We managed to ride completely dry until I opted to jump on Autoroute 20 where it passes very close to rte 132 as I wanted to make up some miles from a slow start this am.
Everything went well, but for the sun as it never showed this morning, and as we rode further southwest, the clouds sheeted together into a light grey haze, with no sign of. Blue at the horizon, so I figured we would eventually have to don our rain gear, but I managed to put it off for as long as possible until I saw wet roads ahead so we pulled over under a bridge and did the rain dance.
Well that rain lasted pretty much from Riviere du loup all the way to Drummondville where I finally gave up and got a campsite.
We did an on the bike stop for gas just west of Quebec City where the traffic made me a bit nervous, I don't mind telling you. Of course someone tried to move into my lane, my use of my highbeams notwithstanding. It does get scary when you think of just how much room you need to safely control a panic stop on wet roads, and of course no one leaves you with three or four seconds of room. It's the risk we take I suppose, or choose to take as I could certainly have chosen not to ride in the rain, correct?
We stopped once more at a rest area forty kilometres from Drummondville, and met some riders out of Montreal that had spent three weeks on Newfoundland, with only three days of rain.
We chose Camping Des Voltigeurs just outside of Drummondville, and at $40 it's the most expensive site yet, the rest being around $20 dollars per night.
I was so wet that as I was walking around the store that is part of the parc office, I was dripping and leaving water all around.
I pulled into the campsite, put down the kickstand, let Suzi off, then did a balancing act as I retrieved my kickstand puck from my topcase and got it under the stand before the bike took a dirt nap on me.
I had that tent up in under five minutes, and Suzi inside, rubbed down and swaddled in my dirty clothes as quick as possible.
There is a 60 percent chance that we won't get rain tomorrow, and a 100 percent chance we will be wearing wet gear.
I think I have a dry spot, but I'd get censored by the moderator if I told you precisely where.
Oh, one bright spot, I took pity on Suzi and cracked open a package of Clow's store made beef jerky and she happily obliged me by scarfing it all down without leaving any for me.
She's a real trooper.