Day 30, Tuesday, July 14, 2015, Worthington, MN to Mankato, MN, 110 miles and 1000 feet of climbing.  We have had five days of mileage in excess of 100 miles and this had to be the best one yet.  The weather was dang near perfect with temperatures in the upper 70’s and a slight wind out of the NNE.  I was on the road at 6:00 a.m.  The day before, I had spotted an espresso stand on our route out of town so I made a bee line to it only to discover that it did not open until 8:00 a.m.  What the heck??  Oh well, I just put my head down and pedaled east into the sunrise.  I did not take many pictures today as it was more of the same from yesterday i.e. beans and corn.  The fields were lush, looked to be very healthy and I am sure the farmers were quite proud of them but I just did not feel like taking pictures of them.  I was able to race a very long freight train.  I chased it for the longest time and it just kept pulling away from me.  Then to my surprise I started gaining on it and actually pulled ahead of it.  That’s when I realized the train had come to a stop.  Oh well, a win is a win!!  I got to the motel at 2:00 p.m. and averaged a respectable 16 mph average for the day.  We continue to drop in elevation.  Tonight we are at 781 feet above sea level.  I can really tell the difference.  The air is “heavier”, the humidity has increased and you can smell everything around you as you zip down the road, especially those hog farms.  Ahhhh…….the Midwest!  I was looking at and thinking about my biking mileage today.  When I began this trip I had ridden just under 1200 miles.  Today, my odometer shows 3,564 miles.  In a normal year when I put my bike away for the winter I would be very pleased with myself for having logged 3500 miles for a season!!  In the past 33 days I have ridden nearly 2400 miles.  That is twice as many miles as I had ridden just getting ready for this trip.  To top it off I have better than 500 miles to ride to reach Mt. Pleasant, a week from today.  Now, that is making me tired so I had better bring this entry to a close and get to bed.

 

 

Riding into the sunrise singing, "Here Comes the Sun....."

 

The roads continue to run straight to the horizon.

 

At the end of the day we were "treated" to a 5 mile ride on a bike trail through the woods.  Here's a pic of my roommate Bob cruising in the shade.