Day 2 - Burlington, IA to Quincy, IL

We got started early knowing we had a long day with 84 miles and an uncertain wind situation; this turned out to be a wise move!  We started down this road where the wind seemed channeled and accelerated by the brittle, dry corn, which was rattling and swaying in disconcerting ways.  Soon we saw lightning flashes in the distance and were hoping we would get south before an ominous flashing cloud caught us.  We were fortunate that the raindrops were only dense enough to make us worry about were whether our electronics and wallets were waterproof and not enough to really test our waterproofing efforts.

Arriving in Dallas City, straddling a busy railroad and along some nice backwater lake, we stopped at Buford's Cafe and enjoyed our second breakfast and some very friendly residents.  It is always interesting to see the reaction to a bunch of spandex sporting frieks in the redneck areas.

Picturesque towns like Dallas City are a big part of the joy of a bike trip such as this one.

Heading west towards Nauvoo over beans and corn fields and quite a few cattle farms in areas not suitable for row crops.  We arrived at Nauvoo with its spectacular Mormon temple and a great deal of other Mormon history.

Leaving Nauvoo we traveled south along the river on Great River Road - a nice ride with a few hills, but with an ominous strong south wind occasionally challenging us.

Bill asked a very friendly, helpful, and especially colorful resident we met in the great diner (rhubarb pie!!) we stopped at in Warsaw to pose for us.  Note her message on the t-shirt.  We were careful to give her no opportunity to use her "attitude'!!

Leaving Warsaw we started out with some fine views of the river, but soon we moved away from the river to face our enemy from yesterday.

In the near 30 mile stretch from Warsaw to Quincy, the wind was frequently at 28 mph with gusts to 39 mph, and directly from the south...our direction of travel!!  It was incredible!  Five of us formed a pace line to cope with it.

When flooding can be controlled, this is apparently rich farm land as many grain bins and huge ripe fields of corn and beans  in the valley attest.

What would harvest time be without caterpillars crossing the roads?  But what is it with those we are seeing in this area and at this time.  Rather than the dark orange with a black stripe, we saw light orange ones and with no stripe! Does this mean we are in for a really tough winter, an easy winter, or does this county just have wierd caterpillars?

At about 5:00 PM we arrive at Quincy.  Tired and bedraggled as we were it was a welcome site.  To top off the really tough 87 miles, we had a really steep hill to climb to the parking lot of the Microtel.  Tomorrow is another long day - 103 miles - but the fierce wind is forcast to be out of the west rather than the south an this would be a real break.