Day 13 Pontiac Illinois to Kewanee Illinois

Wednesday 3 August 2011 week 2

Mother Nature must have felt sorry for our little wagon train moving west and eased up a bit on the heat.  It was still in the mid 90’s but some passing clouds made our existence on the road little easier today. 

The Crew loaded up the bikes with extra water and food knowing how remote the route has become. We learned our lesson on that issue few hundred miles back.  But even with the extra water on board we still got a little nervous during one long stretch between services. 

At any temperatures over 90 degrees we need at least one bottle of water an hour to be somewhat comfortable. Don’t get me wrong anyone of us would love twice that much but it becomes too much to carry. You have to resist the urge to guzzle he bottle and just settle for a sip every few minutes.

It still amazes us the amount of corn and soybeans we have passed. Hundreds and hundreds of miles of fields reaching back as far as you can see with row after row of corn. We asked a farmer how many corn stalks are planted on each acre.  He told us it was around 40,000!

He also told us the hybrid seeds they use cost about $250 for 80,000 seeds. It seemed a reasonable price until you do the math on planning one 1500 acre field. Just the seed would cost $187,500!  Toss in some fertilizer and a couple crop dustings and you wonder how they make money.  Don’t forget a combine to harvest the corn is another 300K!

We passed a John Deere dealer and he had a fleet of those $300,000 combines lined up like pickup trucks on a car lot. Amazing to see such an inventory but this is Americas Corn Belt.

Along our travels today we passed through Gotham City and spotted the Batmobile parked and ready to respond to any emergency.  Batman and Robin were nowhere to be found.

Another thing we noticed is that absolute lack of any litter. No beer cans or McDonalds bags blowing along the road. But then, corn does not drink beer or eat at Mickey D’s.  And since no cars travel on these roads there is no humans to litter. Besides you would have to travel 50 miles to even find a Mickey D’s. It sure is nice to see the clean roads though.

Is this the "Hill" he is referring to?

The terrain has started to make a change ear the end of our day.  The arrow straight flat roads are slowly turning into gently rolling hills and curves. There was less corn fields and a few more trees.  It would be nice to see something other than corn and beans for a while.

Hands and feet are improving but still a little tender.  You grab the handlebars in 1000 different ways during the day trying not the beat the same spot on your palm over and over again.  Ken moved the cleats on his cycling shoes so he would be pressing on a new part of his foot for a change. May as well make the whole foot tender instead of just one spot right?

93 Miles

2811 Feet of Climbing

Temperature 75-95 Degrees

Kens road report  2:30 PM EST

Tim confirming the Heat..

Team is up and on the road.  The plan is to get in 100 miles which will take them just over the border (the Mississippi) into Muscatine, Iowa where the road turns north..

There are more photos then what are posted on the blog.  Click on the Galleries link on the
Team Eliminator Web Site and select the All WWTII Photos album.

Pontiac forecast for today, WOW what a surprise...Wind...!!!!
Today: Mostly sunny, with a high near 87. North northwest wind around 10 mph, with gusts as high as 20 mph.

As the team heads West North West around Chicago headed for Iowa it puts their front pannier's (sails) right in the wind.
News as it comes.