Chapter 6: When It Rains Part 2

"Severe weather and heavy rain shifts into east."

Day 14: Thursday, June 20, 2019
Sometimes on a rainy day we don't get on our bikes at all.

We were all packed up this morning, ready to check out of the Quality Inn of Rome, NY, when we both had second thoughts. The forecast called for one to two inches of rain. That's a lot. According to our map, we would be riding on natural or stone dust trails. In other words, mud. We'd have to find an alternate route on the roads, maybe highways, which could be dark with little visibility. Darn. $94 for another night in a motel room.

Rob always looks on the bright side, His bad knee is happy for a day of rest after three days in a row riding forty-five miles. Plus he's been wanting time to read. And then there's his dirty laundry. (He has one bicycling shirt he wears every day.)

Me, I want to ride, but I know it's the right decision to stay put. But I get restless. Check my email. Try to figure out where we can stay tomorrow night in Syracuse. And the next night. I read a little of my book, look up the art museum in Syracuse, check my email. I notice that it's getting lighter outside and the rain is slowing down. We could be riding.

When we walk across the parking lot to the grocery store to pick up something for lunch, it's not raining at all. Darn! It's too late to leave now.

"My problem is I always think about the other possibilities," I say as we walk back to our room. "What if we had camped last night, what if we had stopped sooner yesterday."

"You have to just appreciate each day for what it is," says Rob.

Rob takes care of heating up the frozen pad thai in the microwave while I corral some chairs so we can sit outside while we eat. The pad tai is really good; there's just not enough of it.

It's still not raining and that's driving me nuts. I say, "When I'm on a bike trip, I have to keep moving."

But Rob is nursing his arthritic knees. He says he's glad for the day off. "Aren't your legs tired?"

"No," and I add, "I keep worrying about your knees, that you're holding back something from me. That your knees are really hurting and you won't be able to continue on this trip."

"Stop worrying about me. I'll be fine."

After lunch it gets dark again and the rain pours down. I feel better. At four o'clock I look out the window. "I can't believe it. There's blue sky! We could be riding." I try to settle down and work on this blog.

This is the second day this week that we didn't ride because of rain. But the first one was much better. That was Sunday, June 16, our ninth day on the road. We had only ridden 15 miles on Saturday because we spent most of the day being tourists in Albany so we didn't really need a day off. But the forecast and other circumstances kept us off our bikes.

The other circumstance that kept us from riding was our neighbors, living in the boat across from where we had pitched our tent Saturday night.

We were camped by Lock 2 on the Erie Canal, a town park in Waterford where bikers can camp for free, but it was mostly popular with boaters, who can tie up for free as well. With so many boats we worried that it would be a party night, but when we saw that it was mostly older retired-looking couples boarding their boats Saturday night, we knew we needn't worry.

Early Sunday morning I was standing outside our tent, trying to encourage Rob to come and join me for a pre-breakfast walk to explore the town of Waterford before it started raining, when the woman on the "Melody in Sea" opened her door and called out, "Would you like some french toast?"

There's only one answer to that question. When traveling by bicycle, a free meal is never turned down. But it's about more than the food. You can sit down and share a meal with a stranger; when you've put your fork down they've become a friend.

Dan and Jenny Lynn are part of a group that call themselves Loopers, boaters who circumnavigate the eastern half of the Continental United States. Over breakfast Dan gave us a summary of their route from Michigan, where they live. I couldn't possibly recount it accurately but it included a river through Chicago, somehow getting onto the Mississippi which they said was awful, filled with way too much commercial traffic so they got off that and headed upstream and east and then south and into the Gulf of Mexico near Mobile, Alabama. Then they made their way across the Gulf and I think they said they took a waterway across Florida, then up the coast to the Chesapeake Bay where they left their boat for the summer last year and went back to Michigan. But the boat filled with water from all the summer rain and had to be gutted and the inside completely rehabbed. That sounded like a nightmare. They told us about other Looper friends of theirs who lost their sailboat in one of the hurricanes.

The Loopers form a community of sorts, following each other's progress on their own looper website. Right now there are about 150 boats somewhere along the loop making a journey that can take a year or more. They face many challenges. Dan is a retired engineer, which is a good thing because, he says, there's not a day when there is not some maintenance or repair that needs to get done. 

Whatever route they take involves going through locks. If you think that all you have to do to accomplish that is drive your boat into the lock and hang out while it goes up or down, like I did, then you would be wrong. The boats have to be securely attached to the side of the lock while the water level changes. At least one person has to be on deck and hang out bumpers and then grab onto one of the lines that is hanging from the side of the lock. This can be treacherous in the rain. And even more so when it is windy. Jenny Lynn told us tales of boats turning sideways in the wind, banging into other boats in the lock. The process takes a certain amount of physical fitness and strength.

Dan summed up the journey as not always fun, but an adventure. Both he and Jenny Lynn are certainly loving it.

As we were finishing breakfast, their friends Jim and Jo Ann came on board. They are a delightful couple and I do wish we had more time to visit, but they had business to take care of, needing to make a decision about their plans for the day. The forecast called for one to two inches of rain. They were heading to Lake Champlain and on up to the St. Lawrence Seaway and would have to negotiate several locks that day. One of the men pointed out to the women, "You'll have to be up there getting wet in the rain." Someone said they had extra days before meeting friends on Lake Champlain.  There were a few other excuses made for staying but they still seemed undecided.

I said, "I could be an impartial observer and point out that not one of you has given a reason to go anywhere today." In the back of my mind was the offer Jenny Lynn had made to let us hang out on their boat and use their internet, but I didn't tell them that.

Dan said, "We agreed to make a decision by eight o'clock and it's eight-thirty. It looks like we're not going anywhere."

Most of the other boats lined up along the wall stayed put as well. 

Jim told us about a restaurant in town that served two eggs and toast for two dollars. It hadn't started raining hard yet so Rob and I decided to walk the few blocks into town to check it out and see if they had internet. They didn't, but they had a line which meant it must be a good place. After waiting our turn we ordered a second breakfast which cost eight dollars for the two of us. 

Don & Paul's Coffee Shop

Then we walked back to our park where there was a small farmers market and we picked up fresh lettuce and carrots and cherry tomatoes for dinner. By then the rain had picked up. 

We knocked on the door of "Melody in Sea." Dan and Jenny Lynn didn't just let us use their internet. They took us in for the day. Jenny Lynn invited us for dinner before it was even time for lunch, offering to make macaroni and cheese with sausage. I told her that was Rob's favorite and offered to contribute a salad, glad that we had picked up those veggies.

The rain pounded down and only the fishermen across the river sat outside. Everyone else was inside a boat or under a shelter. "Melody in Sea" was our safe haven, our home for the day. Dan offered us beer. Jenny Lynn served tuna salad, chips, and carrots for lunch. Later in the afternoon she asked if I wanted a cup of tea. I worked on my blog, Rob and Dan read, Jenny Lynn made a chocolate cake and mac and cheese and defrosted the freezer. And all the while we chatted, learning about their lives as they learned about ours. Around four o'clock the rain stopped and we all got up and went our separate ways, for walks to stretch our legs. Rob and I walked back into town to see if there was more to see, and there wasn't, just a Hannafords across the bridge on the other side of the river, where we picked up some food we thought we might need for the next day.

We met back at the boat for dinner. Jim and Jo Ann stopped by to wish Dan and Jenny Lynn happy anniversary, their 46th, and Rob and I were taken aback that they had chosen to spend their special day taking care that two cyclists would not spend their day getting wet or being miserable cooped up in their tiny tent.

Our daughter spent last year through-hiking the Pacific Crest Trail and had many tales to tell about the wonderful trail angels who helped her along the way. Dan and Jenny Lynn definitely deserve that label. Thank you and safe travels to you. We hope our paths will cross again.

We all agreed the mac and cheese was equal to the best any of us had ever had. It came with a bottle of Reisling and home made chocolate cake completed the meal.

This picture doesn't do justice to the coziness of the "Melody in Sea." Carpeted and with fine woodwork, it is as comfortable as anyone's home, which it really is for Dan and Jenny Lynn. When they finish their big loop, they plan to take off and do part of it again, this time finding a permanent home for their boat in Florida, which will be their respite from Michigan winters.

If you would care to learn more about the Loopers and their adventures, check out Jo Ann's blog: www.wavefromnamaste.com