Day 54: Bishop Hill to Wenona, Illinois. 75 miles.

Last night we had a "late night".  We had special guests come to see us. Brittany was a partner with Sharon to train for and run a half marathon last year.  She and her husband, Ben, moved to Illinois in April. They drove to Bishop Hill to visit us.  We used our 1854 sitting room for our visit. It was fun. We even saw lightening bugs (or fireflies) which we have never se Ppen in Oregon.

It was after 9 pm when we got to bed so we slept in and did not start riding today until 7 am.  It was a long day. We had map challenges.  The route is on very small roads and today the numbers did not match the map. At one spot we knocked on four doors before finding someone home who knew the route.

When we had lunch at 1:30 the temp was 95 and we had 19 more miles to go. More map challenges slowed us and we finally arrived at 4:30. We are at a Super 8, the only hotel in town. It has AC so it works for us.

We are talking like farmers. . .about the weather and the crops.  We are seeing more evidence of the drought with very poor looking corn.

Ron has contacted a bike shop a few days ahead. Scotts Cycle in Salem will send the part to them. So hopefully in a few days he will be back to full use of his bike gears.

Day 53: Muscatine, Iowa to Bishop Hill, Illinois. 72 miles.

It was cooler today (66 when we started). Yea!  We crossed the Mississippi River into Illinois about 5:30 am.  No traffic since it was Sunday morning.

Guess what the major farming crop is in Illinois.  You are right. . .corn.  Not as many rolling hills as Iowa but notable headwind. We did not complain at first because it kept us cool.  But after hours of going 10 mph or less because of the wind it did get old.  We were tired when we arrived about 2 pm.  The wind must be common since there are many huge windmill generators.

This is a historic village settled by Swedish immigrants in 1846.  The building we are staying in was built in 1856.  As you can see from the pictures it is much nicer than camping.  We may even sleep in past 5 am tomorrow.

Day 52: Louden to Muscatine, Iowa. 47 miles

We started riding at 5:15 am. It was 78 degrees.  We had less than 40 miles (we thought).  We needed to get there for the bike shop for Rons shifting problem.  We stopped at a gas station at about 15 miles for some food and beverages.  The farmers having coffee there told us the road we were planning to use was closed for construction so the gave us detour info.

The last 7 miles to the bike shop was a off road bike route. We stopped at McDonalds for a milkshake about 9 am, it was well over 90 degrees by then. A man offered to drive and show us the bike route.  I am not sure we would have found it without him. He would like to do a similar ride someday.

When we got to the bike shop they tried to fix the problem but did not have the part. We did restock on some things we need.  We will try to call ahead for a bike shop.

After the bike shop we found out all the hotels were at the other end of the 7+ mile bike path. The temp was now over 100!  But once we got to our hotel we stayed put.  We did laundry.  Since we wash all our clthes we relaxed in the indoor pool while the laundry finished.

Muscatine is on the Mississippi River.  Tomorrow we cross it and begin our Illinois riding.  Bishop Hill is our goal, about 65 miles.  The weather is supposed to be cooler.

Day 51: Dyersville to Lowden, Iowa. 57 miles.

We were on the road at 5:15 am (the temperature was 77 degrees).  We had a second breakfast in Cascade.  We did not linger since it was getting warmer fast.  We had some frozen sports juice that we drank frequently.  It was 97 degrees when we arrived at 11 am.

We were stopped in the shade at a small town having fruit and fluids.  A 79 yr man chatted with us.  He had a new question. He wondered if they were our original tires from the start of our trip.   Both of Rons have been replaced. Neither of Sharons. We carry an extra tire in addition to the many tubes.

We were stopped again in the shade about 4 miles from our destination when another man walked over and chatted.  He invited us into his very air conditioned home for some cold drinks.  It was pleasant.

When we arrived here in Lowden the first cafe and the grocery store were both closed.  We almost panicked until we found out there is another cafe in town. It was open and even had a salad bar.  We miss our vegis if we go too long without.  We will have a modified breakfast since no cafes are open as early as we will be leaving.

We are staying at a B&B(without any food).  It is a nice room. The building was built in 1915.

Tomorrow will be our last day in Iowa.  We will go to Muscatine and hopefully get Rons bike gears fixed.  We took a few more corn pictures today. The other major crop is soybeans.

Day 50: Elkader to Dyersville, Iowa. 27 miles.

We started today when the moon was still in the sky.  You could tell at 5:30 it was going to get very warm very fast.  The route was hilly and lots of. . .corn!  We were a few hours into our ride when Ron began having shifting problems.  It progressed and he lost the use of his hill climbing gears.  We unloaded the bike, turned it over and started to tinker (using our computer to get some ideas for fixing the problem).  A man on his way to work stopped and offered help.  He had a pickup and he works in Dyersville.  So we loaded in and had a quick ride.  We were able to make some bike adjustments.  There is no bike shop on our route until Saturday.

Arriving early let us have the time to ride to the "Field of Dreams" site.  That is a baseball movie we enjoyed.  They have left it unchanged and have 65,000 visitors a year.  Not many on bicycle!

The TV just said it is 98 degrees here and "feels like 107".  We bought deli salads at the grocery store for dinner.  We are not leaving our AC motel room. 

Our goal tomorrow is Lowden, Iowa.

Day 49: Harpers Ferry, Iowa to Elkader, Iowa. 34miles.

Happy fourth of july! Thankfully this was a short day.  We arrived here about 10:00.  It was already over 90 degrees!  We had help from the grocery store clerk in finding a very nice B &B.  We started today about 6 am. Tomorrow we hope to start earlier because we have further to go.  The heat is expected to last at least until the weekend. 

We ate breakfast 14 miles into our day.  The local people eating at the cafe suggested a shorter route to our destination.  We glad we had 8 miles less to travel. They also gave us a state highway map.  We like to have the map for potential options in routes.

Iowa is not flat.  Lots rolling hills.  Still lots of cornfields.

It is VERY hot!

Day 47: Back on the saddle tomorrow!

We have had a great break near minneapolis.  We restart our biking from La Crosse, Wisconsin, tomorrow (Tuesday, July 3).
We stopped and saw the largest RedWing boot today. We have been pampered by Wai and Joseph Lee. We even did some paddle boarding in some of the lakes. Now it is "on the road again".