"Wet" day 3

We woke up to lots of heavy rain - see pic from motel window below. The weather did change once we started riding - it started to rain harder. We picked up the Erie Canal bike path a block from the motel. It was easy riding because no one else was on the path. However, after several miles the path became an unpaved dirt path. In dry weather it would be easy to ride on but the rain turned it into mud which was hard to ride on. We ended up riding on the grass next to the path but that was also difficult to ride on. We were only managing about 6 mph on the grass despite a large energy output. At about 6 miles into the ride we left the dirt path near a marina located on the canal and hal got a flat. We saw a house so hal knocked on the door and asked if we could use their covered porch to fix the flat - see pic below. We decided at that point to abandon riding on the Erie Canal path which we had planned to ride to Lockport - about a 60 mile ride. Instead we headed to Batavia which was a large town with lots of motels. We passed through several small towns and lots of farmland; and, it continued to rain. I was riding in a full rain suit - pants, jacket and helmet cover - in order to avoid getting soaked and to stay moderately warm since the air temperature was in the 50s. Of course, my cycling shoes got soaked because all the ventilation holes allow in water. We rode all the way to Batavia before finding a place for a late lunch. Shortly before stopping for lunch the rain finally slowly to a light drizzle. But just as were stopping for lunch hal got a second flat. We had a nice lunch at the Miss Batavia dinner which appeared to be a new place made to look like an old fashioned dinner. After fixing the flat we rode about 3 miles to the first motel we saw and checked in. The total mileage today was 37 miles but most of it was in the rain. Hopefully, tomorrow will be drier! If the weather is good tomorrow we may cycle to Canadian border.