A Windy Day

As promised, I woke up at 5:30 AM ready for a long day. I had breakfast and at 6:30 AM and with a clear sky, quiet wind and 40 F I left Ida Grove,IA and headed East through the Iowa farm land. An hour in to the ride, I got a sample of what the rest of the day was going to be. The wind started to pick up speed and soon after I was being blasted from the North at 35 miles per hour.

All I could see on both sides of the road was farms land, flat and barren. Not on tree or hill to protect me from the wind.

After I got to Des Moines, I took I-80 East to recover from the time lost yesterday. I did pretty good on the highway but the wind was a drag. My left arm was bothering me and at times the wind was pushing me off the road. By noon the temperature dropped considerably about 100 miles from Chicago. I saw on one of the billboards  on the highway the temperature was 48 F degrees. I got stuck on a few traffic jams due to construction on the road that set me back 35-40 min. My first encounter with civilization.

By the time I crossed the state line with Indiana at 5:00 PM, it started to rain. I had enough for the day, time to find a hotel and warm up. I made Hobart, IN my home for the night

Actual route from Ida Grove, IA to Hobart, IN

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My progress May 26 2011

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