Champain Illinois to Crawfordsville Indiana

Miles: 79

A beautiful day for riding, another state line crossing, and decorated helmuts. It is hard to believe that we only have two more weeks. If you look at the map picture, you can see by the black line how far we have come and how close we are to Boston.

Today was helmet decoration day. My flamingos rode all the day on top of my head. But they will end up in the luggage tomorrow because they cut off air flow. A little girl in one town really liked them.

The weather was great. Sunny all day. It got a bit hot by the time we got in but there were no winds to bother us. The countryside is starting to be more rolling again. But they are pretty mild rollers.

Today I am finding it amazing that we are riding across America. Maybe it is finally seeming like a reality. Or maybe the day of rest just made everything feel better. I also have some new shorts so my butt didn't hurt so much.
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Springfield to Champain Illinois

Miles: 64 of 87

Today was iffy weatherwise when we left this morning. The prediction was for severe storms later in the day. So we left an hour early. There were some threatening clouds and lots of wind but the rain only occurred late in the ride and it was not that significant.

One picture is of all the bags piled up at the hotel waiting to be loaded on the truck. The other is of a chicken coop (with chickens) at the SAG stop. Except for miles and miles of corn, that was the interesting scenery for the day.

I was really tired today. There was a headwind/crosswind. Add to that very rough roads and stormy skies, all of which gave me an excuse to cut the ride short today. Three of the riders fell on RR tracks coming into town. So actually I am just as glad I didn't ride that section.

Tomorrow is a rest day and we all need it.
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Quincy Illinois to Springfield Illinois

Miles: 107
Elevation Gain: 3800 ft

This was a long day. The countryside was pretty with lots of corn and soybean fields. There was a lot of climbing in the first third of the ride. However, the climbs weren't really steep so it wasn't too bad. There were also a lot of straight flat stretches.

I didn't take any pictures today. I just concentrated on riding. It looks like we may finally hit bad weather tomorrow.
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Kirksville Missouri to Quincy Illinois

Miles: 75
Elevation gain: 2800 ft

Super day for riding. Today marked a few milestones: 2000 miles on the road, crossing the mighty Mississippi, and entering Illinois.

We spent all day riding in the rolling hills of Missouri but these were not nearly so hard as yesterday. Speaking of yesterday, there were 158 hills instead of 148 as I reported. And at dinner one os the women who has a Garmin said some of the hills were 11% grade and most were 6 to 7 %. These today were more manageable.

The weather was in the 80s with blue skies and not much wind. It is amazing to think we crossed the 2000 mile point. We crossed the Mississippi but didn't get to take a leisurely view of the river. The bridge was two lanes (another bridge for traffic going the other way) with no shoulder. So you had to be brave and just ride down the middle of the lane. The cars were ok and I had no problem.

We rode down a lovely street in Quincy with mansions on each side. It was a nice welcome to the town.
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Chillicothe Missouri to Kirksville Missouri - 148 Rolling Hills

Miles: 74.6
Elevation Gain: 5000 ft

Yes, we did 148 rolling hills today. You could look down the road and see 3 or 4 of them in front of you. After several miles, that was not a pretty site. By the time I got to the last 10 miles, I was not saying nice things as each one came in site. I could seldom get enough downhill speed to get up the next one. Some of them were quite steep.

The weather is still in our favor. We left half an hour late so the storm could get ahead of us. Crossroads is very safety conscious. They stopped us at a store 25 miles out to let the storm advance and make sure we didn't get caught in it. The picture shows the riders standing around waiting. Today was wonderful because of the cloud cover and an occasional sprinkle. My computer showed a high of 84 degrees compared to the 107 yesterday. Made a huge difference.

The ride was amazing as far as the scenery. Because of the rain the fields are a deep green. The SAG stop was at the edge of a fantastic field.

Tomorrow we leave Missouri and cross the mighty Mississippi and enter Illinois.
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St Joseph to Chillacothe Missouri

Miles: 47 of 87
Elevation gain; 4800 for 87 miles

Riding a bike through Missouri is a really hard job. I have never seen so many steep rolling hills in my life. They are relentless. And they are not gentle rollers. As you can see, I didn't do very well with the rollers, heat, and humidity. I decided to live to tackle another day. I think we will be glad to leave this state. But we have another day tomorrow just like this one. A few less miles but more elevation gain.

The mental challenge of this ride is tough. It is much harder than I ever expected it to be. Not sure I had any idea what it really means to get on a bike and ride long miles day after day. The mind and the body are definitely challenged.
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Topeka KS to St Joseph MO

Miles: 84
Elevation Gain: 3300 ft

Well it is definitely easier ro ride without the brake on. I did pretty well today. At least until the last 4 miles when we hit the busy traffic and steep hills in St Joseph. That part was tough. At least 20 of our miles today involved getting out of Topeka or getting into St Joseph. Neither of those was much fun. The roads had a lot of traffic on them all day. Yesterday we were on quiet back roads so were spoiled.

Again the weather was great. Sunshine and warm but not scorching hot. The storms have either been ahead of us or behind us so far.

We crossed into Missouri today. We had to come across a narrow rough bridge which was not fun. As soon as we got across the river the scenery changed a lot. Now we are starting to see tree covered hills. The pictures are not great. Hopefully I will get better ones tomorrow.
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