July 22: Sun in Stockholm

Woohoo! When I looked at the weather last night and saw that there was supposed to be sun in Stockholm this weekend, I made the call to travel over 500 miles today to buy myself some time in the “Venice of the North” before I board my ferry to Estonia Monday evening. It wasn’t an easy ride, but it was worth it.

I woke up today to more rain and cold but loaded the Adventure Baby with a sense of determination. I might not be able to change the weather, but I could sure try to outrun it! My socks and boots were still wet from the day before as my attempts to dry them with the blow dryer did not work. It didn’t really matter, though, because they were going to get wet again anyway.

Heading south from Pitea on highway E04 I rode through heavy rain for over five hours. At one point water was coming down so hard it reminded me of the flash flood I experienced in the Mojave Desert last year. Water was bouncing off the road like bacon grease on a hot skillet, cars were pulling off the road to wait it out, and those of us left driving were doing our best to stay inside the lines.

Unfortunately, the rain was so intense I could not see what gear I was in, how fast I was driving, or make out anything on my navigation. At some point the navigation just quit anyway, perhaps because the phone could no longer communicate with the satellite. I decided to find a car with bright taillights that was going slowly and use it as a guide rather than pull over and risk being hit by a motorist that couldn’t see me.

After the worst had passed, I pulled over to get gas and noticed that although there were dark storm clouds behind me, the sky up ahead was bright blue. I jumped back on the bike without my electric gear and headed south with a smile on my face.

With the sun out in full force, I could see the countryside around me clearly for the first time today – evergreen trees lining both sides of the road, rolling hills dotted with red-colored farmhouses, light green meadows, livestock grazing, and a multitude of grey-blue lakes shining in the light. As I headed up a beautiful suspension bridge the blue sky seemed to reach out and touch me and I hopped off the bike to embrace it.

I did experience intermittent rain as I continued to make my way south. But the worst of it was behind me. About an hour north of Stockholm I was greeted by a beautiful rainbow stretching from the blue and grey sky to the trees below. To me, it seemed to be a promise of good up ahead.