We woke up at our regular time, but we were really dragging. The hills yesterday were still being battled in our legs. I also had a drum thumping deep in my skull, so talking me into a rest day was fairly easy for taters. I finished packing (last one) and noticed everyone was trying to sneak a bit more sleep. As a team we considered a rest day, however being the last day of cool weather meant we wanted to at least make some progress. We decided to make it a short day.

I realized today that the road construction made us miss another attraction. We were unable to go to the local tiger sanctuary. Dang. Laura and Taters would have liked that.

We had a great nights sleep. The Drury Inn was probably the best hotel we have been at yet. They gave us snacks before bed, drinks, a great breakfast, and a nice pool.......and it was one of the cheapest! Katie didn't want to leave. She packed up her stuff and disappeared under the blankets.

We stopped at the Imperial Famers Market. Laura loved the smell. Chuck got some berries, I got some cherries. Laura got a bunch of blueberries, which seemed to match her shirt.

Hi to everyone. I am having a great time. It is as much fun as I had hoped for. We have seen a lot of sights, and met a lot of very nice people. It seems whenever some hears what we are doing, they bend over backwards to help us.

If the second half of the trip is as much fun, it will be a great trip.

I woke up last night about 12:30 with Katie kicking my bike hard off her bed. She can't even take one square inch of something touching her precious bed space. (We had no option, but to put our bike in the room with us. This was a small place.) After a few more times of kicking and things flying everywhere, it was time to get up. We had breakfast at a Waffle House, packed up, and then we were off.

Grafton, Il to Granite City, Il

We had a descent breakfast at the Ruebel hotel in Grafton, after a good nights sleep (no ghost's bothered us).

We rode the Van somethingergin trail east from Grafton.

We woke up and unloaded our bikes from the Ice House Inn, loaded our camelbacks with ice and hit the road. Katie stopped at the post office to mail her 2nd post card to her grandparents.

Breakfast at the Barry cafe was decent; sadly we are already too far south to expect real cheese on an omelet. Laura didn't finish her huge pancakes.

Day 11. Rest day in Barry Il.

We decided it was time to have a rest day. We all needed it.

Taters quote of the day: "It should be considered child abuse to make kids go camping."

The Ice House Inn has no windows (former ice house), so it I don't wake up naturally. No sounds from the outdoors, no light. Katies cell phone alarm woke us up at 8am to head to breakfast.....it startled me. I rarely sleep later than the birds, usually I am up with the sun.

We had a decent breakfast at super 8, after sleeping in until almost 8.

We were considering a short 25 mile day to Hannible Missouri.... as a semi-rest day. After finally getting out of Quincy after a several mile disruption (my fault, the hotel I called was not on the route like I thought) we rode through Marblehead Il.

We stopped at Lock & Dam #21? Katie had seen several of them from a distance over the last few days and wanted to see one in action. We had a great view of a barge passing through. Today's cooler weather also seems to have stopped the mayflies.

Each posting takes me an hour or more, and costs me sleep. Please check the old posts for when I finally get around to adding pictures. Also, don't expect too many posts from the girls. They take their sleep when they can get it.

Let me know if our mileage log gets off. I am doing this in my head as I drift asleep.

Today was our rest day. I pushed the team hard yesterday and promised them a rest day today. We wanted to see some sites in Nauvoo, and maybe ride 12-15 miles to the next town for the night.

Our tents got soaked last night. We dried them out the best we could and packed them up. I forgot to close my tent door the evening before during dinner, so it was the worst and needed to be open up this evening in the hotel.

We woke up and had a great tail wind which led us 10 miles till breakfast in Oquawka. Some club riders passed us, they had left an hour early for a century ride which was partially on our route. We couldn't keep up with them. I had to do 24mph to pass them, but couldn't maintain it.