Day 91: Rainy Day in Mass.

The morning started slow and leisurely until the sky threatened me with a few drops. I scrambled to pack up the tent and then was on the road. I've always loved cranberry anything and was curious about the bogs they're supposedly grown in. Having a full day to ride only 45 miles to Newton I took a detour to the Carlisle Cranberry Bog. There aren't many in this area of the state and this one was part conservation land, part bog. I rode around a little but unbeknownst to me you won't see actual cranberries until September so they just looked like wetlands. I read some of the plaques and got back on the road to Chelmsford for lunch.

The sky has looked like a storm for the past couple days and now it decided to unleash. It was warm so I didn't get out my coat and instead enjoyed the downpour until I got to a sports bar and had some food and a couple beers while I waited it out. The next stretch was into Newton and I was able to take a couple bike trails but it was raining pretty much the entire 25 miles to Ben and Danielle's place. I could tell I must have been quite a site to many of these people in their vehicular cages. I was riding in pouring rain with a ton of stuff, and enjoying it! I was also reminisce They were already gone when I got there so I let myself in, dried off and cleaned up, and ordered some Chinese take-out. For some reason I had been craving it the past couple days and it was great to lounge in a warm house with good food and be able to watch some of the Olympics. You might think it would be hard to be so close, only 10 miles, to the finish and wait for a day until Steph gets here and it was. But it was hard because now I don't want the glory to end. I really do miss my family and friends and I'm extremely excited to hang out with them, but I'm also definitely going to miss the riding and exploring. I talked to Steph on the phone and it went very well, me choosing my words carefully about her going "there" in the morning and how will she get to "their" place from the airport. Surprises are exciting!