Morris to Matteson

May 18, 2022

A very wet and muddy day

We woke to weather forcasts of rain, rain, rain! People often ask what we do when it rains on a riding day. We try to avoid starting out wet and so waited in the lobby of the Comfort Inn for about 2 hours. Some of the group went early and say it was pouring and really awful. Two riders went with Ken in the truck to where the Old Plank Trail trail head was to be our lunch spot.

The forecoast for the afternoon was better but we had to get there. John, Sharon, Hope and I were the last group to head out. It was 23 miles on a muddy, slushy, sandy trail with intermittent rain showers at the point we left (10:30 am). The I&M trail is actually quite lovely and I kept wishing we had a lovely day to ride. I did see blue herons, a green heron, and egrets for the first time on this trip. And many, many geese and their babes. Both John and Hope had encounters with a goose flying up in front of or beside them.

We met Ken at the lunch spot but he wasn't serving in the rain so we went to a Dairy Queen .2 of a mile away and then got on the Old Plank Trail for 17 miles. It was great. The sun actually came out and we got in to the motel for a hot water that we could use on our bikes and hot showers that we could use on our bodies. All in all - quite a day!!!

I have three photos to come - they're in my camera and haven't transferred to my laptop yet!

Here they are:

Here we are getting on the trail in Morris. We were dressed for rain and thought it was done raining at this point. Little did we know. As we rode off this bridge to the trail, the rain started. We got wet and muddy!

Today's ride: 55 miles (89 km)
Total: 686 miles (1,104 km)

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