Saturday June 27th - evening

Well, I made a decision today. I won't make it home in my 33 day goal, July 3rd. If I could do 430 miles each day I could make it. I went exactly 400 miles today and I am so tired as I sit here in my little camp, I don't even feel like fixing my dinner. I am afraid that if I do another like this one tomorrow I will end up having an accident. At the end of the day I was very mentally fatigued and could hardly figure out how to get to the campground from directions I had. I am bummed in that I wanted to be home for fireworks with my grand kids and to be home to preach on July 5th. I am working on getting somebody way better than me. I should make it home by Monday or Tuesday. I am relieved now that I have pulled the trigger on this decision because I will enjoy the rest of the trip without the pressure of getting the miles.

I am camped this evening at Kankakee, IL. Nice campground, but no showers. I will use some handy wipes, they work pretty good. I was sitting here trying to muster up the strength to make dinner and my neighbor camper came over and invited me to dinner. Corn on the cob and barbequed hamburgers:-)

It was hot today. I drank 32 oz of water, diet pepsi, or ice tea every hour and never went to the bathroom all day. The heat with the wind that is hitting me all day must really suck out the moisture. I think that is one of the reasons that I am so tired today. I tipped my bike over again today leaving a gas station. Thought I was going out a driveway, but hit a curb that was there that I didn't see. Picked it up OK without any assistance. Looked around at all the people gawking at me and shrugged like "I do that all the time." No damage to the bike.

Kankakee, where I am camped is about 30 miles south of Chicago. Large campground with lots of people and lots of kids, especially since it is a Saturday. Right on the Kankakee river. Big slow moving river with nice beach and lots of canoes to rent. The kids are coming by often to look at my bike and ask questions.

Had only 1 close call to a serious accident today. There was a corn topper going down the road about 25 MPH. I came behind him and when I could see that nobody was coming, I whipped out to go around him. At the same time he turned left in front of me to go into a corn field. I don't think he saw me. I slammed on the brakes and screeched to a stop without loosing control of the bike. I prayed for the next 30 minutes as I drove.

Hot all day and while we were eating dinner we had a fireworks display from God. Big bright, booming thunder and lightning, raining now. I will never again complain about the rain in Oregon. The couple who invited me to eat, come to this campground every weekend during the summer. They are Christians and they are both reading purpose drive life by Rick Warren. They live in Chicago in a 24 unit condo. They were quite fascinated with our work in Sierra Leone and Liberia and asked a ton of questions. I don't think either have been much further from Chicago than this campgroud. Raining hard now. Hope it quits by morning.