Day Six: Rain, Lightning, Hail, and a Tunnel of Green

I have reached my destination (Mom & Dad in Florida). But still you get an update!

Today I got wet – really wet. The first half of today’s ride was great. Clear skies with slightly lower temperatures so life wasn’t too miserable. Yes, I did find a Dunkin Donuts and where two nice young ladies invited me to Bike Night. Sorry, I will be 150 miles away by then… Then… Then is when the sky turned black as night and exploded. Not sure what it is that the people of Florida did, but God hates them!

I was almost prepared. First the wind started picking up and I looked to the sky. Hmm, should I just keep going and assume this is a short thunder storm? No, I don’t see any sign of anything lighter than charcoal grey in the sky ahead, other than those incredible bright lightning bolts cracking all around. A quick ramp side suit up with rain pants, rain booties and rain glove covers and I am ready to go (I had made a conscious choice not to pack my dedicated raincoat since my riding jacket is supposed to be water proof). Did I mention that my riding jacket is supposed to be waterproof?

Barely a mile ahead I run into a wall of hell. Eh, I mean hail. No, I had it right the first time. Rain drops the size of 9mm were pelting me along with a mass of BB size hail (and the wind is stonger). Note, the rain pants may be wind and water proof, but they do little to stop the sting of hail on my knees! I feel like I am in the middle of a physics experiment where water is proving it can exist in a solid, liquid and gaseous state at the same time. The mist is so thick that all traffic slows to about 25 MPH and we still can hardly make out the car in front of us. Virtually everyone pulls over.

I see an underpass ahead with a lumber truck parked under it. I slip in between the buttresses with the truck between me and the passing traffic. Though dripping wet, I feel safe here with the truck as a buffer and the bridge above protecting me from the downpour. Guess you are expecting some dramatic event to happen at this point. Sorry. I just sat there for about 20 minutes until the storm let up a little bit.

Back on the road and it is better, but still terrible. A few miles ahead I see a rest stop. I pull over and stand under the eaves with a bunch of other people contemplating the weather. Figure about 45 minutes there. Finally the rain gets a little lighter. Not enough to be visibly better, but the racket from the water pounding the tin roof has been significantly subdued. Hop the bike and I am on the road again.

The remaining 150+ miles are spent in various degrees of wet. It is intriguing that I am actually feeling a bit chilled after all these days in the oppressive heat.

For a while I spend my time admiring the lush greenery around me. Then it hits me, I feel like I am in a never ending tunnel of green. While the desert was open and airy, the highways in Florida are lined with tall trees forming a high canopy with small trees in between and the bushes and grasses filling the void – mostly interlocked with a series of creeping, climbing vines. It looks almost solid. An occasional exit is carved out of the green wall, but then the wall immediately starts up again. The view for the last couple hundred miles is limited to a section about 50 – 100 yards wide with a black/gray roadway closed in by tall trees. Nothing else exists other than the black bucket in the sky being dumped all over you.

Let me digress for a moment for a nationwide observation: there is a ton of money being dumped into road reconstruction. Every state has major projects going on with sections of the I-10. I am not talking basic patch jobs. Miles of pavement have been ground up with teams of trucks and steam rollers laying fresh blacktop.  Miles of this! Must be a good business to be in today!

And that photo toping today’s entry: yes, that is Mom helping dry off my food supply. Appears the water resistant North Face duffel was correctly labeled as water resistant versus water proof. Did I mention my riding jacket is supposed to be water proof? I can feel the water running down the inside of the jacket into my, well, dripping just about everywhere.