Well the cold I have been fighting all week finally took a turn for the worse. I was up a good portion of the night and woke up feeling awful. Tina wanted me to take the day off and ride the SAG wagon but I couldn’t do it and made the decision to ride. We were on the road at 6:45 AM. Constant hills and headwinds was the theme for today. Did I mention I hate headwinds? The hills were not much fun either. Our ride time today was slow at about 5 hours 45 minutes. We did not stop much today except to grab food and fluids. My favorite stop of today and of the trip was a lemonade stand in New Hampton. A little girl about 4 years old was the proprietor and her Dad built her a great looking stand. She took my money and rang me up on her play cash register. She was so proud! We shared the road today with Lance Armstrong and from Nascar Matt Kenseth and Jimmie Johnson. We did not see them (I’m sure we were way out front) but a rider from our group got his pic taken with them. Staying at another nursing home on their back lawn and once again we were treated to a pasta dinner. They are also cooking us an omlette breakfast tomorrow morning at 5:30. The Iowa hospitality has been great. Tina was in a good mood until she dropped her chain on a long steep hill a couple miles out of town. We were seperated at the time so she got it fixed herself but told me it changed her mood as she was laughing. Tomorrow is 60 miles to Waukon, Iowa and we are already in bed at 7:00 PM. Hoping we awake to my cold gone and tailwinds.

Entering Ionia (pronounced I own ya)

Entering New Hampton

My favorite lemonade stand

She was all business

An arch of bicycles