INDIANA! It greeted me with 2 big ole thunderstorms and some hail. Covered myself up with my tent groundcover by a corn field and waited them out. Dry as a bone except the sweat already hanging on me. Put the Adventure Cycling maps away and using my own routes now. Silly things the last four days have led me over gravel roads and road construction. Need a mountain bike! Gravel and a loaded touring bike do not get along. The couple in the pics invited me to their house for ice tea. She is a fifth grade teacher and he heard me tell a guy at a store that I was on summer vacation from teaching. They lived just down the street in this beautiful Victorian house. We swapped house and school stories and I hit the road. I am in Rensselaer, IN. Bill, when I get home, I am stripping PJ of all the racks, etc and we're going for a fast, fun ride. A couple days ago I road to the store without my stuff and didn't know what to do with all the speed. Scared me! :-) I thought , "oh so this is what riding a bike feels like." Greg, thanks for educating me about the house. I just thought it was a roofer's house. Joanie, I didn't keep the dog but I would have if I thought I could ride home with him. Some info: 1. The most disaapointing state was Montana. 2. The most beautiful was Minnesota. 3. The most difficult climbs were in Iowa. 4. The worst roads were North Dakota and Iowa ( tied ) 5. The nicest people were in Montana. 6. The hottest has been Illinois. 7. The state I would most like to live in WEST VIRGINIA! 8. Least friendly people were in Iowa. 9. Most interesting thing so far was watching the sheep being moved through the streets of Lincoln , MT. 10. The scariest thing was the moose standoff in Washington! Be home July 31 I think! ONE WEEK! Gonna jump off the bike and mow my yard!! Miss that! Miss you all too!

This where I am sleeping tonight. You maybe can't tell but we are having a terrible storm with high winds. Pitching the tent under the shelter. Another cyclist is here from PA so we are sharing the space. Walked up town and ordered a pizza. They are supposed to deliver it here. Fun! Fun! Fun!

Sorry no pics today! It is so hot, 97 degrees, where I am now in Ashkum, IL. Tomorrow morning I will be in Indiana. It is supposed to cool down a little the next couple of days. Today I had a great morning. Cool, roads were flat. Then I stopped in Odell, IL to get lunch and the day fell apart. The road out of town was under construction and gravel for 3 miles. Let me tell ya, it's not fun to ride on gravel with grain trucks passing and covering you with dust. Then, after all that I came to a sign that raed " road closed ahead" went to the closed road just in case !i could walk the bike through. Nope! Had to backtrack through the same gravel road and go back into town to get directions. This added 15 miles to my planned short day. An that's about the sum of my day. Good thing is, i am ok and closer home! Other than that, it ainKt so good. Marsha, pray for rain! Jasmine I don't have time to do math. I have came to the conclusion that there are only two kind of bicycle touring days. Hard ones and the really hard ones. Oh well, i am enjoying the adventure and meeting so many super nice people! Besides, if this were easy it wouldn't interest me. Please keep in touch!

Pretty good day, but very hot. Thank goodness for the big white fans you see in the pic to keep a breeze going. Too bad they can't use these things to make electricity. Dozens of these things dot the landscape. I assume they are there to keep the dairy cows cool so they make more milk. The pic of the crop duster doesn't show how close this guy was to me. I stop several times a day to watch them. Got a better pic of the cornfield hummer, so you can see how big they are. They sit up high and have fairly skinny tires so the don't mash the corn as they go through the corn fields. The other pic is just a wierd house that I saw this morning. Dang thing is all roof. I am at a Super 8 tonight. Too hot to camp and got very little sleep last night. Will get some laundry done so I can stand to eat lunch with myself again. Next three days will determine if I get home on the 31st or Aug. 1. Heat will be a factor, as I can't ride 80 plus miles in this smoothering heat and humidity. Bill and Bill, thanks for the encouragement. Jasmine if you miss me too much, I can always send you a little Math work to do. Kenny, thanks again for the knowledge to keep this bike going. Jordan, thank you for keeping in touch! Kaylain, I am always safe!! :-) Miss you all!

Glad today is over! First day the heat got to me. No shade trees unless I run and hide in the corn fields. I am in Kewanee, Illinois. Didn,t want to ride 84 miles today but camping situations , etc changed all that. I think I changed roads 25 times. Had to stop several times to ask directions. My route has numbers for the back roads and the signs have names. Hard to match them up without asking the locals. I hope you enjoy the pics. They also slowed me down. The little buffalo nursing was too cute. The pic of the tree growing out of the silo caught my eye, and the machine headed at me is what I have named cornfield hummers. Man these things are huge and they own the road! The pic of the river I took early this morning of the Mississippi as I crossed the river from Iowa to Illinois. Jackson, i will have a haircut before you see me! Bill ! Just keep peddling away but that yellow jersey just keeps eluding me. If I have to climb the French Alps to get one, I'll stick with red and blue. Kaylein, I am always safe! Missing my lovely wife and for some dumb reason I kinda miss the twin furry terrorists of Park Ave. Charlotte said she will have them trained when I get home. Honey ya better do it quick!

I am in Muscatine, Iowa. Tomorrow morning I will cross the river into Illinois. Unless something goes wrong, I will be home on July 31 or Aug 1. Today was very hot but a fairly easy 74 miles over gently rolling hills. Got hot about 2. The pics may be hard to see, but what I saw most of the day. Corn fields and bean fields. Thanks for the encouragement from home. I am holed up in a hotel this evening enjoying the air conditioning. Nearest campground was 6 miles off my route. I told a lady today that if they pay road taxes in !owa , they are getting cheated. Worst roads I have ever seen. Today ! Went through road construction where the blacktop had been stripped away. When I got to the end, I told the flagger it was the smoothest road I had been on since I entered Iowa! All the berms are gravel , which made me ride in the road. Please take care and I hope to see you soon!

Sorry I have no pics today! Long and difficult day in saddle. Today was personal challenge day and I won! Day started at 5:30 and ended at 5:30. Almost 10 hours of riding time but most of the hills were before noon. Over 90 miles today. Getting to be a habit but what else do I have to do all day? Ride, eat, sleep, and repeat! I am surprised my body is holding up but it is. Bill, not sure who would want a motivatonal talk from an old man on a bike. I don't even know why I'm doing this sometimes, but I know if it motivates anyone then I feel good about that. Honestly, some days this is so very hard and it is difficult in the mornings to get up and keep going at times, but I do think how fortunate I am that God has given me the strength and abilty to do it. Many people would love to have what I have. The most difficult emotional thing I deal with daily are the little animals I see along the road. Today I saw a little fawn. Tore me up! I pray a lot about things but never for me. If I am doing any suffering it's by choice. Many people and animals don't have that choice. I don't consider myslef a hero. That's a title that belongs to those who sacrifice for others. Today I had a bike issue. Chain link froze so had to stop and fix that. Not a major problem. Tonight I am camping in Cascade, Iowa city park. Pool and showers are free. I don't have energy to swim, but might make it to the shower. Maybe! Hey, i need a haircut! Can you imagine that one? Please know that I am doing ok and will be home in time for Christmas! Miss you all!