Day 27 - May 8 - Nauvoo, IL to Galesburg, IL - Crossing the T.....Part One

Day 27 - May 8 - Nauvoo, IL to Galesburg, IL

We Finally Paid the Piper

Ed’s Story

I will start by wishing my wife Debbie a happy 48th wedding anniversary.

Today was the toughest day yet. Got up already feeling the wind.

We rode 78 miles today with at least 65 miles into the wind. Up to now, the winds have been tailwinds or little to nothing. Hence we paid the piper…the winds finally caught up with us.

We also rode about 7 miles on US 34. This was a 2 lane road with a lot of traffic. Many times the cars would not give us adequate space when passing. We were never run off the road but more room would have been nice.

We struggled for hours and finally arrived in Galesburg. We found a brewery for a post ride beer, then rode to Hana’s house, our WarmShowers hostess.

After cleaning up we visited her health store before heading to the Cherry City Brewery for dinner.

Needless to say with the wind I did not get a lot of pictures. It was all I could do to stay up.

You never know who you will find biking,

Dinner here…they have a safari section but it was not open.

Our ride:

Tomorrow we head to Quad Cities airport where we are staying at Best Western. The ride is 44 miles but right now anticipate headwinds (again) and possibly of rain. We will see.

Until tomorrow, happy biking!

John’s Story

Neither did I get many pictures taken today. It was the hardest ride I can remember for a very long time. There were times on the flat that we were slowed to 7 mph. We were traveling primarily east and the wind was from the southeast and eastsoutheast. Luckily we never had to ride directly into the wind. I would estimate the wind was sustained at 25-30 mph. Combine that with rough roads, no shoulder and at times heavy traffic and it was a chore to keep grinding out the miles.

So, my limited photo gallery.

I founded a restaurant chain while in Nauvoo yesterday.

First time I ever saw a possum ranging about in broad daylight.

Another first for me. Duck eggs for sale.

We stopped in for a cold beer before we went on to our host for the evening.

Our host is a young lady who lives in a large, old Victorian home that she said had been abandoned for 30 years before she bought it for $11,000. The previous owners were hoarders, and she had to clean the place out before she started working on it. As she put it, there were animals living in the house, and there was a big hole in the roof when she took possession. She’s done a lot of work and there’s a LOT more to be done.

I’m looking forward to sleeping on the old bed in my room. I laid down on it briefly earlier when I was trying to book a motel room near the airport in Moline for tomorrow night, and it is beckoning me.

There’s a good chance of rain tonight , continuing into the morning, with a north wind and much lower temperatures. We’ve generally had daytime temps in the 70s and 80s. Tomorrow will be in the 50s with that rainy head wind. I can’t wait. Probably won’t be many pictures tomorrow either.

Today's ride: 78 miles (126 km)
Total: 1,337 miles (2,152 km)

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