5-23-17...Got up at 0600 to check the weather.  UGH!!!!  It's a terrible forecast but as usual, the forecasters don't say 100% rain, they leave it at 90% giving you the slender hope that you can slide into that 10% of clear air that is devoid of rain.  I'm getting ready to depart when my oldest daughter and two of my grandkids, Jack and Selah arrive to wish me God speed and happy travels, all the while rushing in out of the rain.  Jack steps out on my deck and assures me the rain has slacked off.  Jack is a very intelligent teenager who has just completed the requirements for Eagle Scout but I will never provide him a recommendation if he desires to be a weather forecaster.  Now I am looking at unloading the motorcycle trailer and packing it all into the Cadillac and getting on the road.  But no, I can't let the grandkids think their granddaddy is a wussy.  So I jump on the bike and proceed to my first checkpoint which is Scotland Neck.  The route I have is six hours long through the back roads and farm country of NC, VA and MD.  Two hundred feet down the road the bike is already soaked,  you can't see out of the windscreen and as I press on I am seeing signs to beware of high water.  The rain continued non-stop for three hours and then abated to a drizzle for the rest of the trip.  As the rain slowed Bitchin Betty (my GPS) took over to further ruin the day.  I don't know if it might have been her time or she was just irked at me but she put me on some back roads that I believe are still uncharted,  I enjoy riding the back roads or our nation as long as they are hard surface but she put me on some deer tracks that further deteriorated into squirrel and raccoon tracks.  As a matter of fact, two of the squirrels gave up and went home.  But, to cut to the chase, I made it to Bowie MD by 1730.  Tomorrow is local visiting family and friends in Bowie and Falls Church  and the weather is supposed to be without rain.  The following day is a long one with travel to Bear Mountain bridge and you guesses it, 90% chance of rain most of the way up there.
Didn't take any pictures today cause all there was was rain.  Not the best first day but I'm sure things will get better,