Wednesday 7^th April , Best Western Hotel, Chester, Il

Yesterday afternoon, Something I forgot .

Coming back from the town centre to the Ramada Hotel entrance, we bumped into the, very friendly, day receptionist, going off duty:

“Any of you guys support Arsenal?”

I said that I liked them a lot.

“Hah! Barcelona just crucified them. My husband, Raoul here has been watching it in the lobby.”

Behind her stood a simpering Spaniard with an eminently slappable face. But as she’d been so friendly and as he was at least a foot taller than me, I spared him. This time.

This morning was absolute hell. 25 miles, most of it directly into a really strong wind. We were struggling to reach 7 miles an hour on a completely flat road. A nightmare.

We finally reached Gorham and had lunch in the Bottoms Up Bar and Grill. Full of huge farmers.

Standard conversation:

Waitress. “Hi Today’s Special is breaded chicken , mash, green beans and gravy”

Customer “Yeah” (Illinoisan for “That sounds delightful. I think I’ll try it.”)

The only topics of conversation seems to be tractors ( "You buy one of those mothers, the first time you hit real shit, you're done for" ) and the possibility of a hung parliament in the forthcoming UK General Election. Part of that last sentence is untrue.

Shortly after this we came on to the Mississippi Levee and suddenly, there it was. The Mississippi At first glance, it was not so impressive but, as we cycled alongside, it just kept widening and looking like it went on forever. A truly wonderful sight.

The wind eased off in the afternoon but the clouds looked ever more ominous as we made our way to our destination Chester. Just minutes after we checked in, there was an enormous thunderstorm., unlike anything I had ever seen in the UK. If we’d been out in that in the open countryside we’d have been in big trouble

Chester is an unremarkable town apart from being the home of Popeye the Sailor. Well everyone’s got to live somewhere, I suppose.

Dinner was in a curious place called The Harvest Smorgasbord, just up the road. An “eat as much as you like” buffet where all the food is vaguely school-dinnerish. ( I probably could have had my strawberries and liver etc. If I wanted). Then home past a deafening chorus of bull-frogs, some of whom are still at it outside our room as I type this.