Day 65: Brazil to Attica, Indiana

The weather forecast for today was grim with thunderstorms predicted for most of the morning.

I was down for breakfast at 7 am and it was pouring outside. It's always hard to start riding in the rain so mentally I was getting into the the right mindset to muscle through it.

I looked around the breakfast area, and no Kenny or Dennis. Usually they are on time. Hmmm...Then I remembered we had agreed to meet at 8 am! So I ate alone and headed back up to my room to finish packing.

At 8:05 I was back downstairs and met Dennis and Kenny..... They were concerned. Normally I'm not late and as I sat down with them, I received the delayed text from Dennis "are you ok?" .

We chatted a bit with a family next to us. The mother has a history of stroke in her family (including her sister)  and I asked her if she had been screened. She had not. We explained what we were doing and she agreed to go get a carotid artery ultrasound. I hope she does.

By 8:30 the rain had stopped and we decided to get out as soon as possible to at least start with dry weather.

We were lucky. Huge tail winds and no rain. This lasted until we started heading west towards Bridgeton. Yikes. Strong crosswinds, cold rain. Not exactly ideal biking weather but  we pressed on.

We were rewarded with a beautiful covered bridge crossing:

Next we were heading north again and I could tell Kenny was happy. He sings when he is having fun. Fortunately he has a great voice.

 Kenny singing away!

The roads were still wet, but the rain stopped and the tail wind was splendid. We were both having a great time. Then we came across a series of horse buggies. My camera lens was unfortunately wet so the screen captures are a bit blurry...

Young man, tips his hat at me. Nice!

Friendly couple gave us a big wave

Two small children in the back of this one. They boy waved. The girl just stared me down expressionless

Dave meets horse

The horse wasn't too pleased with rider number 2

 We stopped for lunch near mile 38 and ate left over pizza. Leftovers never tasted so good.

The rest of the ride was uneventful. Small sprinkling rain that felt good. Strong winds pushing us forward. The effect on the tall grass was mesmerizing. Pictures don't do it justice so I won't bother...

Clouds were threatening, but we got lucky...

Pulling in to our historic hotel, Hotel Attica; Blue skies and dry weather!

Tonight we will be joined by John Langlois from Intel and a friend of his. . They will be dropped off here tonight and will ride with us tomorrow to Chicago. I'm looking forward to meeting them.

Last but not least, here's a map of today's route...