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Day 30
Oops...almost a thunderstorm!

ROUTE: Worthington to Mankato MN	DISTANCE: 102 Miles	WINDS: South 5-10
WEATHER: Mostly sunny and warm...a bit muggy. High 89 with a small thunderstorm near Madelia.	TERRAIN: Pretty tame if you ask me	TOTAL CLIMBING: 1480 Feet

DAILY REPORT: My day in the truck today...it looked like a long one, but a good one none-the-less. We started the day with a hearty buffet at the small Country Kitchen we ate at last night. They put on a nice spread to get us fueled and ready to go for a long day in the saddle. The morning departure was very comfortable as we pulled out on hwy 60 to the northeast. All the roads in this area run east and west and are perfect grids of 1 mile squares (not all paved however) except for hwy 60 that runs SW to NE. We rode several sections of that highway today...sections that had a shoulder where we could get out of the traffic lane. We broke off and out into the country after the first SAG at 30 miles and stayed on quiet backroads until the 80 mile point.

All in all it was a pretty uneventful day...Ho Hum in the van but just like I like it every day. We did have a little bit of excitement around mile 80 when a small thunderstorm flared up in our path coming into Madelia. I made a quick pass out into the country to warn riders that a storm was brewing ahead of them. I could hear the thunder and see the darkening clouds but as quickly as it brewed, it seemed to be clearing where just minutes before there was a dark cloud. When I returned to Madelia, the streets were soaked so they must have had a good rain for a couple minutes anyway. The riders that were in town when I went back to warn riders, left town dry and the riders I warned rode in behind it. We skated again...dry except for the humidity.

The scenery all day was vast farmland and for those who liked to see corn, they must have been in heaven. We passed corn field after corn field with a soybean field or two thrown in for good measure. Last year at a rap session, one of my staff gave us a talk about corn and how it was one of the few plants that had both the male and female parts on the same plant. He explained how the farmers cross pollinated the plants to improve the hybrid corn crops and somehow equated the pollination process as a corn "dating service." There's no end to the things you learn out here...some more important than others of course.

Speaking of important things you learn out here...experience is golden. Today I just relearned the lesson I should have remembered from '96 when I rode across Minnesota with Cycle America. You don't ever walk into the tall grass to "use the facilities." That's where 1,000,000 mosquitoes live and they are all hungry! I forgot that important lesson until I had to stop and go to the bathroom and wanted to hide from possible on coming traffic. I was covered before I could get out of the grass and had to do the two step to get back on the bike and get going. I'll not do that again...good judgment over modesty anytime!

We do have exciting news, Lois is back and will ride again with us to Niagara Falls and Jeff's fiancé, Sondra, will be joining us for the rest of the trip and will be joining the staff. I guess I'll have to upgrade Jeff now so he'll have some seniority over someone. They are getting married on our day off in Manitowc just before we get on the boat to traverse the Lake. I have to be nice to Jeff for a couple days...he's making me his best man. Maybe I should upgrade him more than I originally thought.

We had rap before dinner and dinner was at a Country Buffet...great spread. If anyone went away hungry after tonight's spread, they weren't trying. Tomorrow we ride another century. It won't be long before we'll wave good bye to this beautiful state, but tomorrow we'll enjoy another day in the corn. See you then.

DID I REALLY SAY THAT?:

"Mike, one important question...is there a Dairy Queen in Mankato?"
"I'm not sure, but probably. Why?"
"We need to recover and we need a Dairy Queen to do that."
"You've got to be kidding...what are you recovering from?"
"Breathing...heck, I need a chocolate shake after a big yawn!"

DID I REALLY DO THAT?:

Last night a couple riders were interviewed by a local paper...they were interested in what we were doing. Well, this morning we saw a copy in the lobby of the motel before we departed and almost all the issues were scarped up by the riders. It was a nice article too...accurate and well written other than the fact it said we departed from Newport Beach California. We're so brain dead that we've forgotten where we started. However, I was most amused by the first sentence which read, "Enduring blistering heat, punishing headwinds, and smothering humidity, about 70 men, women, and children arrived at Worthington's Travelodge Monday midway through a 50 day, 3600 mile America by Bicycle odyssey." Seems the riders took liberty and embellished a wee bit about what the perfect weather we've been experiencing since we left Oregon. Or maybe they were just looking at the long range forecast and wanted to take early credit.

DID I REALLY SEE THAT?
From the looks of this article, we've had a pretty tough ride so far.	No Jana, you can't substitute this for your helmet...but it's OK for dinner.
How can you gain weight on a trip when you burn 6000 calories a day? Eat 6001 in one desert.	What if you turn this...oops.

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