86.25 mi / 6:28:06 time / 13.3 mph avg. / 42.0 mph max. / 4476 ft. climbing
Staying at Manchester Super 8 Motel

It continued to rain on and off through the whole night, although it must have been “off” for a while since I think I got a pretty good chunk of sleep. On the other hand, it was “on” enough to cause a good amount of dripping inside the tent. I still can’t figure out if there’s some sort of leaking in the fly, or if it’s just crazy condensation.

The rain would come and go in waves, and I had to wait out about three waves (while packing up between them) to get out of camp around 8am. Then I quickly got reminded that I was staying at Apple River CANYON State Park, when I was greeted by some 12-15% grades. Add in the rain, and it was pretty rough. It’s too bad it was raining the whole time, or I would have explored the park more. It looked pretty cool, with lots of sandstone bluffs surrounding the river.

Then it was lots of up and downs through the back roads on the way to Galena. This is the “driftless” area, one of the only places in the region where the hills weren’t knocked flat by glaciers. It’s pretty weird how quickly it seems to appear out of nowhere. Again, it’s too bad it was raining, or I would have gotten more pictures; what I could see through the rain and fog looked like beautiful country. It reminded me a lot of Kentucky, except without dogs chasing me.

When I reached Galena, the rain had stopped, and the sun almost came out again. Then it was onto US 20 to Dubuque, where the grades are a lot more tolerable (6% seemed to be the max). As I crossed the bridge over the Mississippi, there were a couple of kids sitting on the concrete wall on the Illinois end holding a cardboard sign that said “Honk if you don’t like Bush!” They showed it to me as I went by, but even at uphill-bicycle speed, I could barely read it, so I don’t think they were having much luck with the speeding cars.

I ended up spending (wasting?) a lot of rain-free time in Dubuque. First, a stop at a pharmacy to buy contact solution, which I’d forgotten to pack. Then I stopped at the McDonald’s because I knew they had AT&T WiFi access ($2/month with a standard DSL plan!) It was the world’s slowest McDonald’s, but I had plenty to do, so that was no big deal. Then it was off to a bike shop to buy some new sunglasses (I lost them somewhere on the first day!) And finally Target to buy more poly sheeting for various water issues.

My original plan had me going northwest out of Dubuque, but it turned out there were no towns anywhere near where I was heading large enough to have motel. And since it was likely to be raining, I figured that would be a good option. So instead I headed straight west. It started raining soon after I left Dubuque, and didn’t stop for the next 40 miles. Like yesterday though, I had wind pushing me from the east while I had rain soaking me from the west, so it wasn’t all bad.

They were cool with me rolling my wet and disgusting bike (and self) into my room here, they have free WiFi, and it was really nice to take a shower and dry off. To top it off, the pizza place next door had an all-you-can-eat buffet. suckers! It’s almost midnight and it’s still raining, and guess what’s on the schedule for tomorrow? (and the next day, and the next…)

Little Debbie update: I think I decided that I’m going to attempt to sample as many different varities of Little Debbie Snack Cakes on this trip as I can without endangering myself. Today was the the Frosted Honey Bun, not to be confused with the regular Honey Bun. The FHB has some white substance that looks like white silicone caulk laid atop it in a solid sheet. If that’s not disgusting enough, there was some loose oil floating around in the bag. It was ok, but I prefer the regular Honey Bun. But how can you beat 500 calories for 50 cents?

116.71 mi / 7:09:31 time / 16.3 mph avg. / 34.0 mph max. / 3690 ft. climbing

Staying at Apple River State Park

My goal for the day was to make to to Le-Aqua-Na State Park, about 100 miles away, with a contingency to stop at a county park about 80 miles out if conditions were less than favorable. It turns out that conditions were so favorable, I ended up overshooting my goal and stopped 10 miles further west.

All summer long, I’ve noticed an abnormal amount of east winds in the Chicago area. I figured that meant all the east winds for the year were being “used up”, and by the time I started my trip, west winds would be the only ones left in the bag. Well, there was at least one more east wind hiding in that bag, and it blew me forward all day long. My flat-land cruising speed was about 21mph, so I wanted to use up as much of that easy speed as possible, and not let it go to waste.

In addition to the wind, I think the temperature helped out quite a bit, as it was quite cool. At 3pm, it was 57 degrees, and it rarely got above 60 all day long. It was hard to believe that it’s still the middle of August. Those temperatures would be about perfect, if I wasn’t wet for much of the day. I rode through two or three hours worth of rain, in two main bursts. I was wearing my jacket almost the entire day, even when it wasn’t raining, because it was really that cold. Beyond that, the day was pretty uneventful, except for a 2-mile detour (which included a mile on a good-quality gravel road) because a bridge was out.

It’s funny how it’s almost the complete opposite of the first day of my Atlanta trip. On that one, I was fighting a headwind all day, and it might have reached 90 degrees. By the end of that one, I was beat, whereas today’s ride was almost relaxing. I was hardly ever pushing at all, and even once I got into the hilly country out here, I never felt very tired. And it sure does feel nice to know that I’ve already banked 35 miles on my first day out.

For the last 15 miles, the clouds got a little less dark, and I could even see the sun shining through them for a little bit. But then it started sprinking again while I was finding a site and setting up camp. The campground is surprisingly full for such a crappy day. The rain managed to stop long enough for me to cook some dinner, but now as I sit here holed up in the tent, it’s started once again.

Yeah, so I’m riding my bike to Portland (Oregon!), starting in three days. I think I’ll be posting journal updates on this blog, so I’m just trying it out to see how well it might work.