Goodbye to Illinois

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[The problem with riding during thunderstorms is that sometimes things get in your way - like trees]

[We say goodbye to Mark and his gear carrying truck]

[Ben the thirsty lion tamer]

[Guido braves the lion's mouth as well]

[I always wanted to be an astronaut, but I only ever got the first part right]

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Yesterday morning we woke up to a good breakfast at the Super 8 in Kewanee. We were also greeted with early morning thunderstorms. After consulting The Weather Channel (one of the luxuries of staying in a motel) and looking at the skies outside we decided to take a chance and go for it. The wind was blowing very hard, but it was at our backs, and there was very little rain and no lightning. In the event of an emergency we also had Mark and his truck only a phone call away. It turned out to be a most beneficial storm. Even the tree that fell across (or acrosst for you Wisconsinites) the road was easy enough to get around with the bikes and only served to block all of the traffic. After a few hours the storm dissipated and we were left with very little wind and nice smooth roads. The Adventure Cycling route kept us on back county roads with little to no traffic for most of the day. It was a pleasant ride and we had the added bonus of meeting Mark at each rest stop, or more importantly Mark's cooler full of Gatorade that he had brought for us. So another 98 miles flew by with the bonus of light bikes and ride support. That brought us to the little town of Odell where we were able to camp in the city park across the road from the city pool - free camping, free showers, and for Mark and I a refreshing $4 swim (with cannonballs). Dinner was at the only restaurant in town which was tasty and reasonable priced, although they probably could have added another wait staff as it took about 30 minutes to place our order. After dinner we had to say goodbye to Mark. Once again we cannot say thanks enough to all of the people who have supported us during this ride. Mark also was kind enough to leave us his football to give us something to do to kill time in the evenings (actually he forgot it, but we'll pretend he didn't). The rest of the night went by peacefully enough with the exception of the firecracker tossed at Kevin's tent by some little punk in the middle of the night. Ben and I were startled, but I don't think as startled as Kevin.

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This morning we woke to our standard breakfast of oatmeal and peanut butter. We left Odell and continued east. Illinois finally gave us some unfortunate surprises. Just outside of Odell our road suddenly became covered by gravel. The paved surface was still down there, somewhere, but it was covered by about 1-2 inches of gravel. After several miles of this we found ourselves back on nice pavement and thought ourselves done with gravel for the day. The morning was hot, but there was no wind and the miles went by easily enough considering we had the saddle bags back on the bikes. After 60 miles of back roads, level rides along bubbling streams, and large swaths of cornfields we stopped for lunch in Iroquois, a town near the border with Indiana. They had a lovely park where we stopped to eat. The town consisted of a bar, a bank, and a small grocery store. After buying some gatorade at the grocery store we met the owner of the bar who invited us in to fill our water bottles with ice. He inquired as to whether or not we would be staying the night, mentioning that the city council had just installed a shower at the park specifically for overnight bicyclists and the bank always bought bicyclists breakfast in the morning. So, if you're ever biking through Iroqouis, IL and are ready to stop, go to the city park, see the guy in the bar across the street for the key to the shower house, and return it in the morning at which time the bank will buy you breakfast at the bar. Pretty sweet deal, huh? Unfortunately, we were pushing on to Rensselaer, but it would have been nice. After 30 more miles of riding before an approaching storm, and about 5 more miles of that wonderful gravel, we reached Rensselaer INDIANA (on to another state!) only to find that there were no motels/hotels in town. They were all 3 miles west (where we had come by another road) of town by the interstate. So after 99 miles we finally reached the Knights Inn, threw down our bikes, and called it a day. After a dinner of spaghetti at the cafe in the truck stop and a few episodes of Tosh.0 I am ready to hit the hay. Good night.