This heat wave just keeps going on! The hottest day supposed to be Thursday but that's going to be a rest day for me so I'll likely end up spending it by a pool!
I had ice water to drink all day today. It was amazing. I did find that I had put too much ice in my pack and it wasn't melting as fast as I needed it too. I guess the pack insulates better than I thought! Luckily I had 2 large water bottles for pouring over my head that I used more as a way to melt the ice in the pack. I did find that with the ice water, I didn't need to poor water on myself as much. Tomorrow I will make the pack a bit "wetter". It is amazing just how much water I've been going though. I'd guess about 10 litres on the bike and on breaks during the day.
For the second day in a row, a motorist stopped and asked if I needed a lift somewhere. They were worried about me riding in the heat. They are then shocked to know that I am riding across the continent. I've seen almost no one else on a bicycle anywhere. Or, on foot for that matter other than when they make the mad dash from an air-conditioned car to an air-conditioned building, etc.
We stopped again today about half way at a Subway. Their salads are just about the perfect amount of food for a day like today and we can hang out for an extended period of time doing stuff on the internet while I get a chance to cool down and drink lots of fluids. That broke the day up into two 3-hour sessions in the sun with a good recovery in between.
My speedometer got so hot in the sun the LCD started to go black!
Today, we are staying at a campground right on Whitewater Lake. The last 10 km or so was pretty hilly and I was getting worn out. I arrived at the campground and only then read additional details that Rochelle had emailed me about where she was in the campground. 1.5 km into the campground up a series of steep hills! Not the kind of surprise you are looking for after a day like today. Once I got to the campsite, Rochelle and I went back down to the lake to cool off. The lake itself was actually quite warm but was cool enough to help deal with the heat and allow me to recover while just floating in the water.
The last couple of nights I had very limited sleep. Less than 5 hours each. I wrote it off as heat related but it dawned on me today that on both of those days I had stopped at a connivance store to buy and quickly drink a giant diet coke. That is a massive amount of caffeine for someone like me who rarely gets much caffeine any more. Today, I avoided getting a massive dose of caffeine so I expect to be asleep fairly soon!
Tomorrow, we will likely stay at a KOA northwest of Chicago so that Rochelle can fly out of O'Hare the following day. I'll just hang out by the pool for 2 days! Actually I've got a lot of work that I want to get accomplished during that time!