ALRIGHT!!! 8 states down... not too shabby! We have broken the 3000 mile mark too, so that was kinda cool, and cause for a celebration. Of Pepsi, cup-cakes and Twinkies. Oh yeah, we know how to celebrate in style I can tell ya! Well, what did you expect? Champagne and Caviar? I don’t think so... haha.

Anyhoo, yes, we have made it across to Illinois, “The Land of Lincoln”. North Dakota has a much undeserved reputation for being flat, but when it comes to easy gentle riding, Illinois so far, has it licked. Oh yeah, and it also has something in common with Iowa; corncorncorncorncorncorncorn! Illinois (so far) though, doesn’t pong too badly. It also grows a lot of Soy-Bean too... so sometimes we have Corn on both sides of us (stereo corn, as we have called it) and sometimes it is stereo Soy-Bean.... and even sometimes you get a wild ride of corn on one side and soy-bean on the other! Outrageous!

After leaving Muscatine, IA, and crossing into IL, we rode on another 60+ miles, getting caught in a few downpours along the way, but glad of them, as it is still in the mid-90’s (F, 30+ C) and very humid. We stopped at a great campsite just out of Cambridge, right out in the middle of the fields, surrounded by good old corn. They had a live band playing for a few hours that night (still not sure why), but it was cool to have a bit of live rockin’ tunes to listen to.

Although the rain had been sporadic through the day, it had cleared up by the evening... and was saving itself for the morning. We woke to a reasonable amount of rain at 0600, and even though it had stopped by 0730 when we were ready to pack the tents, it did mean we had to pack wet which means more weight, and soggy tents when we set up next... so we were hoping for a dry evening.

Winding our way through the corn and soy, we made pretty good time, as there was a slight tail wind for most of the day, and the roads were mostly flat and devoid of traffic.

We reached the great little town of Henry mid afternoon, and we pleased to find another town pool, right next to the free camping area again. The pool staff kindly helped us track down the local law, and we got the official OK to set up camp.

Once we got set up, I went up for a swim, and this time managed to knock out about 25 lengths. That was In between being asked a ton of questions by some of the locals though... but it was nice to have a bit of a chat with them, and to see what goes on in small-town America.

It seemed most of the towns boys were at the pool at some time of the day, and some of them were there ALL day. it might have something to do with the fact there was possibly not much else to do, or that it was a very hot day... or even that the pool was very nice and clean... but it probably did have something to do with the rather attractive, bikini-clad lifeguards patrolling the pool! Considering the hard time some of the kids were giving them, the girls were doing a great job, and handling it all well. Cheers to the awesome Henry Pool staff for a great swim, and for keeping the little monsters under control! We hope to hear from you guys sometime soon.

That night we were kinda hoping for rain, as the humidity had really begun to get oppressive. The wind had dropped to nothing, and although we tried to sit up in the pagoda and watch a movie, the mozzies were like WW2 dog-fighters, and were relentless in their attacks. Admitting defeat, we retreated to our tents around 2200, only to lay there generating our own pools of sweat.

Even though we didn’t get much sleep, it was good to be up early, as it had cooled off a bit by 0500, and so we were up and having brekky by 0700. I got to see a cool sunrise over the bridge we were taking over the Illinois River, as well as some Great Blue heron out for their morning catch.