Rain rain go away

I am so sick of this freakin' rain. I used to love rain. Now that I ride, I can't stand wet days. I squandered a beautiful weather day yesterday, I needed to get a new front tire on the bike, so I didn't get out. Well, the front tire was pretty bald so it's a good thing I got a new one. Today, met up with Ladyhawke and Jude for a little ride. The original plan was to meet in Corona and do Ortega Hwy. Heading out, it was a gloomy morning, foggy and misty enough where drops collected on my visor and windshield, but not really what you could properly call rain. I found Jude at Toms Farms and we waited around for LH, and half an hour late my phone rings ... she's gotten lost, the poor directionally-challenged dear, and ended up in Fallbrook (!) so Jude and I hop on the scoots and head half an hour down the road and find her. From there, a little more wandering & stopped for lunch at a Denny's, and chatted it up for a good long while. From there, we all headed home, so Ortega will wait for another day. The weather never did turn nice like I thought it would. On my way back, it got downright nasty in the San Gabriel Valley, and the mist and drizzle turned into real rain and here I was on the 210 without any raingear with me and this freeway always gets jammed up coming into Pasadena in the afternoon, I don't know why. Slick roads, Sunday drivers and a new wheel made me VERY nervous. I actually got off the freeway for a bit (the section where everyone sees the brake lights in front of them & starts changing lanes suddenly) and rode surface streets for a while. Got home safe and sound, thank you Goddess. My nice clean bike, which I'd spent a little time polishing on Saturday, is a mess again. Oh well ;)