A little bit of sun, a little bit of rain, a little bit of wind (well maybe more then a bit) and a little bit of fun (definitely more then a bit), that was today’s bike ride.  Anne and I did the Bicycle Fun Club Ride today.  It started from Troy, IL, near where I-55 splits from I-70.  I-55 heads north to Chicago and I-70 heads east to Indianapolis.  Today’s bike route split the difference and headed north-east to our destination, the Diamond Mineral Springs Restaurant, home of their foot high pies.

We had a tailwind all the way out.  We saw a Cow with her new born calf.  When we first saw them the calf was standing and looked wobbly cute.  By the time I got in position and had the camera out the calf had laid down.  The mother cow did not appreciate my attention.  She probably thought that I had udder intentions.

After the first rest stop it started to sprinkle, but it never really rained and with the tailwind we made good time to the restaurant.  The main restaurant there is what’s left of an old spa complex that dates to 1892, and the food harks back to a time when “healthy,” as used as a modifier for “appetite,” had not yet limited such things as calories, sugar and cholesterol.  Food is served “family-style,” which means heaping helpings of mashed potatoes, spiced beets, beans and other sides come with every meal.  With 20 miles of headwinds ahead of us to get back to the car we eschewed the family style dinner and contented ourselves with a slice of pie.  Anne had blackberry a la mode and I had chocolate cream with about a foot of meringue on top.  We dined with a couple we had just met on the ride, from Edwardsville.  They both work for the government and had done the longer route.  Stu and Nancy, fellow Team Kaldi’s members, arrived later and we spoke with them on the way out.

It was a hard slog back to the car.  It actually was raining as we left the restaurant.  We were grateful whenever we got a respite from the wind.  We made it and had 41 miles to show for the day.  It rained some more while we were in the car driving home.  Anne took some pictures through the car window as we were crossing the Mississippi.  It had rained at home by the time we got there.  So the grass was too wet to mow this afternoon.  Darn!  Maybe I can get Dan or Dave or Don to mow it for me this week? 😉