From Iowa farms to Illinois canals...

Hi everyone, Nic here. Well we're actually in Illinois, and I can't quite believe that in less than 3 days we should be in Chicago!

Iowa did get flatter, the further west we went, but the roads didn't improve at all. We kept trying to get off the main roads as they were constantly bustling with huge trucks and didn't have any shoulder for us to bike on, but even the smaller roads still had too much traffic and no shoulder. By our fifth detour to a smaller road I wanted to yell at the trucks and say "Why are you here! You should be on the interstate 10 miles north, or the big highway 5 miles south!". But from all the people we talked to, there were no paved shoulders in Iowa, so we just had to go for the smallest country roads we could find, and dive off the road occasionally when we could see trucks coming from both directions. We loved Iowa for everything but it's roads! In one area around Kalona there were Amish families and it was fascinating seeing them drive about in thier horse and buggies, women in bonnets and long dresses. men in straw hats, longsleeved shirts and braces. It messes with your mind to see people living like this in 2009 USA!!!

By Friday night were about 15 miles from Davenport, which is a city on the eastern border of Iowa - which helps to form the Quad City (google that!). It was 4.30 pm or so and we were having a quick break, sitting in a park having a drink of water feeling frustrated at the amount of traffic and no shoulder to ride on, and another lovely blonde (Anna) came up, offered for us to come and stay with her and her husband for the night! Would we ever! And off she went to get husband (David) and bike rack, and they gave us a ride to their lovely home where we had a great evening being served supper, chatting and relaxing (and showering- bliss). The next morning (after sleeping on a real bed!), all four of us got on our bikes, and rode off through the Duck Creek cycle path which runs across Davenport, through the old town, over the Mississippi river to the arsenel on Rock Island, and into Illinois. It was great fun with such fantastic tour guides, and it was sad to say goodbye to Anna and David, - two more American Angels on our travels- and we hope to meet them again sometime soon.

Of course we were hoping the roads in Illinois would improve, but ... We've just finished riding 67 miles along a dedicated cycle path along an old canal (called the Hennepin Canal Bike Trail). Imagine that - a path just for us! It's been so beautiful watching the cranes flying around, the turtles hiding from us, the fishermen not catching anything, and hardly seeing any vehicles - and if so only in the distance! We've really enjoyed it. Illinois is a bit of a cycle path haven, so we're trying to plan our route to jump from one cycle path to another, and stay away from those nasty cars and trucks. We should be able to do this all the way to Chicago - yippee!!

Yesterday we took the day off and stayed at a campground along the canal, near to a tiny town of Sheffield. We tried to go to church, but they all started at 9am, so we missed them. 9am! Back at our campground we got talking to some locals who have a permanent campervan there, and who spend every weekend at the campsite with their friends hanging out. We spent the afternoon with them, and they took us out on the boat along the canal for a bit. They also fed us good food and drink and taught us how to play "Corn in the Hole". Great people, and it was good fun.

Today (Monday) we finished the canal ride and have been back on normal roads for about 20 miles to get to La Salles, where the next bike trail starts. This one should take us to Joliet, where there are other trails taking us into Chicago. We hope to be in Chicago by Wed night, and have 3 full days there to see some sights and enjoy it. It will be really nice to be in the city again after being in rural areas for much of our tour so far!