Date:
22.05.2018
After
the 85 miles yesterday, today I had to cover again almost 80 miles.
My legs felt a bit sore this morning, so I knew this is not going to
be an easy day for me. In order for me not having to hurry or to
arrive too late today, I started again quite early into the day. At
least I had a good breakfast at the motel, so this gave me a some
energy for the start of the day.
Altitude:
1814.3 ft (553 m)
Distance:
79.93 mi (128.63 km)
Total
Altitude: 40797.2 ft (12435 m)
Total
Distance: 1516.02 mi (2439.80 km)
In
the morning the weather looked similar to the last few days, just all
gray. But a few miles into the trip the clouds started to clear up a
bit and there was some blue sky. Throughout the day, the sun came out
every once in a while. So it ended up being a pretty nice day. The
wind unfortunately was coming from the northwest today, this didn't
make it any easier. In the beginning it was okay, but as the day
progressed and my legs were getting tired it was getting harder to
cycle against the wind. Due to the headwind and my legs being a bit
tired, it took me longer than yesterday to reach my destination for
the day, Kewanee,IL.
Starting
out, I first had to get back to the Northern Tier route after I left
it yesterday in order to find a place to sleep. So this meant I had
about six extra miles going north yesterday and six extra miles going
south today. After I returned to the Northern Tier route I turned
westwards again. I expected it to be quite flat again but today
wasn't as flat as the last few days especially the second half of
today's route. The second half of the route going to Kewanee,IL there
was a lot more up and down, this made it hard for me to keep a
rhythm. This in combination with the wind and the tired legs made me
struggle a little today. Other than that, today was quite similar to
the last few days. The route went for the most part through farmland
on smaller roads, which were in really good condition. There was a
short change in scenery today, right at the halfway point of today's
route. Here the route went down to the Illinois river and the town of
Henry, with a lot more trees besides the road. This was a welcome
change in scenery for me, although the scenery during the rest of the
day was nice as well, especially with some sun. Let's hope I will
have even more sun tomorrow.
Since
I reached Henry at about the halfway point of today's route and I
wasn't passing through any other town in the next few miles, I
decided to get something to eat at Subway. While I was sitting at
Subway enjoying my sub, a group of three cyclist stopped at the
Subway, as well. What a coincidence. This was the second time I met
other touring cyclist on my trip so far. So I extended my lunch break
and we got talking. They just started their trip yesterday in
Muscatine,IA, heading to Buffalo,NY. The funny thing was that they
were doing the same route I was going on today, just the other way
around (Kewanee – Straetor). Because they came from Kewanee, they
informed me about a closed road on the route and provided directions
on how to detour it. This really helped when I reached the closed
road in the afternoon. It was great meeting Mark, Doug and Russ and
to talk a bit about bicycle touring. It is always nice to meet fellow
cyclists.
Conclusion
for the day:
It
is funny where you sometimes get to meet fellow touring cyclists.
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