The Rinse Cycle

Today's mileage:  258
Loop mileage:  794
Loop total:  16,191
States total:  39
Present location:  Odessa, Delaware

When I checked the weather radar before I took off this morning, I knew there was a chance I could get wet.  I took off anyway, hoping for the best.  It wasn't long before I did indeed run into rain showers.  Luckily it didn't last long, so it really wasn't an issue.  I was in MD at this point, so I got onto secondary roads and headed for a ferry crossing.  Unfortunately, when I arrived, there was no ferry (closed for maintenance).  I knew there was another ferry crossing further upriver, I just wasn't sure where, so I took to the back roads to see if I could find it.  I'm sure it took me much longer than it should have to find it, but it was the type of riding that I really like.  They were good roads that were lightly traveled, and I was never really sure where I was at.  After the crossing, I continued north for a while longer on the back roads.  Every small town I entered had a sign stating it was a historical town.  I'm no expert, but I didn't think this house color was historically correct (and this was without any sunshine to brighten it up).  Maybe he just doesn't like his neighbors.  I reached 100 miles in MD. So I turned east to enter into Delaware.  That's when it really started to rain, I felt like I was definitely in the rinse cycle.  I don't consider rain to be a deal breaker on a trip, but it is a game changer.  It's one thing when you are heading for a destination, it's another thing when you are just meandering. It takes a bit of the fun out of it.  After about two hours of riding in a steady rain I was considering calling it a day when I came upon the Airlift Museum at Dover Air Force Base.  While visiting the museum's inside exhibits, it stopped raining, so after my visit, I decided to head east towards the coast.  This is when I learned that when the area has a lot of rain, and the tide is coming in, some of the roads in the low lying wetlands areas  close due to tidal flooding.  After crossing a marginal area of road that had rising water on both sides,  I decided to call it a day.  Hoping for a dryer day tomorrow.