Rain, rain, go away....... (June 1)

We stayed in quite a nice little mom & pop hotel last night.  Again - in the middle of nowhere, but since I was late getting in it didn't really matter to me.  Shower and then it was dinner time.  Breakfast at 7 this morning, and then out into the rain.  Ugh!  About half the ladies chose to ride in the van today.  Can't say that I blame them.  It was never really a hard rain, but we stayed wet all day and the temperature varied between 5C and 9C - brrr!  Good thing we had lots of climbing to keep us warm!!  And - I've got good gear, so I can't complain about too much.  No pictures today, though, as the mission was just to get it done safely.  I think it would really have been a beautiful ride on a sunny day.  Rural, small towns, and a state forest at one point.  We crossed the Appalachian Trail early this morning, although I didn't notice it at the time.  The last few days we've been on a lot of back roads and secondary roads.  The traffic hasn't been too bad, but often there's not much of a shoulder and the pavement is pretty rough in places.  Kind of limits how much I want to lift my gaze to take in the scenery.

I was hoping to find a gas station in Norfolk to use the facilities.  Alas there was none so I rang the bell at the local library and they let me in.  What a lovely old building!  Reminded me of the Library of Parliament in Ottawa on a miniature scale.  I'm sorry I didn't think to go back and get my camera.

At 32 miles we crossed the Saville Dam.  Another beautiful photo opportunity gone unfulfilled.

I (and most other riders) spotted a Starbucks in Granby at 42 miles so I went in to get my hands and feet warmed up again.  It made a world of difference and the last 13 miles was a comfortable pedal.

We skirted Bradley International Airport (Hartford CT) on the last few miles in to our hotel in East Windsor CT.  Not sure how they found enough flat land to build an airport......

Nancy I.'s brother lives nearby and he brought many bottles of wine and loads of cheese and crackers to provide appies before dinner.  Thank you Peter!  A hearty soup for dinner (+veggies, bread and brownies) and we're fueled up for another day.  Forecast looks dismal....

BTW - we're on to our last Adventure Cycling map (of 7) tomorrow.  Must be getting close to the end!

Stats for the day:
88 km from Lakeville CT to East Windsor CT.  Temps from 5C to 9C and light rain all day.  Lots of climbing, but my GPS doesn't seem to do grade or elevation gain in these conditions.  Someone else said it was over 3000 feet and that seems about right.