Last modified: Wednesday, June 13, 2007 6:00 PM EDT Riding through the storm By Jessica Kosowski Sun Chronicle Staff Nothing but sunny open road lay ahead of Charlie Smith of Plainville and his son, Chuck Smith of Coventry, R.I., as they set out on their nearly 8,000-mile motorcycle road trip on Tuesday morning. But that soon changed. In a phone call to The Sun Chronicle from Ohio on Wednesday, Charlie Smith reports that the riders had beautiful weather - sunny and 74 degrees - as they motored through Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut and New York. However, once into Pennsylvania, the Smiths saw rain clouds ahead. "It went from sunny to being as dark as midnight," Smith said. The pair pulled over to put on their rain gear, so they'd be prepared for the road ahead of them, which happened to include torrential downpours. "We got caught in an awful storm in the Poconos," Smith related. "It was thundering and lightning, and the rain was so intense we couldn't see where we were going." Hail from the thunderstorms pelted the Smiths, slowing them down further. "The hail stones were so bad, it felt like we were being stung by bees," Smith said. After slowing their speed to 30 m.p.h., and despite being splashed by passing tractor trailer trucks, the pair pushed on through the rain. A lack of breakdown lanes and highway overpasses contributed to their decision. "We decided it was safer to keep going," Smith related. "We were leery to keep going because we would have kept getting splashed anyway and other drivers wouldn't have been able to see us on the side of the road." Smith reported that it took the pair three hours to travel 100 miles. Soaked and drained from riding through the storm, instead of arriving at their Clearfield, Pa., motel at 5 p.m., they checked in at 8 p.m. The bright side to their stormy day was that they rode 480 miles, about what they had planned to ride. After getting a good night's rest, the pair set out again Wednesday morning, but not before a breakfast of blueberry pancakes from a Pennsylvania diner. In a bright contrast to Tuesday's soaking rains, the pair needed to break out the sunscreen for Wednesday's leg of the journey. "The heat today is so intense we're being burned to a crisp," Smith said. They had planned to complete a total of 1,000 miles by Wednesday night, and planned to sleep in South Bend, Ind., before heading further into the Midwest on Thursday. Charlie Smith said that the pair plans to spend Father's Day, depending on the weather and other sightseeing, in Montana or Idaho. "Where ever we are on Father's Day we'll go out, have a meal, a couple of beers, and toast each other. We'll get someone to take pictures of us so we have a memory of this Father's Day spent on the road," Charlie Smith related. In another indication of brighter skies ahead, father and son have already made friends along the way. They report meeting fellow motorcycle riders heading in the opposite direction. "We met a guy riding from North Carolina to Laconia (New Hampshire), and also a man from Wisconsin going to Laconia," Smith said. And the Smiths say the locals they've met have been friendly. "We like to stop in small towns and everyone asks us where we're from and where we're going," Charlie Smith said. And as for weathering that rain storm, Charlie Smith related a story about a recent visitor to the restaurant he co-owns in South Attleboro, Shanghai Gardens. While dining, the visitor, a woman from Australia, and Smith began sharing travel stories, and of course the topic of the Smiths' journey came up. Upon returning home, the woman sent Smith an Australian coin, which in a letter she said it was for "good luck." Smith said he had the coin with him on Tuesday while riding through the storm. "I think it helped," he said. Chuck Smith had a more philosophical view of their ride through the storm: "We were being tested," to which his father replied, "We proved we were worthy of the challenge."