Thursday. 60 miles, wet, windy, cold. Terrain remains gentle with large farms and beautiful horses grazing. I don’t think the temperature reached 60. I carried a vision of my mother all day. I imagined the scrunched up look of disbelief she’d have on her face when I explained that I had just pedaled a bicycle in the cold pouring rain for 60 miles. For some reason I don’t think she would really have gotten it. We’re sleeping outside in a covered pavilion. I already know that my sleeping bag will keep me nice and toasty. Well Thursday night proved troubling. Around midnight I woke up with head ache and nausea. I got through the night and rode 83 miles on Friday feeling really rotten. The weather cleared, but it was still a struggle. This was a personal record for distance. Previously my longest day was 72 miles last week. To put 83 miles in perspective it’s within a few miles of the distance between ami and andy’s house in new jersey and our house in newtown. It was our first overnight in a fire house. Brand new and a very nice facility in Utica, ky. I spent most of the night on the toilet. I will spare the details. I guess I could have ridden if my life depended on it, but I decided a day off was best. So instead of 4250 miles I’ll only ride 4180. I can live with that. I rode in the van to marion, ky and immediately rolled out my sleeping pad and slept for a few hours waking up feeling much better. If I had pedaled today I would have reached the 1000 mile mark so I’ll just have to wait until tomorrow. We have two moderate days coming up and the a layover in Carbondale, il. I’ll have to look for some salukis there. Carbondale has some good bike shops. I have to find some better tires and tubes. I’ve had flats the last three days. my bike also is in need of some professional adjustments.