held the rubber glove up by the fingertips and about a quarter cup of water poured out of it. Same with the other glove. Apparently, I should have tucked the end of their gauntlets under my rain coat cuffs to avoid having water run down into the gloves from my sleeves. I thought the wind from interstate travel would have kept the water out of the gloves. I thought wrong.

Random guy Danny was my bike conversationalist at the gas station today. He asked where I was riding (if I didn't mind telling him), where I was from, if I'd been riding long. It was about a 10 minute chat...he said he'd ridden for many years, but didn't have a bike any more. He admired the color of the bike, which gave him points in my book :)

From there, I called Sarah, my hostess for the night, to let her know how far out I was (it was 1:30 at this point) and check the weather in New York. When I left the station, I put the rubber glove covers into my luggage and just left my regular gloves on, but left the rest of my layers intact. When I got into New Jersey, the turnpike was hopping right along and my biggest concern was just staying out of the way. I had printed out google directions to my house for the night, and the fun started, as I had to start reading what my roads and turns were going to be while paying attention to the roads and traffic around me. One of the coolest parts of the ride this afternoon was seeing the Manhattan skyline (first time I've seen it in person since 9/11 ), and getting to go across the Verrazano Bridge. With only one stop, my pictures were limited again today. The first 200 miles weren't anything much to see anyway ((rain, fog, more rain), but coming into New York had some coolio stuff. The skies did cloud back up after I left the gas station, but I didn't see any more rain north of Philadelphia.

Once I made it to my haven for the night, I was glad to change into jeans and a sweater, and evaluate how well my rain gear did. Surprisingly enough, the jacket did fabulously, but the pants (which feel bomb proof) got wet through the sides. However, the advantage to wearing a bazillion layers is that if the top one or two get wet, the bottom ones still stay dry, which makes for a good ride.

If anything, I'm sure I made several people happy today, as they saw me riding along in the rain. They got to appreciate the fact that they were warm, comfortable and dry in their automobiles as they cruised on past the chick on the bike. I'm glad tomorrow is Sunday. 'Twill be a dearly valued day of rest!