Today we woke to sparkling blue skies, and very little wind. We only covered 56 miles; it was great, and I set a personal record for riding the first 35 miles in less than two hours. We rolled in to Henry quite early, just across the Illinois river. Just as we found our camping spot along the river, the clouds embraced us and we were in another storm. The river just recently fell from flood level; our camping spot was covered in more than 10 feet of water just 3 weeks ago. The banks are still overflowing however, with lots of tees growing out of water, docks partially submerged. I decided to punt and stay in the one motel in town; it too is on the water and was partially submerged; evidence of flooding is everywhere.
I had not realized until this trip what a hazard dogs are to bike riders. Everyone has a disaster story of being chased, knocked off their bike, or bit. Today one of my colleagues was chased by two dogs, knocked down, abraded in multiple places, broke his thumb and bruised his shoulder. He is hoping to continue in any case. Anyone reading this who knows me knows I am clueless about the positive attributes of dogs; certainly this trip is not enhancing their attractiveness. Many of the riders who have been attacked have dogs of their own; this is a demonstration of cognitive dissonance that completely boggles me.
Tomorrow is our last night in Illinois; then we enter Iowa and start the northward journey to Minnesota.
Jeremy Bikes for MS 