I knew today would be a short day. Not because I was tired, but because of the weather. It was raining hard when I woke up. I waited it out and ended up on the road at about 10:30 this morning. The rain held off as I road through Albany. The route into downtown Albany followed a bike route that was mostly a multi-use trail. The other people on bicycles waived; the joggers just stared.

As I road through Watervliet, my tent poles shook loose and fell from my top rack. I didn’t notice for several blocks. While I rode back to find them, I was worried that someone had picked them up or a car ran over them. Fortunately, neither happened. They were in the middle of the road, so all the drivers must have driven around them.

I took a short detour in downtown to ride by the state capital. It is quite a building. It looks more like something you would see on a college campus rather than a capital building. There were several dozen portable outhouses lined up in a park across the street and along the east lawn. I’m guessing it is some sort of statement about our state government.

Just south of Albany, the rain started up again. It was pretty heavy for a while. I found a gas station to wait it out, but by the time I got there the worst was over and I was pretty soaked. I decided to eat a big, late lunch at the station and grabbed a pre-packaged sandwich. I’m glad I did, because the rain started up again and I didn’t have a chance to cook anything for dinner.

The campground I was aiming for was only a couple of miles away from the gas station, but by the time I got there and registered, the rain had begun again. The floor of my tent got a little wet while I set it up. It wasn’t too bad and I was able to mostly dry it with my towel. Unfortunately, that means I don’t have a towel to dry myself off with if I take a shower.

I made some more gorp. I haven’t had any since the first week. In the past few days, I have been missing having something to munch on while I ride. Because of the rain, I made it in my tent. I’m going to be eaten by a bear tonight because of the gorp in my tent. Actually, I don’t think this campsite has issues with bears. Usually, if they do, there are signs warning about how to store food and dispose of trash. I do not see anything here.