Cold, Wet Ride; Hot Pancakes

The Ladies' Auxiliary cooks pancakes at the VFW in Strafford on the 5th Saturday of the month. Since it only happens a few times a year, the weather has to be really harsh to call off the ride. It was about 44 degrees, but not raining, when I left the house. It started to sprinkle when Rae, Doug and Tom met me downtown at 7:30AM. We had to be at the VFW before it closed at 9:00, so we headed east into the headwind (about 11 mph) that made the rain seem more intense. The rain stopped outside of Springfield, but picked up again just outside Strafford. When we crossed MO744, we passed a stream of runners and walkers doing a 5K. As usual the pancakes were great. For some reason the women make better pancakes than the men who cook them the 1st and 3rd Saturday of each month. Since it looked like we were going to get more rain, we decided to head back to Springfield after breakfast. The rain started again after we crossed I-44, but with the wind at our backs it was not bad. Instead of a 50-mile ride, I only did about 33 miles. More than enough in the cold and rain.