Northbound in the rain

We left New Orleans and Dave almost got blown off the long bridge across Lake Pontchartrain...his bike is a bit top heavy! We travelled north across Mississippi and Alabama in the heavy rain finally ending the day at   Tuscaloosa, Alabama.  Due to an event at the University of Alabama, we had major difficulty finding a hotel room and finally found one at a no-name flea-bag on the outskirts of town.  The next day we continued on in the rain around Birmingham, stopping at the HD dealership in Trussville to replace Bev's battery fobs, and on toward Chattanooga.......Bev and Dave got separated along the busy 5-lane interstate during a really heavy rain.  Bev can look tough but she was almost crying hoping to get off the road.  Both of them of couldn't see well in the rain and truck spray, Bev could only occasionally see Dave in the distance and tried to stay in the same lane knowing that the highway was intersecting with others.  Just when she got herself together, oh my god it started to hail.  Bev was thinking she'd never get those New Orleans fishy beads to Paige!  Wet and cold and hungry, Bev and Dave finally got off the interstate just north of Chattanooga, never ever seeing the choo choo!  Sure enough the next morning it was pouring and Bev and Dave gave up any hope of re-riding the Blue Ridge Parkway.  The weather channel is showing this entire Eastern part of the US engulfed in rain and thunder for the next 2-3 days.  We continued interstates 75, 40 nad 81 through Knoxville and on into Virginia. Over the last 3 days it has been cold with the temperature between 10-12 C / 40 - 55 F....55 felt balmy at one point.  The day ended in Wytheville with the plan head north on interstate 77; hopefully it will have less traffic.  Those who know us, know that we normally take the scenic curvy routes, but with this rain why bother.  At one of the coffee breaks, a woman came over to us and started praying for our safety on the road....Bev wanted to ask her to pray for the rain to stop, but she was on a roll. Well...although the rain has been bad, I guess we can say "at least it hasn't snowed".