Fifty two degrees felt very cold this morning, even with the sun shinning. We experienced a couple mild rolling hills within the first few miles then the roads flattened out and began to wind past barns of all shapes and sizes,more than we had seen in the last two days combined. The faded red on the barns gave a rich patina to the old wood. The fields were much smaller or broken up with the snaking road (check out the bird in the bottom left corner), but filled with corn, soybean, potatoes, green onions and cabbage.Where there are farms there are horsesand the occasional lama (we think).The houses were getting larger and more frequent, but each had perfectly manicured lawns and where there are families there are churches.We were really enjoying the flat roads of today’s ride and the beautiful fields, clear sky and numerous barns. Though we had a mild head wind, it was more a nuisance than a hinderance.

As we approached Freedom, our lunch stop, we began to see the destruction from the F1 tornado (one of three) that had struck the area early (1:30 a.m.) Wednesday morning.  Remember that ugly sky we saw Tuesday night?  We just caught a brief news snippet on the storm during breakfast, but were now seeing the results firsthand. Thankfully, no one was killed or seriously injured.  It was a sobering ride through town, weaving around the downed limbs, but the town was bouncing back quickly and it was a gorgeous day.A request; if anyone has any idea what these huge birdcage looking things are, please let us know.  We have a ferry to catch to Michigan tomorrow, so resting tonight.