Sliding into home (7/13/23 Thu)

It felt good to wake up in a clean hotel room and not be that worried about my bike in the parking lot outside the window. I took a quick look anyway, and it was fine. I reviewed the weather and packed my gear onto the bike. When returning my room key-card I decided I should eat the free breakfast too.

On the road by 0800 and heading for home on my last stretch. The day before I had decided not to go to Galeton and stay lower and further away from the flooded Vermont path home. That seemed like a good call as the storms I stayed below yesterday caused tornados in Chicago. Which is where the Zumo GPS wanted to take me and ride along the bottom of the great lakes towards home. Glad I only went far enough to touch the rain and bounced back further south. That would be my plan today, except I was trying to beat the storms home and pretty much on the southern route to avoid ever hitting them. The weather report during breakfast said Vermont should be spared most of the Chicago weather front as the forcast put it further east in New Hampshire. Not ideal for me, but my weather app showed it disapating around 1800-2000 at my house. I should be home before that.

I headed out in fog that had already started thinning since my first bike check. It didn't take more than an hour to ride out of the fog and back into heat. After a few gas stops and good traffic flow I rode back into the prior days conditions of wet roads, not raining and cooler. That didn't last long, as I soon overtook the rain. I was getting a little punchy riding so I decided to stop for some food at an Arby's. I ate through the cell passing over and it looked like it disapated around me. When I started northeast again it had in fact cleared. The traffic did get heavier but was OK until I reached New York and got onto 90 east. At one point I hit a wall of traffic that crept forward in spurts. Often stopped, then 5mph, ocationally 20mph. At one point I saw a time until sign that noted the exit 15 miles away would take 45 minutes to reach. I was too far from home and these types of delays would place me very late and likely into the bad weather. So I got off the next exit and planned to go further north and cross east on Rt2.

The GPS kept suggesting I return to Rt90, so I used my phone and just stayed on Rt91 north for awhile. Then the GPS got the idea and suggested some very nice backroads to reach Rt2. All seemed good until the GPS (now with traffic enabled) started reporting 18 minute delays about 30 miles ahead on Rt2. It suggested a new route that would save me 3 minutes. But the new route went northwest to the corner of Vermont and then took roads I'm not fond of home. I wasn't willing to go that far out of the way for 3 minutes. As I drove east on Rt2 the delays got longer and the suggestions still save a few minutes but involved the same northwest destination. I took my chances and continued east. Eventually I hit the delays. The gps shows them as bands of red and yellow. Red was less than 5mph and the yellow in the 15-30 mph range. Each would be a few miles long and then change. At one point I saw one of those signs that said 20 min to the NH boarder. It was wrong, it took my 42 minutes to reach the boarder. By then I was moving along at full highways speeds again.

My total traffic delays totaled around 90 minutes. My gas, food and rest stops totaled roughly another 90 minutes. So my original GPS ETA of 3pm slipped to 6pm. Collecting some rush hour traffic out of Boston, but at least beating the storms.

When I arrived home Anne and Suzie waited in the lawn for me. The dog wasn't quite as happy to see me as Anne had expected. But she was clearly glad to get stratched propperly again. Anne noted the shedding. Anne hugged me, gave me a big kiss and told me I looked like Gary with my 6 weeks of beard.

Four weeks of not shaving gave me a beard on the Florida trip. But six weeks is fuller. I learned last time that shaving with my normal razor took forever. This time I'm going to use one of my ESEE knives for the first shave. Then I'll re-shave with the 5 bladed normal razor. What could possibly go wrong.