I am so, so happy to be out of Missouri! Three consecutive days of riding non-stop rolling hills is enough for me for the rest of this century. Today was a physically challenging day for me as my legs just did not have the energy they had earlier. I used a lot of energy the past two days climbing over all those Missouri rolling hills. I hope I can recover adequately for tomorrow's ride to Springfield. But it was energizing to ride across the Mississippi River and into the lovely city of Qunicy, IL. There are many outstanding homes on Maine (sic) street in Quincy. Illinois is our 8th state. A quick comment about headwinds, cross winds, and tail winds. When riding at home, your starting and stopping point are usually the same place. That means that half the time you have a head wind and half a tail wind. But it is different on this trip as we never go back...we are always moving generally east. That means if you have a tail wind in the morning, you likely will have it all day. On Day 11 I had a very strong head wind ALL day long and could mange only the relatively slow average speed of 11.2 mph for a very flat road to Dalhart, TX. However, on Day 15 I had a 20 mph cross wind for 70 miles but then made a 90 degree turn towards to Abilene and had the perfect tail wind for 50 miles....where I was cruising between 25 and 30 mph for a couple of hours....that's how I got the 18.8 average mph that remarkable day. I am getting closer to my home state of Indiana!!!