Field hockey; or, why making hotel reservations is important.

 A lesson I learned long ago was to make hotel reservations sufficiently far in advance of a stay that I wouldn't be stuck having to ride long distances out of my way. That kind of advance planning is not always possible (some rallies are trickly to plan that tightly), but generally speaking I've been served well by that planning trick.

When making plans for this past weekend's trip, I noticed that the prices in Harrington, DE were a bit on the high side, considering what was on offer. But, I needed a place to stay, so went ahead with the reservation. 

It turns out that there was a MASSIVE field hockey event in Delaware, and hotels were booked up for miles around. The hotel I was in had contestants from NJ and PA (that I was aware of); who knows how many other states were crammed in that hotel. 

New Jersey

I was going to ride to Indianapolis starting yesterday morning, but my route had me going through southern West Virginia. The one to 3 in of snow that was forecast for last night convinced me that wasn't a good plan. So I did a replan quickly, and now I'm going to New Jersey New York and Pennsylvania this week. I have three counties to get for geocaching, and I want to do some more amateur geology on the Jersey shore. So I expect it's going to be a pretty good week for riding.

Rain

I knew from the forecast that it was going to rain today, but it's still a surprise when you get heavy rain and temperatures in the low 50s. It was very chilly. So, I headed for the hotel (Sparta, NC) a little early to dry off and head for dinner.