Thu Jun 19 14:17:34 2003<br>
<b>Rain and Sunshine</b> -- West Brookfield, MA
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When we woke up at Becca's house, we found it was raining lightly.  It was light enough, though, that I broke my own rule about not biking in the rain, and we started out, thinking maybe to bike a short ways then stop and camp.  For the first hour I was pretty miserable and couldn't wait to get out of town so we could find a camping spot.  But once I was thoroughly soaked I didn't mind so much.  So we kept going most of the day, to Douglas State Forest.  We biked a good distance into the forest (we later discovered we were actually in Rhode Island before we camped).  We found a nice beach on a lake, with a pavillion which was perfect for wiping down our bikes and lubing the chains.  We were a little worried that a ranger would come along and tell us we couldn't camp there, so we hid our bikes below a wall in the pavillion, and set up our tent in a little stand of trees by the water, mostly out of sight.  There was a mother duck and her seven ducklings wandering around the lake, eating and splashing around and having a great time.  There were bullfrogs too.  Altogether a great campsite.  And it stopped raining in the evening too.  No one even came to hassle us.  This morning it still wasn't raining, and we set out.  As soon as we got out of the State Forest there was a huge long downhill, where I got going so fast I actually had to put on the brakes to feel safe.  But it was fun.  We made it to Spencer for lunch and ate on the steps of the town hall.  It seems like a very friendly town.  They're having their 250th anniversary this year.  Right now I'm stopped for a short break in West Brookfield to use the library, which is right along Route 9, where I'm riding.  The sun came out this afternoon, it is beautiful.  We'll probably be in Amherst early on Friday.