Day 19 - Burlington, IA to Huntington, IN

Our morning began with a feast from our hosts! Inez served us crustless quiche, fresh fruit galore and homemade banana bread. We also got “bear” on our plate, not of the grizzly variety, but a watermelon in the shape of a bear. It truly was a work of art on our plates and we didn’t walk away hungry. We shared breakfast with Inez’s friends from Texas, who just returned from a cruise to Alaska, so we chatted about Denali.

Rob had packed the bike before breakfast, so we got on the road at 10am.

We crossed the mighty Mississippi over the Great River Bridge which is an asymmetrical single tower cable-stayed bridge. Soon we were in Illinois, “the Land of Lincoln”.

Since we pushed a bit further yesterday to stay at this B&B, today’s mileage was shorter. Our routes took us on back roads, through farmland. There was very little traffic and we felt like we were truly driving through the farms rather than viewing them from a distance on the highway.

We passed by this gigantic wind farm. Michele counted 85 windmills here but thinks there were more she couldn’t see in the distance.

This town had some very well cared for homes.

And in this one a happy water tower.

After a quick lunch, we crossed into Indiana, the “Crossroads of America”.

This home looked like a southern plantation.

For the last hour of our trip, thunderstorms popped up near the highway but just skirted us.

We got to the hotel around 5:30 and walked a mile and a half into the historic downtown area to a Tripadvisor-recommended restaurant, the Pizza Junction. It’s in a caboose-like building just next to the active railroad. Our salad and pizza were very fresh. On the way back we stopped at the Huntington city courthouse and read about Samuel Huntington who was a signer of Declaration of Independence. The courthouse also had a nice memorial for all veterans for each war and conflict since WWI.

Today was warm and humid but never got to 90 degrees. About an hour from our hotel the temps dropped to 82 because of the nearby storms, so we didn’t roast today.

Tomorrow we head across Ohio into West Virginia.