July 7, 2014
It was a rough morning because it was hard to leave the comfort of the hostel. You do not realize how much you can miss having a bed to sleep on and a roof over your head. We all went to the Dairy Bar for breakfast which had awsome food.
Today we were going to get into Illinois which made me really excited. We were taking a short cut that was written by the church and it took 30 miles off the trip to Carbondale. They also said it was going to be flat. I said I would believe it when I saw it because everybody tells you a route is flat and it ends up being hilly.
We were making good time and the roads ended up being flat. It was after about an hour the winds picked up and we had a head wind of about 10 mph, which was not too bad. We got to the ridge that would be taking us across the Ohio River into Illinois. It was an awsome view and a cool bridge. We stopped for some picture and then continued on to Carbondale. It was going to be a 100 mile day which we thought was going to be easy. We were about 10 miles outside of Harrisburg and you could see a storm coming in the distance. The winds picked up even more and it we had to pedal as hard a we could to even get our bike up to 8 mph. You could see the town in the distance, but it was a trick because you were still 10 miles away. We rode for the next hour and a half to reach Harrisburg, where we stopped for food and tried to come up with a game plan.
We al decided that we did not want to continue on because we were tired and we found a warm showers host in Harrisburg. His name was Brad and he worked at a college just outside Carbondale. He allowed us to stay in an appartment above his garage, which had beds, kitchen, and a bathroom. They made us a dinner and we talked for a few hours before going to bed. It is still amazing to me that people are so nice and willing to open up their homes to people they do not know. Well this is the end for me, have a great night everybody.
It was a rough morning because it was hard to leave the comfort of the hostel. You do not realize how much you can miss having a bed to sleep on and a roof over your head. We all went to the Dairy Bar for breakfast which had awsome food.
Today we were going to get into Illinois which made me really excited. We were taking a short cut that was written by the church and it took 30 miles off the trip to Carbondale. They also said it was going to be flat. I said I would believe it when I saw it because everybody tells you a route is flat and it ends up being hilly.
We were making good time and the roads ended up being flat. It was after about an hour the winds picked up and we had a head wind of about 10 mph, which was not too bad. We got to the ridge that would be taking us across the Ohio River into Illinois. It was an awsome view and a cool bridge. We stopped for some picture and then continued on to Carbondale. It was going to be a 100 mile day which we thought was going to be easy. We were about 10 miles outside of Harrisburg and you could see a storm coming in the distance. The winds picked up even more and it we had to pedal as hard a we could to even get our bike up to 8 mph. You could see the town in the distance, but it was a trick because you were still 10 miles away. We rode for the next hour and a half to reach Harrisburg, where we stopped for food and tried to come up with a game plan.
We al decided that we did not want to continue on because we were tired and we found a warm showers host in Harrisburg. His name was Brad and he worked at a college just outside Carbondale. He allowed us to stay in an appartment above his garage, which had beds, kitchen, and a bathroom. They made us a dinner and we talked for a few hours before going to bed. It is still amazing to me that people are so nice and willing to open up their homes to people they do not know. Well this is the end for me, have a great night everybody.