Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Day 38 - Shabbona Lake SP, IL to Lansing, IL

Daily Stats:
Time: 5h13m38s
Distance: 153.29km
Avg Spd: 29.3km/hr
Climbing: 483m

My legs came back today.  I might be paying for it tonight, but I felt pretty good on the road.  We cruised with a big group of guys today - the new guys from Chicago (Kyle & Jason) joined the Top Guns today, and a number of others jumped on our train for various periods throughout the day.

I woke up today to this view out of the door of my tent: mist. Which is 10-times better than rain!

The route today took us through 90km of country roads, followed by 60km through Chicago suburbs.  It's stressful riding with so many turns through strange areas.  But we rode straight along the Old Plank Trail for a good 20miles, which is an old railway bed that has been paved, and turned into a pedestrian use trail and it is green and smooth...

Lansing is the home town of fellow Top-Gunner Brandon Haan, and his parents had been working super hard with Illiana Christian High School to host us and put on a dinner for us.  We were welcomed by a sign on the street, and loads of spaghetti and meatballs.

Brandon and Karel led our peloton meeting tonight and provided some much welcomed laughter and breathing/stretching exercises to get everyone involved.  Karel even went so far as to get a story and slide show of Brandon's life from Mr Haan, and proceeded to embarrass Brandon in front of the group.

After peloton the volunteers put on an ice cream social where we could eat loads ice cream and hang out with the volunteers and locals.  These guys really know how to get to the heart of a cyclist.

Brandon invited Karel, Mark and I to stay at his parents' house today, so we hung out here this afternoon and did some laundry, dried our tents and now we're updating our blogs and sending emails.  Definitely a big thank-you is in order for the Haan's for letting us take over their house with all our wet gear and sweaty clothes.

But now it's way past my bedtime, so it's time to call it a night.  Tomorrow the volunteers are putting on a pancake breakfast for us at 6:30am...  Hospitality in this town has been second to none.  People keep saying it'll get even 'better' as we head east into Michigan and Ontario...  if so, we're in for a real treat!

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Day 37 - Fulton, IL to Shabbona Lake SP, IL

Daily Stats:
Time: 5h28m13s
Distance: 142.23km
Avg Spd: 26.0km/hr
Climbing: 592m

Today was another difficult day.  142km of relatively flat and quiet roads.  But it rained.  It started when I poured my cereal, stopped for thirty minutes an hour into the ride (just long enough for us to dry off), then started again and lasted until we arrived at camp.  Around dinner it started up again, and lying in my tent at 8:30pm, it's raining again.

Rain makes everything wet.  This may seem like an obvious statement, but it's true, and especially noticed when camping.  Upon arriving in camp, all I want to do is shower.  Thankfully, we had hot showers today, but after I showered, I realized I had no place to hang my towel to dry.  No place to dry my shorts.  No way to dry my shoes.  Or my gloves.  Or my cold weather booties.  No place to store my bike out away from the water.  Talk about frustrating!

So we make do...  my towel was hung in my tent.  My jacket found a hook in the gear truck (actually on the outdoor shower head), my shoes sat by the camp fire for an hour but are now in the vestibule of my tent. My socks and gloves are hanging from my basket in the gear trailer.  (And the gear trailer smells like an extremely well used locker room).  Nothing is really dry, but we're expecting rain again tomorrow, so it'll be ugly for the few minutes when I first gear up, but once the wet clothes warm up, it'll be fine.  I do have dry socks, and fresh shorts and a good base layer to wear again tomorrow, so warmth will come once I get ten minutes into the ride.  With a little luck we'll be back in the sunshine tomorrow or Thursday, and everything will dry out in no time.

Aside from the rain, our ride was still tough.  My legs are sore.  We didn't ride too fast (26km/hr average), but I was still struggling up every hill, and could barely hang on for the last hour into camp.

The route today was actually pretty great.  We barely had any traffic as we stuck to the back roads between acres and acres of corn.

Mike had to fix a slow leak at the first SAG stop, and we were all frozen by the time we got back on the road.  Mark also had a double snake-bite flat when his front tire got stuck in a crack in the road, resulting in a bang that startled us all. Timing for both flats was as good as it could have been, as both times we were able to grab a floor pump from a SAG van instead of working up a sweat with our mini-pumps.

Cool sightings included a covered bridge, that some cyclists stopped to take brief refuge under.

We're camped out tonight at Shabbona Lake State Park.  It's a huge park in the middle of nowhere, or so it seemed from our approach.  There's a massive lake with amazing fishing (or so we were told).  The little shop on the lake had pictures of the big fish caught there - the biggest was a 47" Muski weighing 39lbs!

Peloton was great tonight - we met around a roaring campfire!

Well, I'm being anti-social tonight by hiding out in my tent.  But it's so cozy in here...  I think I'll bust out the book and read 'til my eyes can't stay open any more, listening to the rain drops lull me to sleep.

Monday, July 29, 2013

Day 36 - Coralville, IA to Fulton, IL

Sorry for the technical difficulties folks, looks like the big Google deactivated my account for a few days... all should be back to normal now.

Daily Stats:
Time: 5h50m31s
Distance: 154.30km
Avg Spd: 26.4km/hr
Climbing: 821m

Great ride today.  It was slower, and flatter, and not so hot.  I rode with Rachel and Katie.  Getting out of Coralville was a bit of a maze, but ""Linkin Road"" was awesome - no traffic and huge, beautiful farmhouses on both sides of the road.

We went through a few towns today that had names the same as a few of my friends: Lowden, DeWitt and Clinton.  DeWitt was by far my favorite, and we stopped at a great place called The Garden Cafe, which was oddly located in the basement of an interior design store.  I scored the last piece of peach-raspberry crisp, and the girls had some pina colada cheesecake which we ate on the patio in front of the store.

Another highlight of the day was seeing a crop-duster spraying a field right beside us off the road.  It probably wasn't too safe to be so close to the dangerous chemicals, but it was just so cool to see the planes turning and flying low.

We also entered our eighth state of the tour today: Illinois.  We crossed the giant Mississippi, marveled at the grandeur, and imagined I was Tom Sawyer rafting down the river.

Camp tonight is at Unity Christian School in Fulton.  We're densely packed into the small field outside the gymnasium, and are making the best of the greenery that's not exactly flat.


A few members of the school board organized a dinner for us - chicken, pork chops, corn on the cob and pie.  Oh, the pie!  They say Iowa is the Pie capital of the USA, and even though we're in Illinois, we're still loading up on pie.  A band also played some music for us during and after dinner - they were a rocky, worship band that also played a few cover songs.  It was pretty cool.

I realized today, too, that we haven't been to McDonalds in over a week!  Never thought I'd have to count out how long it's been...  The down side is that we could have used a McD's for Wi-Fi today, as there's none at the school and nothing nearby.  Tomorrow we're in a State Park again, so there's no internet again.  Oh, well...  guess I'll have to spend more time socializing!

**Sorry folks... this times the pictures are up.

Sunday, July 28, 2013

Day 34/35 - Pella, IA to Coralville, IA

Daily Stats:
Time: 5h22m22s
Distance: 150.79km
Avg Spd: 28.1km/hr
Climbing: 1,647m

"The awesome is killing me.  I need to ride slower."
Those were my words tonight to Karel and Mark sitting around the camp after finishing dinner and reviewing my stats from Saturday's ride.  It was a really hard day.  150km of constant up and down.  And after a day of rest in Coralville I'm still hurting.  I think I might ride with Rachel tomorrow, with the intent to keep our average speed down...  like 25km/hr.  Maybe escaping the testosterone and sprints for country signs that is part of the awesome of team Top Guns will actually make me slow down.

The highlight of Saturday's ride was boterkoek at the last SAG stop, courtesy of Carrie Kooy.

I didn't take any pictures during the ride, but rest assured that Pella to Coralville looks much like the hilly farmland leading into Pella.

We're staying at ST Morrison Park in Coralville, IA which is just on the outskirts of Iowa City.  It is a great little park with a water feature and waterslides adjacent to it.


This weekend was quite relaxed, and I have no big stories to tell:
* I rode to the bike shop and bought bar plugs for the ends of my handlebars
* I ate at Which Wich for the first time
* I read a lot of my book
* I got sunburned, even though it was in the low 70s.  The wind was from the north and made it deceptively cool
* Jeans were worn for the first time since getting off the plane
* I did laundry

New Life Community Church hosted a worship service for us this evening, and the sea of green Sea to Sea-ers over-took the place.

They fed us another spaghetti dinner when we got back to camp that was well received.  Plus a plethora of cookies really ensured a positive response.

Peter and Ellie - two riders I met during Ride for a Reason way back in June - are two of twenty-two people joining the tour today and will be riding with us the rest of the way to New York.

Think that's all for now.  It's going to be a cool night here, so we're looking forward to a good night sleep.  And we'll need it with the long days ahead this week...

Friday, July 26, 2013

Day 33 - Chariton, IA to Pella, IA

Daily Stats:
Time: 2h52m49s
Distance: 83.79km
Avg Spd: 29.1km/hr
Climbing: 792m

Good day today.  We got rained on last night so it was a soggy pack-up this morning.  The tent performed well, and kept me dry.  The trains and the rain woke me almost on the hour.

Brandon had some people to meet in Pella, and we wanted to do breakfast at a cool place he knew before hand, so we were the third group out of camp at 6:40am.

We stopped at Celebrate Community Church in Knoxville for some pie along the way.  It's a beautiful new building for a church that is growing that provides lots of help for  young adults and kids in the area.  The folks there put on quite a spread for us...  and we still wanted pie after the pie fundraiser on Wednesday!

We arrived in Pella around 10am, and had breakfast at the Windmill Cafe, then went to check in at Central College where we are staying in the dorms.

Pella is a sweet Dutch town.  And it's is very Dutch... We spent the afternoon walking around town and seeing the sights.  Here's what we saw.

The sign welcoming us to town informed us that Pella is "A Touch of Holland", and was nicely placed in front of their Water Treatment Plant.

At the center of the town square, they have giant tower, and a windmill constructed from bicycle parts was erected to celebrate RAGBRAI as it came through town yesterday.

We were expected all over town... including the Opera House.

There are windmills everywhere... and giant wooden shoes.

There's a sweet canal running through town, too.

And they have the largest windmill in the USA that still operates...  Unfortunately they wanted $10 to go the top, and the Dutch part of me had a mini-conniption wanting to see Dutch heritage but wanting to save the $10.  The saving won out, and we read through the historical stories on the wall downstairs.

We're having dinner in the cafeteria, and an outdoor worship service at 7pm tonight. Central has done a fantastic job of welcoming us and have all sorts amenities for us to enjoy.

Thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes.  We had a great time after dinner relaxing and eating a peach pie that Karel and friends scored from the local church ladies in Diagonal.  I am truly blessed to have so many great friends to hang out and celebrate my 30th year with.

Thursday, July 25, 2013

Day 32 - Diagonal, IA to Chariton, IA

Daily Stats:
Time: 4h49m45s
Distance: 124.60km
Avg Spd: 25.8km/hr
Climbing: 973m

Today was not a bad way to celebrate my 30th birthday.  Never before have I had so many people know me and acknowledge the special day it is for me.

I was on sweep last night, so had to clean up camp this morning.  Ava and the rest of the crew excused me from duties, but the Top Guns weren't ready to leave early so I stuck around and helped Billy load the trailer a little bit.

The ride today was nothing crazy - 120km and a decent amount of climbing.  The roads were good.  The scenery was much the same as yesterday and the day before.  Lots of green and lots of farms.  It was quite enjoyable.  Except for the flats.  Karel had three flats today, and that slowed us down a bit.

Being my birthday, the guys rode at my pace, which ended up being kinda slow, but it was just what I needed.  We didn't stop much except for the flats.  When we got into Chariton, we did a lap around the town square, then stopped in at the bike shop to get Karel a new tire.  We then ducked into a sketchy sports bar for a quick birthday beer, then hit the candy shop, then made our way into camp.  Dinner time had been bumped up from 6pm to 5pm, so when we rolled in at 4:15 we had to rush to set up our tents and shower (in the outdoor shower) before dinner.

The big surprised came at dinner - Ava and Brandon pulled some strings and organized five DQ ice cream cakes for dessert!  The important thing to know is that there is no DQ in Chariton, and the closest one is many miles away.  Apparently they got one of the gear truck drivers to make a detour and pick them up.  Ava had called ahead and had them write a few of my one-liners from the last few weeks on the cakes.  Except they spelled two of them wrong so they made no sense...  it was funny just the same.


Tonight we've got the second half of the small group story time at peloton.  Tomorrow is a short ride to Pella (44miles) so a few of us are going to hit it really early, grab breakfast in Pella and spend the rest of the day kicking around the town, which is supposed to be a great little touristy spot.  No Wi-Fi again in Chariton tonight, so this will probably get posted on Friday.

Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Day 31 - Sidney, IA to Diagonal, IA

Daily Stats:
Time: 5h02m35s
Distance:140.39km
Avg Spd: 27.8km/hr
Climbing:1,434m

Today was unexpectedly difficult, but still quite enjoyable.  For those who think Iowa is flat...  you are wrong.  We climbed 1,434m today, but the place we are staying tonight is a mere 30m above our campsite last night.  Yup.  Talk about no fruit for a lot of labor.

The coolest thing about the rolling hills of Iowa is the way the farming is done on the steeper sections.  The farmers have actually stepped the land so they get flatter sections to work on, then a gap for a retaining wall or steep hill, then a step down to the next flat section of ground.

Today is actually our halfway point of time of the tour.  31 days done, 31 days to go.  We will cross the half-way distance marker on Friday (although that would have happened on Monday if we hadn't been bused through Arizona because of the heat).

We stopped early on today in the little town of Sheradin.  We needed an ATM, and killed a half-hour at the Wal-Mart picking up some essentials.  I've still been having troubles with my legs not recovering from day to day, so I bought some Cliff bars that are high in protein with the hope that eating those right after the ride will help me recover.

I was having trouble riding in a group with my Top Guns today because of the constant rolling terrain, so at the 100km mark, I left early from a SAG and rode solo for a bit.  I ended up catching Katie, and we rode together for a bit, then went into the little town of Clearfield with George and had an ice cream at the only store than was open in the town.  Riding down main street (Broadway St, actually) was crazy - everything was all boarded up and vacant.


We're camping tonight in another state park: Marlin E. Fogle Campground.  It's not as nice as last night's, but it's got everything we need.  And a lake.


The local United church came after dinner and had a little fundraiser selling us pies and homemade ice cream.  They had a clever contraption on a flat-deck trailer with a little 1.5hp gas engine hooked up to the ice cream churner to mix the ice cream.  And they had pies galore.  I tried three flavors and five scoops of ice cream.  Strawberry-Rhubarb, Peach, and Apple.  The apple was my favorite.  I think they ended up collecting over $700 from us this evening.  Tomorrow morning they will be cooking us eggs, bacon, etc for breakfast with the same philosophy for raising money.  I can't wait!



I finished off my last evening of my twenties with a sunset paddle of a kayak around the little lake with Marc (Stretch).  Not too shabby at all.


And now, bedtime approaches once again.  It's 10pm and the camp is silent.  We'll start roaring at 6am when the kitchen generator fires up and get on with the day.

There's no Wi-Fi in camp again, but I'm writing this anyways with the intent of uploading whenever we're lucky enough to get a signal again - probably tomorrow.

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Day 30 - Firth, NE to Sidney, IA

Daily Stats:
Time: 3h57m50s
Distance: 113.17km
Avg Spd: 28.6km/hr
Climbing: 870m

Great day today.  We started out a little rocky, but ended up fantastic.  At 6am, we were abruptly awoken by all the outdoor campers rushing into the gym where we were sleeping, hauling all their tenting gear and bicycles.  Turns out there was a severe storm warning in effect for the Firth area, at 6am the winds were gusting super high, rain was imminent, and we were advised by the camp counsellors to move things inside ASAP.  We set up breakfast indoor, and because of the commotion we actually had a line-up at the breakfast table for the first time ever!

The storm passed almost completely by 8am, when we were released onto the road.  The "Top Guns" were riding by 8:30, and passed most of the riders by the second SAG stop.  Around Lorton, NE we were tipped off to a local restaurant, so we stopped in for some deep-fried goodness and coffee at the Lorton Lounge.

We entered our seventh state today: Iowa!

The Missouri River is the dividing line between states, and I stopped to snap a few pics on the bridge.  It was a busy highway with no real pullout, so I didn't dare stop for long


Even with an hour break for lunch we were at camp today around 2pm.  We're staying at Waubosine State Park, just east of the state line.  It's a beautiful campground with tons of room for tents, and some walking trails and a viewpoint that looks west over the river basin and low-laying area.  I went for a walk after dinner and the vegetation here is amazing.  Everything is so lush and green!  It's hard to believe two weeks ago we were in the desert and were surrounded by sand.


This afternoon Brandon's dad's cousin was nearby in Iowa for RAGBRAI (a seven day, cross-state bike tour with >10,000 riders!) and stopped by the camp.  He offered to take Brandon and the rest of us Top Guns out for dinner at a nearby Mexican restaurant.  So we met Jeff, Pam and Katy and piled into their F150 for a trip back to Nebraska for some dinner.  We lucked out as it was 'Taco-Tuesday' - all you can eat tacos for $5.99.  Not a bad deal for four hungry cyclists!  We even got dessert: chimi cheesecake and deep fried ice cream!

This evening we had a great time sitting around after peloton meeting laughing and joking.  Tomorrow night's peloton is going to be supplemented with "Story Time" where everyone is invited to tell stories and jokes from the trip to try and get people laughing.  My small group is planning a little skit that should get a few chuckles.

As for now, it's time to sleep.  We'll be sung into slumber by the chirping of a thousand cicadas...

Monday, July 22, 2013

Day 29 - Fairbury, NE to Firth, NE

Daily Stats:
Time: 3h08m32s
Distance: 86.43km
Avg Spd: 27.5km/hr
Climbing 369m

Not much exciting to report yet today...  We had a short ride, so slept in at the park in Fairbury.  Many of us took our tents down after two days to find all sorts of crazy bugs in them.  I had a giant daddy-long-leg spider under my fly that gave me a start, and there were ants galore.  Rachel found an enormous, almost fluorescent green grasshopper under hers and gave a shriek befitting of a girl.

The ride was really easy today, so we took a pit-stop on Beatrice, NE along the way.  We arrived there around 10am, so we went searching for a coffee shop.  We found Sunrise Bakery - the best bakery in town, or so we were told.  And indeed it was.  I had a long john stuffed with cream, a chocolate chip cookie and a Pepsi all for $1.72.  I was shocked and asked if they were making any money off it and was assured that they were.

Sitting in the shop, we found the local paper, and were surprised to see that Sea to Sea had made the front page of the Beatrice Sun.  Apparently a reported came around Fairbury on the weekened and asked a few riders and volunteers what we were up to.  I took some pictures of the article...



We're camping at Camp Oasis today, just south of the town of Firth.  It's a Christian Bible Camp, and there are loads of kids probably 12-14 years old that we're sharing the facility with.  We've invaded with our semi trucks and tents, and have again been graciously given admittance to their multi-purpose room that is beautifully air conditioned!


Note the "Galloping potty" (our outhouse on wheels) and it's distance from the rest of camp...  that thing gets a little bit ripe in the heat.

The weather in Nebraska is hot and humid.  I'd guess we're just shy of 40C, but it feels way hotter.  There isn't much for water around here, but apparently all the moisture is from the water used to irrigate the cornfields.

The kitchen ladies have recognized myself and Adam Wiersma as good grillers, so we've been solicited to BBQ the chicken for dinner this evening.  The ladies (Alice, Ruth, Judy and Chris) have been doing a smashing job cooking amazing meals for us, so we're happy to oblige.  Today we get BBQ chicken, potatoes, beans and trifle for dessert.  Here's the ladies at work in their kitchen on wheels.


Alrighty...  that's it for today.  Bit of a longer ride tomorrow, but nothing we can't handle.

Sunday, July 21, 2013

Day 27/28 - Red Cloud, NE to Fairbury, NE

Daily  Stats:
Time: 4h59m22s
Distance: 121.32km
Avg Spd: 24.3km/hr
Climbing: 706m

Yesterday brought us to Fairbury, Nebraska, population 4,292.  The ride was tough for me.  121km should be nothing right now, but my legs were totally shot.  We pedaled around 20km/hr and I spinned as slow as I could up most of the rolling hills for the first three hours.  It was a nice change of pace, but there was a lot of hills.  I'm very, very grateful that today is a day of rest.  I'll walk a bit this afternoon and maybe go for a short spin to loosen the legs.

We stopped yesterday around the 70km mark at "Gramp's Crossing" for a soda pop and breakfast.  It was a sweet little train-themed restaurant, and it was a welcome relief.  They also had funny signs around the building as in the picture below and one in the washroom that read "Employees must wash hands.  If an employee does not come to wash your hands, you may wash them yourself."

Around the 100km mark, the skies opened up and dumped rain on us again.  Thankfully it was warm outside, and the rain was a welcome relief.  Even after the rain stopped twenty minutes later, the air was warm enough to dry us out without making us too cold.  Thankfully the 'magical free fries' (thanks to Sara and Wayne) at Gramp's rejuvenated my legs, and we were able to ride at normal speed the last two hours into camp.

We're staying at Fairbury City Park, and it's a pretty nice location. There's a pool on the premises, and we were able to use their showers.  Unfortunately they are not nice showers.  The hot water is heated by the sun, and since it was cloudy and rainy yesterday, the water was ice cold.  The result was the fastest shower of my life.

The park itself if huge, and well treed.  We've set up tent city under the huge branches and used them to string up laundry.

We were graciously welcomed to First United Presbyterian Church this morning, and were treated the biggest potluck spread I've seen in my life.

Thankfully they gave us two plates - one for lunch and one for dessert.

Last night, a whole slew of us took over four lanes at the bowling alley, and had a good time knocking pins and laughing.  After four weeks, we're getting to know eachother quite well, and are able to have a lot of fun.

The one thing I would change about our current location is the trains...  Oh, the trains.  Union Pacific has two lines that blow right through town, adjacent to the park.  And they blow through town every twenty minutes, often sounding their horns the whole way through.  All through the night.  Despite the trains, I was able to sleep in 'til almost 7:30 today!  Such a treat - even after going to bed at 10:30pm.

Well, that's it for now.  I'll have to clean up the bike this afternoon, and sleep off all the food I've eaten.

Friday, July 19, 2013

Day 26 - Norton, KS to Red Cloud, NE

Daily Stats:
Time: 5h37m34s
Distance: 165.50km
Avg Spd: 29.4km/hr
Climbing: 822m

Today we entered our sixth state: Nebraska!  And yes, the storm clouds brewing in the background did add some excitement to our day.

Today was our second century of the tour.  It was planned as 99 miles, but I think we ended up going 105.  Again, many people were eager to get on the road as early as possible to make sure they finished on time.  Most people had no trouble finishing before dinner, but the camp was virtually empty when I got up for breakfast at 6:45am!

Karel, Brandon, Mark and I rode together, and had a great day.  There were a few stops planned along the way that broke up the ride and made it that much more exciting.

First stop was at 25kms - Prairie View CRC had coffee and snacks for us in the cool basement of their church.  There was so much good food!  And, interestingly enough - the church was on Holland Street.

Shortly after, we came to the town of Philipsburg, and not 20km outside of town Brandon noticed his gears weren't shifting so good.  We thought it was a derailleur alignment issue at first, then noticed he had actually bent the link of his chain.  He'd claim it's because he's "strong like bull" that he just pedaled super hard and caused it warp.  I'd venture a guess that the chain was angled between gears too much when he torqued up a hill.  Luckily, Mark had a spare link for a 9-speed chain, and we swapped out the bad link and were back on the road in 15 minutes.

At kilometer 111, one of the riders (Barb Mellema) had a cousin who owns a burger joint in a town called Smith Center, KS who invited all the riders to stop in for free ice cream!  There are few things in this tour that excite and motivate us Dutch riders like those words "Free" and "Ice Cream!"  Jiffy Burger, was the name of the joint that was richly themed with 1950's pop icons James Dean and Marilyn Monroe.  It was cheap and delicious, and the ice cream was served with abundance.  My bacon cheeseburger and Coke made the ride that much sweeter...

We got rained on for the last 10 minutes heading into town.  Pretty much once we crossed the Nebraska state line we were pelted with rain.  So I can say with absolute certainty that Nebraska is the wettest state of the tour.  We arrived in camp a little later, due our tardy departure and plentiful stops, but it was a blessing as the campsite got hit way harder with rain than we did on the road.  Everyone got drenched.  Tents were flooded.  Bedding got wet.  Sleeping mattresses had seen dryer days.  The town officials graciously opened up the community center right next to the park, and we are sleeping in the gym tonight.  Once the rain cleared, the trees and yard outside were littered with wet clothes and bedding, in desperate attempts to dry things out before bedtime.  Thankfully it was 90F here, and things dried quickly.  What didn't dry naturally was taken for a quick trip to the laundromat up the street for a little hot air in the dyers.

The final fun event for the day was that we passed within 1 mile of the geographic center of the continental United States.  Nobody wanted to ride the extra 2 miles to get there and back, but we took a picture at the sign right off the highway.

Well, lights just went out in the gym, and it's 10pm here, so I better get off to bed.