We all had awesome french toast at the Corner Cafe in Lowden IA. Well, Roger had to be different and had pancakes. The normal server and cook were late so some random person appeared to be serving us. It was an older gentleman who did a great job running the entire place on his own. Chuck finally was able to find a wifi network for his laptop, but only if Katie put her OJ in the right place on the table.

We woke up this morning in Cascade after a decent night's sleep under the pavilion. It did not rain like was thought, but this way we could keep off our rain fly to stay cooler. We packed up and headed for a good breakfast. Grandma's Kitchen was recommended by the locals. After eating up, we headed out of town only to be greeted by our first hill of the day. However, this hill was much smaller than what we had seen yesterday.

The posts for Days 2 through 4 have been updatd with our gps track. Go check it out if you interested in seeing where we have been.

Today was a long day for our group. They did 63 miles. It was cooler today and they started with the wind at their backs. Of course that didn't last. The direction turned so they faced a pretty good headwind which always makes the peddling harder. But 63 miles today is awesome progress.

They settled into a hotel in Nauvoo, IL. I am posting because Roger didn't say if they had internet or not. They are planning on a short day tomorrow. Roger said this town is quite a bit Mormon and has several tourism things they want to see. And we all know that is part of the adventure. So I hope we get to see some pics of this town when possible.

? If the miss. river flows down hill, why don't you just pick the roads that run along the river and go down hill and coast to the coast.

Just an idea.

Well folks, it's me again. Our group crossed back over the Mississippi River today and are back in Illinois. They did 41 miles today into the wind. Wind is always a challenge. Lets hope they start getting it from behind to help them along. They are between Keithburg and Oquawka, IL and camping out in Big River State Forest. It is a good thing too that they chose a site near a shelter because they got stormed on. They're all ok.

I am told there isn't any place near there to go to eat so it is a good thing Chris has been carrying the fixings for chili. That is supper tonight and I hope they all have enough snacks to get them through tomorrow morning till they can get to a restaurant for breakfast.

We awoke at 6am, extra early to get an early jump on the heat.

I want to apologize for the lack of posts the last few days. We went 3 days with no internet access and almost no cell phone coverage. The heat has been exhausting.

We have been very tired, and very unable to summon the energy for biking to the nearest internet hotspot.

I added photos to an older post, and added a new post. I am still a few days behind.

Thank you to everyone for your support. I appologize to those of you who were trying to get a hold of us.....

We survived the heat wave, and are still having a great time.

Our mileage is pathetic, but the terrain and weather have both been rough. We have also had some mechanical difficulties which you will surely see photos of later.

Off to bed.

Tuesday morning we left Prairie du Chien. We knew we were in for a very hot day with heat warnings all over the area. First we stopped at the post office and mailed home 13 lbs of gear. The night before we stopped at Cabella's and bought some hot weather gear. The things we sent home were warm weather things we replaced with hot weather gear. The postal workers really liked our story, helped us pack up our stuff, and took a picture of us with our bikes and package in front of the post office.

We made pancakes for breakfast in the hotel room because everything was closed. Good thing I had pancake mix packed. They were sub-good. Late start.

Chuck fixed his rear fender, which broke on our 2008 tour.....he had been hauling the new bracket for a while.

There was a lot of road construction.