After my last entry I decided to make a short day and stay in a campground just outside Logansport, especially since losing an hour to the Eastern Time Zone cost me some important sleep. It turned out to be a wonderful decision, as I met a group of retired campers called the Good Sam's Club that offered me hot dogs with an abundance of sides and fixings, a campfire, s'mores, plenty of lively conversation, and biscuits and gravy for breakfast on my way out in the morning. It was definitely worth only making 50 miles on the 4th, and I was refreshed and ready to ride on Saturday.

After leaving Peoria, I did find a motel in El Paso, as I thought the weather report, declaring a disastrous swatch of thunderstorms to come, was reliable. I was wrong, however, and unfortunately spent money on a hotel room I perhaps didn't need, but it worked out fine that I was able to wash some clothes in the sink, have a nice shower, and relax on a comfortable bed. I'm not quite sure why every room has a king sized mattress. Perhaps this is a clue as to the growing size of most patrons.

After the last entry at Quincy, Il, I put in another 30 miles, and finished the day at 107, to stay at Siloam Springs State Park, the first semi-forest I have seen since Colorado. The Illinois scenery has been improving with more trees, fewer grain silos, and fewer fat chicks.

It was a perfect day for riding, hardly a cloud in the sky, but just enough to block out a little of the sun, no wind to speak of, but just enough to keep me a little cool through the hottest part of the day, and a nice, steady pace with only a few easy rollers. I sped past manicured lawns in tiny farming villages for almost seventy miles from Kirksville to the outer edge of West Quincy, where I experienced one of the worst stretches of shoulder as of yet. After off-roading it for a couple miles, the road cleared up, just in time to get over the river.