Friday, July 7, 2000

After yesterdays long ride, we only did 31 miles today from Eau Claire WI to Osseo WI. We started riding at 10:00 AM and the weather was very cloudy. The clouds did look as if they would drop rain at any time. The temperature was in the upper 60’s. For the second day in a row, we went up and down one hill after another. Every time we went east and looked into our rear view mirror we saw a background that was totally obscured by rain. We rode for 2 ½ hours without a significant break and arrived in Osseo dry.

While we were looking for a motel, it began to rain so we called the motel out of town, a couple of miles, to make sure we could get a room. Then we ate lunch in a restaurant where we had to wait 30 minutes to get a seat. While we were eating we heard the emergency alert signal on the radio stating, that due to lighting everyone was to stay inside until 2:00 PM. We finished eating at 2:00 PM and there was still a line of people waiting to be seated.

After eating we decided to ride to the motel in the rain. The distance was about 2 miles and the wind was fierce. In a nutshell, it was a difficult ride. We got wet and almost blown off the road but we reached the motel. One-half hour after we arrived in the hotel the rain stopped for one hour.