Our rest day yesterday treated us well. I finally satisfied my craving for cereal with two bowls of cereal and orange juice for breakfast. Laura and Karen made muffins for us, gave me buttered pretzel sticks, and each of us two nut rolls. Plus, looking at Google Maps it looks like we'll be in Illinois for just one night.We got on the road at 8:45 and stopped at HyVee for supplies. There, I again indulged in some fruit, eating two juicy and delicious peaches in the parking lot. A few minutes later we were riding our bikes over the Mississippi River towards the finish line in New Jersey/New York/Connecticut. I am still trying to solidify our plans to stay with Jocelyn so it remains up in the air.
We had great westerly tailwinds and were making good time, but I could tell that Travis was struggling. We pulled into a gas station where he told me his side that he had injured in Rapid City, SD was acting up. He thinks it's possible a rib is broken. Knowing that there isn't anything that can be done besides painkillers, we called an exercise and sports science friend who recommended Ibuprofen and an ace bandage. We spent the rest of the day looking for a place that would sell one until we came to a town about 60 miles later with a Walgreen's. By that time though, the ibuprofen had kicked in and we continued east through Illinois.
With our tailwind we still made it to Morris around 7:15, even with all of our stopping. A sign on the way into town indicated tent camping to the south. We followed the signs to a state park, the tenting area of which is no more than 100 yards away from the houses in a nearby neighborhood.
We ate some canned food we bought a while back for dinner, going without dessert because we had already finished the muffins from this morning earlier in the day. Overall, a great day at a cool 80°F on Highway 6. Plus our 130 miles puts us 20 miles ahead of our 10 days to the finish schedule!| Time | Trip | Odometer | Average | Max |
| 8:18:32 | 136.2 | 2272 | 16.3 | 34.9 |
