Day 16 : Some Pictures So Far...

From Cave in Rock State Park, IL to Cave in Rock State Park, IL - 0 miles

since today was our first off day...and since we have plenty of internet and power, i thought i would get some pictures posted from the last number of days. here is an explanation of the pictures.

top left: cailyn and her mom in the very nice room that we stayed in last night and will stay in tonight as well.

top right: us with the couple we met here last night that is riding to maine.

second row left: a tugboat with a load of coal crossing in front of us on the ohio river.

second row right: cailyn on the ferry as we cross the ohio river.

third row left: me with the bikes on the ferry as we cross thr ohio river.

third row right: the dad and four kids that are riding on the two tandems and one single bike.

bottom left: cailyn riding along.

bottom right: our tent that we have called home many times over the last two and a half weeks.


today has been great being with mom and dad and not cycling. although, i must say, my legs are more sore today i think than they have been the entire trip. i guess they just haven't been stretched back out. so i am a little nervous to see how they are going to feel when we get back on the bikes tomorrow.

this afternoon we (in dad's truck) crossed back over the river on the ferry and went back to the last town that we passed through. turns out it is an amish influenced town and we drove around a little and then found a great placed called the front porch to eat lunch/dinner. it was good food for sure. as we were finishing eating, we noticed that it was starting to look like a big storm was rolling in, which wouldn't have been a big deal, accept that we had washed our clothes in the tub and had them hanging out on the balcony drying. so we quickly headed back towards home, and just before we got back to the ferry it started to pour. to the point where there were whitecaps on the river going upstream. needless to say, the ferry was not running for about 10 minutes while the heart of the storm passed by. eventually though, the worst of the storm was over and they loaded us on the ferry. the crossing was still awfully choppy...to the point where there were a few waves the came up and over the front of the ferry.

the day off has also given us a chance to reanalyze the maps to see where we stand with the entirety of our trip. it looks like if we are able to average 60 miles a day for the rest of our trips we will be able to get to yellowstone with a couple of days to spare. so we are thinking barring mechanical or medical issues, we whould easily make yellowstone because 60 miles a day shouldn't be a problem at all. and we may end up going a little past yellowstone, it just depends on how things come along over the next few weeks. or, we may also consider just hanging out for our final few days around yellowstone and just see more of the park. we will see.

tomorrow it will be back on the bikes bright and early in the morning (because it is supposed to be hot and sunny again), and we should be through illinois and into missouri by friday and then our good friend justin schroeder will come and meet us on saturday to start riding across missouri. it will be really fun to have some additional company and to be able to share with him what we have been learning and experiencing for the last 3 weeks.

oh, and dad just reminded me, when we got back from our crazy ferry ride, we pulled into the parking lot and there was a female wild turkey with a few really cute, really young babies following behind it. cute little things for sure!