Day 33 - Wed, June 11 - Rest Day in Champaign, IL - 0 miles

This is our rest day in Champaign, IL. My wife, Kim, is visiting for the day. Above is our new personalized license plate that we received this spring. Iowa just started issuing these "Share the Road" plates for those who wish to purchase them. Part of the fees go towards bicycle safety education.

Kim and I are just taking it easy today. We had an extended breakfast in the hotel lobby while visiting with other riders. We then rested some and then had lunch at Red Lobster. After lunch we walked several blocks to WalMart to stock up on my supplies for the next seven-day riding period and then browsed in Borders Book Store for a while. We had a headwind while walking back to the hotel so I suggested we should call the sag wagon. Kim didn't think that it was necessary.

We rested more during the afternoon while watching the Iowa flooding reports on The Weather Channel. Some locations are experiencing worse flooding than they had during the great Iowa floods of 1993 - a very disastrous year in Iowa. Kim called home to check with her sister who is house and dog sitting for us while Kim is gone. Everything is still okay in Grinnell. They've been getting lots of rain, but no flooding, yet. It is looking like Kim will be driving back to Iowa in storms tomorrow - which she isn't looking forward to.

An item of interest - the sliced tomato salmonella food poisoning outbreak which is sweeping across the country was apparently the cause of our problems in New Mexico. It is reported that the outbreak first began in New Mexico and Texas in early June. Several of the reported hospitalization cases included members from our group.

Kim and a couple of other riders have gone to a Yoga class this evening. Some of the riders try to find classes to attend on our rest days and Kim attends Yoga classes at home. I've been using the time to prepare for our ride to Crawfordsville, IN, tomorrow morning.

Champaign, IL, is the home of the University of Illinois and also of Bonnie Blair, the famous Olympic speed skater of a few years back.

Thanks for the comments,

Bob