Rainy days and Mondays always get me down..... (Carpenters)

Day 29: Liverpool to Amsterdam, New York, 120 miles? Well, maybe 46. or 56.


Again out of the hotel at 5:30, to 52 degrees and a slight headwind. Dry so far..

Then it turned nasty. It was raining before mile 25 where we stopped for a break. An earlier quick stop had Phil taking off some clothes as being too warm, but the temperatures were dropping and the rain intensifying. Phil added a garbage bag under his florescent jersey. Shortly thereafter, I stopped to see how they were doing in the rain, and Phil added my waterproof rain jacket over it all. By the time we got to mile 46, it was really raining and was now 45 degrees.

Ken had had enough, with cold feet and shivering. Phil was warmer with his rain pants so decided to push ahead. We got Ken's bike in the back of the truck and moved ahead to about mile 58. We waited and waited for Phil, wondering what was taking him so long. Finally I looked at my cell phone and found Phil had called me 7 times, left 3 voice mail messages and a text message. I had forgotten to turn my sound back on for the day. Ken had his phone turned off and when he turned it on, discovered that Phil had called him too. Phil was done for the day, and we needed to go pick him up. We found him back on the road pedaling, about a mile or two from where we had waited as he had given up on us.

So, we loaded his bike in the back of the truck as well,then headed for the Super 8 in
Amsterdam. It had been a great day - for ducks..... With the rain, dropping temperatures and headwinds at least 15 miles per hour, it was a day for all to take cover.

Tomorrow looks like chances of rain, but with warmer temperatures and (can you believe it?) possible tailwinds. It has been so long since the guys have had favorable winds that none of us can recall just when that was. We are hoping for a good last two days to finish this epic journey.

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