Day 34 (7/28) Coal City, IL to Valpariso, IN and Day 35 (REST DAY)

Andy, Kelly, Kelly's mom (Andy's pic)
We've taken over the library computer lab at Valpo. University - our typical rest day blogging (Andy's pic)

Day 35 - Rest Day!!! Bob, Helyn, and Mary in one of the local shops - the only one open on Sunday

Welcome to Indiana - no official sign, except for county sign
The Lambert Family - they also provided a great water stop for us with great homemade cookies and cold sodas!!!
I've never been so excited to get to our campsite before - Valparaiso University = REST
Ane is now a cross country pizza delivery person!

Illinois (soybeans)

corn

Indiana sign - the best we could do

this couch was on the side of road and Greg decided to take a little nap. Greg takes naps any time he is not on the bike - standing, sitting, eating... Ok, so he was just posing for a nap supposedly here...(I swiped this pic from Andy)

rode on route 66 for a couple miles today
making Illinois exciting
Illinois - close to Indiana border
soybeans
and more soybeans

85.37 miles

13.6 mph average

TIRED, but still drug free (ibuprofin that is)!!!!!! EXHAUSTED!!!!!!! Can't wait for this day to end!!! The roads were terrible today. This route sure did make me dislike Illinois. It seemed to have a bad energy about it. We didn't get to see any town centers and the Illinois drivers hated cyclists. They were dangerous to ride with, especially because the roads had no shoulder and the drivers barely moved over and definitely didn't slow down, if anything, they sped up. It was pretty nerve wracking when it went on for 18 miles straight on a highway today. Pretty dangerous. Our route also seems to be to absolute longest way to get there these last couple days. Margo got a shortcut from a local yesterday that cut 8 miles off her day!!!! It wasn't like we were taking the scenic route either - there was nothing scenic about it. Illinois was my least positive experience on the ride. Once we hit Indiana, I could feel a more positive energy about the place almost immediately though. I sped up considerably for the end of the ride and successfully survived our 7 day stretch. I can do anything now!! But first.... I will REST!!!!!

Day 33 (7/27) Belvidere, IL to Coal City, IL

No pictures today - just picture corn fields and soybean fields for 100 miles with some small unexciting towns that we went around (we didn't even ride through the heart of the towns) All I was thinking about today was getting to camp and the fact that we have a rest day after our ride tomorrow...pictures were not on the agenda

I stole these two pictures of Kelly's first century from Bill. (Thanks Bill!) I was in my tent half asleep clapping for her, but too exhausted to get up and take a picture.

105.91 miles
14.3 mph average

This was our second century+ of the week. What a long week!!!! I was so exhausted at the end of the ride tonight that I passed out writing in my journal after dinner and slept right through lunch prep. Luckily these amazing people noticed I was asleep and made lunch for me! Kelly - our hand cyclist - did her 1st century of her life today!!!! It was great to see her ride into camp on her bike!!! She is not always able to do the complete ride each day because of the hills, but she rode over 100 miles today - she is AMAZING!!! Unfortunately, when she rolled in I was still half asleep, I clapped for her in my tent, but I was too tired to get out and get a picture. I wish I wasn't so tired!!!

Today was my slowest start of the day yet. I was riding about 7 -8 mph for the first several miles. I was so tired and my stomach hurt. It was a rough start. (I managed to remain drug free all day again though.) It also started pouring just as my stomach was feeling better. And boy did it pour. Wet bike shorts are not a good thing for butt comfort at all!!!! Finally the rain let up though - about halfway through the day. At mile 61 I decided to adjust the tilt of my saddle because it came loose while going down a very bumpy hill yesterday and it wasn't at the right tilt. I stopped to adjust it back and the screw broke in half. This screw holds my saddle on, without it I don't have a seat. This was potentially bad news. I feared that I might have to be sagged into camp until it could be replaced - this was my worst fear - to not be able to ride every part of the route. Luckily, I got a hold of Dave, the mechanic, and he picked me up and we found a hardware store that actually had the metric hex screw that I needed. What a relief!!! He dropped me off exactly where I broke down and I was able to finish the ride. It only set me back about an hour or so. The roads were terrible today - they were extremely bumpy, which made for a very uncomfortable bum! We camped at the Coal City Area Club - a campground and recreation area for locals. There was a large group of RV campers that were partying hard and were extremely loud and rude. They were screaming after midnight and at one point some of them went running through our camp drunk, knocking on tents. Their music was blaring and they were LOUD!! The campground also seemed to be a main thoroughfare for the locals at all hours of the night. They would drive right through and see what was going on. Most of us had a terrible night's sleep here tonight. I, of course, slept just fine, waking up to hear them only when I had to pee. Tomorrow night begins our rest day - I might actually make it. Never again will I ride this many miles consecutively without giving my body recovery time. It has been some of the best and worst riding of the trip though.

Day 32 (7/26) Madison, WI to Belvidere, IL

Staying Dry, but still sleeping in tents to keep the mosquitos away!!

84.13 miles
13.6 mph average



Nice rolling hills most of the day. Rode alone all day today. I was also drug free all day today - no ibuprofin for my aching knees or hamstrings!!! That's an improvement - I've been needing motrin to get me through most days. The knee was hurting more when I stopped riding than when I was riding - gotta love arthritis. The check point was at the Illinois border in Beloit, WI and South Beloit, IL at mile 50. It was a rainy day today. I got rained on before the check point for a bit, then it stopped while I was at the checkpoint for me to eat lunch. It rained again for the last 15-20 of the ride for me. I got into camp at about 2 and the truck with our gear wasn't there yet. I was chilly and wet, but luckily the campground had a main building with a couch where I could sit and relax and watch the Tour with everyone while we waited for the truck to get there. We were allowed to camp under the picnic pavillion so we didn't have to set up our tents in the rain. It was supposed to rain tonight and tomorrow. What a treat it was to be able to put away a dry tent in the morning. I wasn't very impressed with the part of Illinois we rode through today. It seemed pretty drab with a lot of corn and soybeans. We did ride through Oregon and Brooklyn, IL though!

Day 31 (7/25) Viroqua, WI to Madison, WI

Corn fields on a terrace

the morning fog


a farm stand/petting zoo where our check point/water stop was located today
Beautiful!!

Steven - sleeping soundly at campground
Chris Tall (Jamie's twin) and I after he dropped me back off at my campground
Madison University - open mic night. In the summer the university has lots of events for the locals when the students are gone. This was a beautiful place to sit and relax at night.
Madison's capital building - it was designed by the same person who built D.C.'s capital building - that explains the striking resemblance

110.48 miles

14.4 mph average

This was a LONG DAY!! I can't wait for these 7 days to be over, I'm exhausted! There were lots of hills in the beginning and end of the ride, they weren't that steep, but there were a lot of them! I stopped a lot today, my body is worn out and tired. We took a very roundabout way to get to our campground tonight. We bypassed the city of Madison, which was very unfortunate. I can't believe we rode here and didn't even get to go into the city. It is probably the most bike friendly city on our entire route, and a great city to check out and explore! Our campground was nice and Bob Dumke and Dan Scott's family provided a super dinner for us! There was tons of food and drink for everyone! The brats were amazing and they even had a Culver's ice cream cooler and served sundaes, along with lots of baked goods for dessert! It was a great meal. As exhausted as I was, I still was up for meeting up with a friend and getting to go check out Madison. Jamie Tall's (who I work with) twin brother lives in Madison now and he came and picked me up and showed me the city for a couple hours. What a nice city! It was so nice to see a familiar face from home too - thanks Chris, I had a great time!

Day 30 (7/24) Winona, MN to Viroqua, WI

The Mighty Mississippi

They Meyer's family water stop - WOW it was amazing!!
Some of the Meyer's girls - they did most of the preparation for this event - which really was an event!

Some of their spectacular gardens - their old shoes have become fabulous planters

a heron in a little swampy part of the Mississippi

LaCrosse, WI

The Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge

Upper Mississippi

At the top of a large hill

The Amish collecting their piles of wheat to be threshed. There is a horse and wagon in the back.

my lovely tan lines from my watch and bike glove

66.57 miles
13.1 mph average

This was my favorite day of riding! It was absolutely beautiful. We started the ride along the Mississippi in Minnesota for the first 20 - 30 miles. We had the most amazing water stop ever at the home of the Meyer's family on the Mississippi in Dakota, MN. They are an amazing family. They have about 5 girls and a boy and all are homeschooled. They grow all their own vegetables and have an amazing flower garden. They started doing this water stop for us because their kids would always wave at the riders every year as they rode by. The riders would always stop and talk to them and they enjoyed learning about the ride and talking to the riders. They started doing the water stop in 2000, I believe. They had a tent set up with tables and chairs and fresh flowers on each table. They had a guest book sign in table with a picture of one of their grandparents who had died from lung cancer. This is their way of giving to the American Lung Association. They are not serious bike riders, but they did have a framed picture out of the entire family on the "Tour de Grandma" where they all rode to their Grandma's house across the river to Wisconsin. They had printed head shots of each of us out from our blogs, which they had been reading, and had us autograph them to put in their photo album. They had the pictures of each rider since 2000. They even had comfy chairs set up and one of the girls was giving interviews of the riders. The baked goods and fruit and fresh squeezed lemonade were amazing!!! What a wonderful family!

The Mississippi in this section reminds me a bit of the Hudson back home, in its narrower sections. I also started seeing familiar wildflowers again - queen Anne's lace (which is apparently invasive here), chickory - my favorite, vetch, and birdsfoot trefoil. At home, I love looking at all the wildflowers along my ride, and it sure is nice to have them back again. I feel a bit closer to home now. We crossed the Mississippi into LaCrosse, WI - the home of the LaCrosse brewing company and the world's largest six-pack. Once we left LaCrosse, the ride became absolutely spectacular! It was full of steeper rolling hills and terrace farming. There were gaps in the terrace farming to prevent erosion - it made for beautiful landscape! It was still corn and soybeans, the same as Minnesota, but it was so much more natural looking and lacked the crop signs in front of each crop that displayed the seed number and name for that particular genetic variety created in some laboratory of the agricultural giants. Many of these farms were organic and we also entered Amish country - their farms were definitely organic. It was amazing to see them with their horse and carriage harvesting their wheat. They would spear piles of it and loft it up into their wagon. They then took it to horse driven machine that would thresh it (remove the grain, the seed) and throw the hay into their barns for animal bedding. It was amazing to watch them. I was completely enjoying riding alone today and soaking up all the beauty of my surroundings while lost in my own thoughts. We rode past the Organic Valley creamery today too. Many people went in for tastings. They got to see how ghee is made (Indian butter where the fat is shaved off) and got to taste organic milk and even chocolate soy milk. I didn't go in because I wanted to keep on riding. We camped in Viroqua, a great small town that reminded me a bit of New Paltz, but smaller. It had a food co-op that was amazing - the best dinner I've had on the trip. It was so nice to give my body healthy food again. I had a huge spinach and mixed green organic salad, rice, sauteed veges, and a pint of stonyfield farms frozen yogurt for dessert - what a treat!!!! Health food stores have been hard to come by on this journey, so I stocked up on some healthy treats for the road too. This seven day stretch is starting to wear on me. I am exhausted! I hope I can make it through these 7 days. My body needs some recovery time - I'm tired, but lovin' it!