Riding in the Rain

Because I don’t own a car I always get the question “what happens when it rains?” Well i am always prepared for the worst. I always carry my rain gear and my heated gear anytime i leave home. As the Boy Scouts say “Be Prepared! ” and I am.

My first story is about riding through a Hurricane.  I was in Bangor Maine at a Music festival. We were a vendor serving Orr’s Island Seafood Chowder and the staff of the festival came through on Sat afternoon around 3 pm and told all vendors they had to be gone by midnight as a hurricane was approaching and they were going to cancel the Sunday portion of the festival.  we were staying in campground in Herman, so by midnight we were all tucked away in our campers I was in my m/c camper.  This is what my camper looks like. Our plan was to stay put the next morning and spend the day taking it easy through the heavy rain.  I always have plent of books to read so that was fine for me.  I woke up around 4am and listened and heard no rain, so i made a bathroom run and it was still not raining. so i made a decision to pack up and make the 2.5 hour track back to my big camper at Meadowbrook Camping Area.  It would take me about 30 minutes to pack up and head out so that was what i was going to do.

By 4:40 am i was rolling out the campground heading south. I knew i had highway all the way home so i could move and maybe make it in less than 2 hours. At 4:50 I stopped to get coffee and this little store. I was out and on the road by 5am and still no rain, but that was about to change. About a mile down the road it started to rain and by the time I hit RT 95 it was pouring. It took me 2.5 hours to get home. I could ride as long as I could see and i only had to stop twice.  I had just arrived back at my camper at Meadowbrook  i received a text from my son that said “it’s raining here at Meadowbrook., I replied ” I know, i just arrived home”. it was 8am.

The other time it was raining really hard, I was on my way to Sturgus and I was in Ohio and I was with Mike from Worcester, Ma. and he didn’t have a full face helmet and we stopped under a bridge and we weren’t alone.  I posted this pic on Facebook and my daughter commented “well at least someone there to wake you up”.  What she was talking about was I was on my way to Maine and I was on RT495 in Ma. and it was raining and I was stopped under a bridge and i saw that it was going to be raining for awhile so i pulled out my sleeping bag and my book and laid it out under the bridge on the embankment and started to read my book. The next thing I know a state trooper is waking me up. I’m sorry I must have fallen asleep and he said you did I could hear you snoring when I got out of my car. I told him I would be on my way after it stopped raining. He said it had stopped a few minutes but to take my time. he wanted to make sure I was ok. 

This is a good place to make new friends. We meet a couple from Pittsburgh, and they told us about a campground that they were going to so we tagged along and camped with them.