Day 42 (6/8/22): Into Each Life Some Rain Must Fall

Start:                  Lexington, VA

End:                    Waynesboro, VA

 Mileage:             49 miles

Elevation:           4,792 feet

Today was proof positive you have to take the good with the bad.

As you can see by the grin on my face in the picture accompanying this post, I was truly elated to make it to the Blue Ridge Parkway—the end of the last true ascent of the trip across the country.  It was a pretty good climb, covering a total of 2,800 feet—the last 2,000 in the final 3 miles.  It was a sweet feeling and I let out a few victory whoops at the top.  Things are not pancake flat for the duration, but the thigh and calf burners are done.     

 The Blue Ridge Parkway was quite nice, and there were a few dreamy views (see gallery for a picture), but as soon as I had caught my breath from my victory cheers, I noticed the clouds were starting to win out over the previously clear blue sky.  And then, after 2,779 miles and with 10 miles to go for the day, my luck with the rain ran out.  Big time.  The heavens opened up.  It poured…hard.  I had no cell coverage, so I couldn’t call Tish for a pickup.  I guess I could have used my satellite tracker to send her a text, but the rain was so heavy, I wouldn’t have been able to see what I was typing.  Like many other challenges on the trip, I just had to make the best of it.  I put on my rain gear which worked to perfection, covered my leather saddle, and slowed down.  After several miles, my luck turned when I saw a small visitors center.  It wasn’t open, but it had an overhang which sheltered me and about 10 soggy motorcyclists until the deluge let up.  After a total of about 45 minutes, the rain stopped as quickly as it started, and I got back on the road.  Tish and I connected 5 miles down the road at our designated spot, and here we are in Waynesboro, VA.

I look at the rain as a right of passage.  I’m actually not disappointed it happened and probably would have been a bit disappointed in the future if I had to answer the question, “what did you do in the rain” by answering, “I really didn’t have much rain, so it was never a problem.”

Rest day tomorrow at Shenandoah National Park.  The last 7 days have been tough, and I’m looking forward to driving (Tish will drive) Skyline Drive and doing some light hiking.

I’ll blog more about this on Friday, but things are winding down.  We have more off days than on for the rest of the trip and we’re starting to count down the miles rather than tracking how far we’ve come.  It’s a good feeling.

What I’m Grateful for Today? (Other than very functional rain gear)

Happy birthday to my college roommate Denis.  We became very tight in college and lived together for our final 3 years at Penn State.  There were so many good times and so many times where we laughed til it hurt.  American Pie, Eddie Murphy, Davit, do you know what time it is?, covering for phone bills, case studies at the Skellar, the Phyrst Family, football games...I could go on.  More importantly, Denis really helped me get through some rough times during my freshman year.  I wasn’t terribly happy at school in my first year, but thanks to a quick bond with my fellow Jersey boy, he made things not only bearable but lots of fun most of the time.  I also love the fact we were both there for each other when we met our future wives and figured out we had found our soulmates.  That was fun.  Lastly, and I’ll not go into further detail, we both had the strength to survive the “Officer Archie Affair” managing to keep ourselves out of jail for art theft, underage drinking, and a host of other infractions if I recall.

Can’t mention Denis without appreciating Dave—our other roommate junior and senior years.  I didn’t know Davey very well when we moved into our first apartment, but through a lot of mutual interests, we became fast friends.  He was an aerospace engineer major, and his study partner just happened to be this cute girl from Bayonne, NJ.  So, in addition to being lifelong buddies, he’s also responsible for introducing Tish and me.  He’ll never let me forget that, and that’s fine.  We spent a lot of time with Dave and his wife Katy right out of college (graduate school for them), and our kids were very close with their daughters Alysia and Julie when they were all toddlers and in grade school.  I really treasure the time our families spent together back then.  Hawaii, Lake Tahoe, Yosemite, and our home bases of San Francisco and San Diego.  I hope we can do more of that in the future.