Ah, has it been good to be home in our home state. We have experienced both the good and the bad of the plains. Yesterday we had a late start because we could not part with our beloved Champaign-Urbana. We finally got on the road and had the great experience of riding with Geoff, one of our VIP supporters and first year rider Brain. While the flat land has been great we have encountered another villain, the unrelenting and gutsing wind. We had somewhat of a headwind, making our legs work extra hard on flat land. On the other hand we have also found out that Illinois is the hardest state to get lost, go grid system!!! When we got into Clifton we had the luxury of going to the public pool across the street and had some fun watching each other flail off the high diving board. We were quite a sight with stark tan lines and white bellies, look out for a possible Illini4000 calender!!! Don't worry we won't actually subject you to that.
As for today our requests for good weather was answered!!!! We woke to the frightening sound of thunder and lightening, not a promising start... But we forged ahead and got ready, ate breakfast and tooka quick nap while waiting for the storm to pass. In a half hour we decieded to begin the ride when low and behold, the rain stopped and the sun began to break, woo hooo! The rest of he day turned out to be calm and relaxing and we arrived in Homewood around 1. We were greeted by the mayor of Homewood and were given free Coldstone. We were also warmly welcome by rider Jesse's mom Mrs. Krantzler, friends and members of Faith Lutheran Church. The boys went to the pool making a ruckus on the slide. Later in the night members of the church made us a delicious dinner, filled with pasta goodness, dessert and fried chicken, hungry yet? We then got to experience the great neighborhood of Jesse and were greeted by neighbors, family and even more food. Dinner 2! Overall Homeood has felt like home but we are all excited to visit Chicago, the real home to many of us.
Lastly a reminder that we will be riding into Millenium Park tomorrow at noon if anyone would like to give us a large welcome. Also, on Sunday we have our friends and family ride along, for all biking levels, to Highland park.
sending our love,
the illini 4000