Decided to take Gerty in for a checkup this morning. She got a new rear tire. Original was pretty worn. Also got a couple water bottles and aero bars. You can lean on your forearms. Hoping it will take some stress off my hands.

Had been thinking about getting them for 2400 miles. Jury is still out. Takes some getting used to. Small movements are big turns. Basically steering with shoulders vs arms.

Didn't get out of bike shop and back on route until almost noon. Shop was busy but they were good about fitting me in.

Crossed the Mississippi for final time. Back into IL.

The scenery was better today. In the flats looking up at the hills.

Hadn't seen any corn for a while.

There was a good chance for rain late this afternoon. I got lightly rained on for the last 45 minutes. Decided to call it a day. Would have had to go another 40+ miles.

My back was sore again today. Starting to be a nuisance. Not happy.

I'm doing a bit of a detour from my original plan tomorrow. Basically avoiding riding 15 miles east to come back 15 miles west. I'll miss taking a ferry across some river but I don't really care! I'll take a bridge across.

Working on a new goal between here and Key West. Need something intermediate to push me and keep me moving. It's going to be difficult to put together but I'm hopeful. It will be super incredibly cool if I can pull it off. Stay tuned!

Ride on.

Just Pete