65 miles from Wenona to Cabery. The winner of the recent trivia question was Big Daddy, so we'll send a lovely postcard soon. Thanks to everyone who weighed in! Of course, the correct answers were John Brown and Robert E. Lee.

Everything but our shoes managed to dry last night in our motel room and the day dawned with a steady rain that soon turned into a monsoon as we suited up and got ready to ride. Thankfully, they were still serving coffee at the motel so we ducked back in for java and the Chicago Tribune. We expected temps in the 60's to low 70's and rain all day today and we were not wrong.

Our goal today was to get to Ashkum and camp in their city park, but luckily we hit the Odell library and discovered 2 emails from Charlie & Joyce who live in the area and wanted to meet us. We called immediately and were thrilled that they lived only 20 miles from where we were and opted to shorten the day and enjoy their gracious offer of chicken and dumplings, showers, and a soft bed!

Turns out Charlie is a fairly recent recipient of the CCFA Great Comebacks award, knows Rolf Benirschke, and is an avid runner/cyclist. In fact, he and Joyce just got back from the Seattle Get Your Guts in Gear ride where Charlie rode and Joyce was a crew member. We had a wonderful time talking to them and learning more about the UOAA (he's a national board member), the Illinois chapter of CCFA, and hearing of their travels and running adventures. Charlie will ride with us for part of tomorrow so we know that part of the ride will go faster and be more enjoyable.

We feel so fortunate to have met two more terrific people who we look forward to staying in contact with!

Prius count = 0.