Please excuse the delay...

We apologize to our loyal readers for the delay in our blog. We know you've been on the edge of your seat waiting for our next post, so here it is.

Saturday, July 14th:
HEADLINE! Allison is sick. Her tonsils were as big as basketballs, covered in oozing white spots. And she used this as an excuse to ride the van. What a wimp!
Joel took off like a bat out of hell, after a late breakfast, and rode the 72 miles into Sioux Falls, SD all by himself. Joel is suffering from some short-term memory problems, and cannot recall any details from this ride Except that he was tired when it was done. Later that afternoon, we took a quick trip to a bike shop 1.5 miles away, a long walk in the blazing heat and humidity. Joel replaced a pair of cycling shorts which, earlier that day, had been bitten by a fire extinguisher box while he was helping to unload luggage. The highlight of today was our discovery of a great restaurant: the Spicy Pickle: http://www.spicypickle.com/ Yummy!!!


Sunday, July 15th: REST!! We spent today in Sioux Falls, SD, doing a whole lot of nothing. We slept in, had a leisurely breakfast, watched the Tour de France, took naps, etc. It was lovely.


Monday, July 16th: A 70 miler to Worthington, MN. When we left South Dakota, we noticed that the road condition improved almost immediately. We thought we had in made in the shade, until we reached a detour consisting 6 miles of heavy gravel. This road required our utmost attention at every moment, lest we lose control and come crashing done. Luckily, we made it through unscathed, but not without sucking some dust and enduring the incessant rattling of the road. That night, Joel enjoyed repairing two hotel flats, while Allison enjoyed listening to him complain. After a crappy dinner, we were introduced by DQ afficionados (aka the Millers) to a chocolate-dipped twist ice cream cone. Mmmm. Speaking of enduring life's challenges, we were forced throughout the period of ice cream consumption to listen to Mike Miller squeaking his new rubber chicken toy.


Tuesday, July 17th: 102 miles to Mankato, MN. For those of you concerned that time flies by too rapidly, try riding 102 miles through humid, hot, hilly Minnesota. Time will slow down immeasureably. We felt like we were on the bikes for a week and a half, although we were only in the saddle for 6.25 hours. The shining highlights of the day were a stop at a cute bakery/sandwich shop in Madelia, MN, where we had great paninis and iced coffee for lunch, and then, after being slowed down by a thunderstorm, and our discovery of another oasis 10 miles form our destination. It was a fruit store on the side of the highway, selling freshly-baked strawberry rhubarb pie. Wow.

Wednesday, July 18th: Lucky us. Another 100 miles to Rochester, MN, and the humidity has not improved. The headwinds didn't help either. At 70 miles, we were in the tiny town of West Concord when we decided to stop for lunch. We found a local eatery - Cathy's cafe - where we chatted with the locals, who were all curious about what the hell we're doing. We met one retired farmer, Ronald Hahn, who was very talkative and interesting, and whom Allison described as the world's smallest cowboy. He was wearing a hat almost as tall as he was! Tonight, we're exhausted, and trying to build ourselves up for tomorrow's
89 mile ride, which will put us into Wisconsin.