57 miles ridden – 1000 feet climbed – temperature 30C (more on that later!)

Although today was a short day there was significant negotiation last night for an early start time as we knew it was going to be a very hot day. We settled on breakfast at 06:00 and load (& leave) at 07:30 by which time it was already about 25C.

After a little wiggling to get out of Galesburg itself most of the ride was straight-forward. Although we were on larger roads than preferred, because it is Sunday and the Memorial Day weekend there was not much traffic. Like the last few days much of the trip was in big empty spaces with houses bedecked in the Stars and Stripes – Memorial Day is the US version of Remembrance Sunday.

Continuing Illinois’s penchant for naming places after famous World cities, today we passed through the cities of New London and Milan. I noticed a difference between this Milan and the one in Italy – more trees around the water tower!

The last 10 miles or so was along the Mississippi itself on a great bike-path.

The temperature was steadily climbing so the ad hoc water top-ups from the second van were very important and we all ate well at the SAG, particularly anything salty. While we don’t want to spend longer than absolutely necessary at the SAG stops because our legs lose sight of their priorities and it’s harder to get going again, we needed longer than usual due to the heat.

By the time we got into Moline it was around 97F/36C so the enforced slow-down on the bike path actually did us a favour and, knowing that our hotel rooms wouldn’t be ready before 14:00/15:00, we found cool shade on the deck at TGIF with a view of the river and hung out there for 90 mins or so. It’s all relative but at about 85F/30C it’s amazing that we felt cool and comfortable on that deck.

Anyway my room was ready earlier than expected so I thought I would go to for a short wander around. However, as it was by then even hotter and raining I decided not to.

Tomorrow we head to Galena, our last stop in Illinois. Hopefully it will be at least a little cooler but the weather we are experiencing is very unusual – there is a state of emergency in Mississippi and Louisiana where we were just 2 weeks ago due to tropical storms.