Day 23: Monday July 2, 2012

After dealing with the heat yesterday we decided to get an early start and we did! We were pulling out of the hotel parking lot at 0545! Myrn is great about being ready when I ask! We left just as the sun was rising and the temperature was a pleasant 77 degrees. We continued our trip eastbound on interstate 44 toward St. Louis. Not wanting to get caught in the commuter traffic we bypassed the city on highway 270 and 250 eventually merging with interstate 70 toward Indiana. One of the irritants of today was the state welcome signs in Illinois and Indiana were not easily placed for a "Kodak moment". For example, as we were crossing the Mississippi river we also crossed the state line into Illinois, kinda hard to stop on a bridge and take a photo. Myrna was able to catch the signs, although not with the bike in the picture! The same happened when we crossed over into Indiana, fortunately they did have a Welcome Center that we stopped at for a photo. Today's ride was very peaceful after we got through the St. Louis area and came upon all the farmlands; did not know Illinois was such a corn growing state! By 10:00am the temperature was in the 90's. We passed the 198 foot cross near Effingham Illinois (check out crossusa.org) We made it to Terre Haute around noon and were able to check into our room. We lost an hour by crossing into the Eastern Time Zone. Tomorrow we plan on getting another early start as we reach our destination of Fort Wayne Indiana for the Wing Ding. Today's trip covered 283 miles for a total of 6377 travelled so far.

Hebrews 6:7 Land that drinks in the rain often falling on it and that produces a crop useful to those for whom it is farmed receives the blessing of God.