June 10 - Watseka, IL to Streator, IL (85 miles)

 We got a lot of miles going down!  Well, at least for us - about 235 miles in the last 3 days!  The weather has been very hot and humid, but we had a pretty good tail wind yesterday and a lighter one again today.  At this pace, we should be out of Illinois in another 2 days and will begin heading north.  Our problem at the moment is trying to find a place to stay between Streator and the end of section in Iowa.

Two highlights of the day:

1)    Farm to Table restaurant in Ashkum - Beans & Barley Brews

(815) 322-7122

https://goo.gl/maps/t6B2jUdVzf2xV3K2A

What a pleasant surprise.  They had an excellent breakfast menu with lots of fresh veggies and fruits available - exactly what we needed.  They also had over 90 craft beers in stock, of which I chose to take two of them with me.  Everyone there, including customers were very nice to us, wanting to hear about our adventures.

2)    Town of Pontiac and local coffee joint.  What a neat little town in Illinois.  It's been a while since we've come across such a nice community.  At the public square they piped music to enjoy, they had free public wifi everywhere in town (picture below), and they had a super nice coffee shop we much needed!  At the coffee shop, we ordered 20oz fruit smoothies.  The guy who made them basically made 'too much' and gave us equivalent of two free smoothies (both which we devoured).  On the table, you will see some of the fluids needed for our 85 mile journey.  Imagine doubling the water bottles in addition to everything on the table and that is how much fluid we consumed (well, plus breakfast water and coffee).

 Jake and I got to thinking about the most important changes that we've made in order to make this a successful journey.  I think we came up with the following:

1)    Change from flats to clips and cycling shoes

2)    Car rental to during injury recovery

3)    Lidocaine

4)    Butt Butter

5)    Schwalbe Marathon Plus tires

6)    Compromise and willingness to make adjustments to our plans

7)    Support network (eg people like Ju, Emily, Tom, Steve, Jill (brought Steve to us!), Bonnie, Alex, and even my yoga teacher Jamie Lange  who helped get me through IT Band injury).