Hi everyone! Welcome to day 29. Today we biked another century plus 6 miles. If you are good at math, you know this means we biked 106 miles. The morning started with delicious breakfast served for us by our Mankato stayover - Hosanna Lutheran Church. Then, just before the start of our epic biking journey, we did a little helmet stacking competition.
Extra extra safety
Rose channeling all of her inner zen
The biking began on a short but nice and shaded bike trail where we got a couple nice photo opportunities.
The rest of the day’s route went almost exclusively through lots and lots of farmland. So, the near and dear to our Illinois hearts cornfields and soy fields. We also got to see a ton of wind turbines and got to really appreciate their impressive size.
Boys are finally learning to be glamorous on this team
At the very end of the day, we crossed the border into Iowa. We will only be here for one day, but we still took some pictures with the state sign, of course.
Some of the groups also stopped by a lake for a little swim and photos early in the day.
We got to our stayover at the Bedell Family YMCA in Spirit Lake fairly late at about 7 PM, after which we were given dinner provided by the amazing staff members of the YMCA.
Today we also had a very special ride dedication. Since we were going into Iowa, Cal wanted to dedicate the ride to his grandma Grace who lived in the state. She passed away when Cal’s mom was still in school, and from Cal’s words he looks up to his mom for her strength for going through something so traumatic so young.
106 miles of riding for Cal’s grandma Grace!
-Valerie