The day began with the report of rain, and then the report went away and we just had rain. We kind of scrambled around all morning checking weather reports and making reservations at campgrounds. The rain continued for about 1.5 hours and so time was past reading books, napping, waiting and wishing that we could be on the bike getting closer to our destination for the evening. The rain, and more importantly the lightning, finally ceased and by 10:45 we were on the road. Just outside of town we saw the sign welcoming us to IL.
Just up the road four dogs decided to chase us down the road for a while. The horn only seemed to spur them on but thankfully they did not pursue for long. The roads continued to go up and down and we were forced to swerve around debris that had been spread across many of the roads from the rain. In the middle of one of the roads we found a turtle. Bikers etiquette says that we need to stop and make sure they make it safely to the side of the road. When this is done we are called Trail Angels. A quick stop brought this lucky turtle to safety and we were quickly on our way.
Up and down we went. Often when we crest a hill or go speeding down one, we will scare the horses or cows and they will run with us. This group of horses were not quite sure of what to think of us as we rode by.
The final major ascent of the day brought us to the Garden of the Gods National Park where we turned in and saw this interesting rock formation.
I was again saddened as I read the sign and see they attributed the rock formations to millions of years of weather and nature rather than a gracious, wonderful, and creative God who created all these things for us to enjoy.
We quickly descended out of the mountains and as we came to Equality, IL we left the hills of GA, AL, KY and now IL behind for good. This is an interesting dilemma for me. A flat road is easier to maintain speeds on and to get a consistent average but the hilly country is much prettier and gives time to rest on the downs. Whatever the answer, the change is nice! I do think I will be more than ready for the Rockies to begin!!!
Eldorado, IL was to be the meeting place for lunch but because of the late start and our stop at the Garden of the Gods we were not able to meet the girls. Instead, we found an awesome buffet of pizza, salad, nachos, and dessert. The schedule change (leaving at 10:45 instead of 8:00) had thrown everything off and so we were both hungry and unusually tired after only going 45 miles. The buffet was awesome and had a nice conversation with Betty Sue, the owner of the restaurant.
She, who is very familiar with the area since she owned another pizza place in the city where we are going tonight, gave us the best bit of news that we could have heard. She said that the campground where we were headed was only 35 miles up the road. When you are anticipating more like 45-50 this is music to your ears!!! The roads were nice while the wind had changed directions from yesterday but we motored on from city to city, through Galatia, (I don’t think Paul preached here though) and then to Thompsonville and then to our final destination of Benton, IL.
As we left the city of Galatia and I saw this field, I was reminded of Christ's words in John 4:35!
We made it to the campground at about 5:30 (better than 7:00 like I had thought when we left this morning) where I was finally able to update my blog, showered and went to Applebee’s for supper.
All in all a great day. It was challenging and relaxing all in the same and I am more than ready for the 2 day weekend that is ahead!!
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