54.5 miles. The first 20 miles to Wenona were hard. We had a stiff headwind and had to climb a very steep grade as we left the Illinois River valley. Penny was struggling with a very sore rib (either a pulled muscle or a residue of the Katy Trail crash) and my back was bothering me a little, so we were not feeling well. We stopped more frequently for breaks than normal, and in Wenona ate a "
pre lunch" snack while we visited the very classy memorial for service men and women. Almost every town we have been through has one of these, but they vary in quality and upkeep. The one in Henry - among other things - told the story of a submarine commander in WWII from Henry who, after giving his crew a chance to escape, decided to go down with his sub rather than risk revealing the US battle plans under torture by the Japanese. It
made us feel grateful and a little guilty as well, that we enjoy so many freedoms and almost assume an entitlement to them (take them for granted) yet we owe a lot of that ability to do what we want to the sacrifice of veterans. We all need to do a better job of thanking and supporting our vets.
The wind died down somewhat in the afternoon and the riding was more pleasant (ample doses of Advil and Tylanol helped a lot too). We met another cyclist (Grant) who was riding east-to-west from Illinois to Washington State. We actually passed each other and he made the effort to turn around and catch up to us to chat, because he said that one of his objectives was to meet other riders. We have been very disappointed in seeing only a handful of other self-supported cyclists in our trip thus far (over 1,360 miles). Grant was a day brightener - 22 year old who was traveling by himself and planning to camp most of the time. (We tried to convince him that we too would be camping most of the time if we were his age, but he looked skeptical.)
We were going to take a rest day on Tuesday, but decided to take it here tomorrow in view of our desire to mend some aches and pains. Pain medications only can do so much, the body sometimes just needs a good rest.
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