The deviled eggs were ready; the melons were cut; the cakes, iced.

Those who are masochistic enough to use a charcoal grill were getting started loading in the dirty stuff because it takes so long to heat up.That's when the skies opened up and didn't stop.Bad weather made this Fourth of July one of the most disappointing in recent years. In Maryland, where I was visiting family, the rain started fairly steady and didn't let up until well after the sun went down.And while it was tough not to feel a bit down about the weather, I learned to be grateful with help from an unlikely source - a biker gang.And Mother Nature sure didn't make it easy with Monday's seemingly endless downpour. As if she was trying to mess with us even more, the sun shone through the clouds, but the rain was unrelenting.I had planned to spend the afternoon with my brother watching motorcycles race around the old horse track at a fairground in western Maryland.Rain and motorcycles do not mix well. Rain, motorcycles and a dirt track really don't mix well. The race was unfortunately canceled with much of the program remaining.It was disheartening. It just didn't feel like the Fourth of July as we ended up eating burgers at a pub downtown. I'm sure it didn't for the many well-dressed, well-to-do Marylanders who filled up the restaurants after their barbecues got washed out.I know it had to be even worse for the group of 100 or so members of the Pagans, who were having a barbecue of their own at the fairgrounds before the skies opened up.These are some of the scariest guys around, but I couldn't help but feel a little bad for them as they headed out en masse into the rain.Many of the bikers had New Jersey license plates, meaning they had a two-plus hour ride ahead of them.The effect of the rain on the bikers' holiday was far more significant than mine. But despite how far it fell, they didn't seem to let the weather put a damper on their party.I on the other hand was bumming because I wasn't getting sunburned while getting sprayed with dirt from motorcycles going in a circle.And to be honest, there was a lot to like about this weekend. On Saturday, I got to kayak the Delaware River, getting a head start on that sunburn, and had a bald eagle fly circles above our heads.I also have to say the raw Chesapeake oysters we got as the rains fell were plenty worth it.So I stand by my statement that Monday was one of the worst Fourth of July holidays I can remember. But we all had the choice to wallow in the dreary conditions, or make the most of the weather over the weekend before the rains hit.