Navigation should be simple today, just stay on Hwy 5 from Little Falls to Albany, going through Johnsville, Palatine Bridge, Fonda, Amsterdam, and Schenectady.  Then take Hwy 20 out of Albany across the Hudson River.

            It was raining when I started in the morning, and rained all day until late afternoon.  So I got soaked, but it had been awhile since I was rained on like this.  Not only was it rain, but was raining hard, and right into my face, so I was also biking into the wind.  As the morning went on, I was getting a burning sensation in my eyes.  I had to stop and wipe them to relief it.  It kept getting worse and worse.  I did not know what was causing it; I’ve biked in the rain before, but never experienced this.  I considered acid rain, but knew that wasn’t it.  I considered that maybe cars and trucks driving by were kicking up road salt dissolved in the rain water and splashing my helmet which then dripped down into my eyes.  Nothing seemed to make sense, but it was turning into a serious problem because at times I could not keep my eyes open without hurting.  It was getting so bad, I was spending about half my time stopped wiping my eyes.  I decided that I could not continue biking in the rain and would stop when I got to Amsterdam.  I could not understand why I used to bike in the rain without my eyes burning, and now I can’t, what changed.  Then it occurred to me; back in Pennsylvania, I bought some felt stick-on pads to put in my helmet because it was fitting too loose.  Maybe something on the adhesive, or on the pads, was getting soaked and running into my eyes.  I took the pads off and had no problem after that.    

            The area between Little Falls and Amsterdam had a lot of dairy farms; at least from what I could see when I had my eyes open.  I saw more cows here than I did in Wisconsin.  When I stopped to take a picture of a “Drink Milk” sign on a barn, I met Kimberly.  She is a fifth generation dairy farmer.  She said it is very tough right now making it financially.

            In an Amish community before Palatine Bridge, I stopped to take a picture of two Amish girls at a roadside stand.  But they said no when I asked if I could take their picture.  Along with other foods, they were selling small six inch pies.  I bought a peach one and ate it their under the tent out of the rain.  The mother came out and we talked about biking across the country.  She said it was a cheap way to travel.  I told her that it was cheaper than a horse because I did not have to feed the bike.  Before I left, she gave me a plate of cookies that she said she could not sell because they were broken. 

            I was totally soaked from the rain.  When I got to Palatine Bridge, I stopped at a laundromat and changed into my street clothes, and put my biking clothes in a dryer for 30 minutes.  This may be a bit crazy, because I knew that when I put them back on they were going to get wet again.  But it did feel good to put on the dry clothes.  And they did get soaked again as soon as I got back on the road.

            By the time I got to Schenectady late in the afternoon, the rain had let up.  From Schenectady to Albany is all city biking, but it was late enough that traffic was not too bad.  I crossed the Hudson River and found a motel for the night.  Everything is spread out drying.