I forgot to mention that we encountered our first thunderstorm today.  It started as a small sprinkle and quickly began to pour.  We sought refuge under this tree with some other unfortunate motorcyclists.

Last summer Ruggles was caught in a terrible storm while floating the Smith River.  They made the mistake of not getting out when they could, and faced a storm that could have ended tragically.  This must have influenced his attitude of, “we’ve gotta get outta here now Romney!”  I was more of a “let’s grab a burger and let it pass” kinda guy.

Anyway, we sat under the tree for a few minutes and blazed on into the darker more daunting storm.  On the other side we could see sunlight, so we figured as long as we could ride faster than storm clouds travel, we should make it out okay.

We began to climb in elevation as the storm grew stronger.  While both of us are comfortable on bikes, I don’t know that either one of us would call ourselves pro.  The road got windier, the roadside cliffs deeper, and the rain turned into hail.  Luckily I wear a full face helmet, Ruggles on the other hand got pelted in the face for 20 minutes or so.  As we pressed on the visibility dropped greatly.  On a bike, you can’t really just pull over and wait it out.  You’re in it, so might as well grind it out.  Since I’m writing this, we obviously made it out ok, but by far this had been the sketchiest road event thus far.