We've been having one of those long springs, day after day of rain. Being an Oregon beaver/duck, I take rain in stride, but these consistent thick gray skies are starting to get me down. Next week is summer. Experience tells me not to expect two dry days in a row. This morning, even with this sunshine, bright as it is, it's like fools gold. I wear boots and put on winter gloves just to walk the dogs.
Yesterday I wanted to go to the rink to skate the 3-5:30 session but it just didn't fit into my schedule. Alternate plan, skate the Fanno Creek trail, or at least a portion of it. I skated in the Skorps. This is the first time I'd taken the trail solo but I wasn't concerned about that, the blue-tooth was in place so I could get in touch with my family in an instant if necessary. The sky was solid gray, it had rained in the morning but the pavement was dry, mostly, a few puddles here and there that the Skorps could take without hesitation. About a mile into the trail it crosses under a minor highway. The darkness of the tunnel didn't bother me, it was the mud. I plodded through as it slowed me to a turtle's crawl. On the other side I resumed my usual pace until I noticed how dark the sky was growing. Deep menacing gray, and it was getting cold. No thunder; good. I quickly turned around and decided to hurry back to the car, I guessed it was at least 25-minutes away. The transit back through the tunnel was awful; I got stuck in some thick mud and nearly couldn't lift my feet. I kept sliding towards the stream of water in the center. Fortunately it is fenced off, but only with a wimpy plastic partition. I feared I might get tangled in it if I didn't stop sliding. Once I came to a stop it was difficult to keep my balance and get back to the slightly less muddy part of the path. I probably should have taken the Skorps off at that point, but I didn't. Once out of the tunnel I looked in dismay at the mud clinging to the scooter sized wheels of the skates. Wow! Ugly. I had to spend some time dragging my feet sideways through nearby grass to dislodge as much as I could. Dove right back onto the trail, hoping to beat the rain back to the car.
A few rain drops but no showers developed. I was pretty warm from the exertion, no jacket; had planned to keep skating despite whatever rainfall. Oddly it never did rain.
Total skate time, 55 minutes. Treat along the way: sighting a small brown rabbit dining on grass at path's edge.
