Hello Everyone,

Today was another one for the books. Tracy has said on more than 1 occasion that this group had had to endure more adverse conditions than any other group. Th rain started easy this morning and overall we were delayed from leaving by 2 hours. I should have caught up on my beauty rest but asked tracy to have a look at my bike as I was hearing some weird noises. It looks like I may have an issue with my headset and the bottom bracket as well as some minor problems with how my brake levers are attached. She recommend that we visit a bike shop in Springfield or Champaign. She also said that my chain was extremely dirty and gave the entire group a lesson in chain cleaning. I also may need a new chain in a few days but it is passable for now. The horrible noise emanating from my bottom bracket has stopped though but we will still have it checked out.

It basically rained all day long sometimes worse than others. I wore a rain jacket but had no other protection and was quickly soaked. It was rather cool and the wind kicked up no and gaian never in our favor. I rode with the Hermanator the entire day and it was fun to ride with him. he has a good sense of humor, laughs often and notices things that i miss. I enjoy reading his blogs because he captures much of what I miss.

Around mile 25 we began a series of climbs that number about 150. You go up and down. If you can really hammer down the hill, your momentum will carry you much of the way up the other side. It was harder today though as we generally did not ride as fast on the descents because of all the rain. We were on mainly backroads but for a spell we were on a highway with a lot of traffic.

The scenery was nice and it was cool considering h time of year. The rain often stung my eyes as I had to remove my sunglasses as they had too much rain / condensation on them. There were a lot of dead animals and we had fun identifying the species and speculating on what they were doing. A lot of snapping turtles on high ground. Why is that? Some of the turtles were smashed as if Gallagher came by with his mallet.

When  you ride in adverse conditions, one has to do things to keep up morale and make the time go faster. I would hoop and holler at the cattle and horses and once so surprised the cattle that they stampeded off in another direction. I think Herm got a little irritated at my both singing of “Singing in the Rain” especially since I don’t really know the words and just make it up as I go along.

We had a SAH+G at mile 50 or so. You have to love Jan. Here comes Herm and Chuck soaking wet and she says” Here come get under my umbrella!” Since I always take an umbrella to shower, it made perfect sense. She did have some delicious sub sandwiches for us. Herm got in the van for a few minutes butI decide to eat in the rain. When we started he said that was the coldest he felt the entire day.

The last 25 miles were about as boring as the first 50. Lots of rain and lots of climbing. I kept thinking that my tire must have a flat but no, I ws just pedaling that slow. The grades must have been steeper than they looked. As we came into Kirksville, we made a left turn to be greeted by full frontal headwind. Slap in the face for the last 2 miles.

Ater we go in, Herm and I visited a diner and got the home cooked breakfast we had missed. I had French Taost and bacon and he had an omelet. Also coffee and chocolate milk.

Tomorrow on to Quincy and I believe that we pass 200o miles.

Funny story from yesterday that I neglected to post. I was coming into Chillicothe at a stop light. Three boys ages about 11 -13 were riding their bikes across the street and I said “Hi”. One of the boys asked if I was riding for a school. I said “No, I am riding my bike across the United States” One boy looked at another and said quite clearly “He’s lying.”

Tailwinds

Chuck

PS sorry for no photos but I was afraid to take out my camera in the rain. You would have liked some photos of roadkill, overflowing creeks, stampeding cattle or local citizens who had strange looks on their faces as we pedaled past.