We walked out to a cold (58°), damp, windy and gray morning.  The fog was so thick you could not see top of the cell towers.   The relentless wind made it that much colder, even as we pedaled up the hills.  We had a difficult time staying warm enough, even the horses huddled together to keep warm..  We took few pictures of the gray morning with our heads bent against the wind; note the tree and wheat are bending too.We had short breaks from the wind in the small towns we biked through, protected by the few buildings that lined the one block streets.  At our halfway point, we ducked into Clara’s kitchen for some breakfast.  It was a no-frills place, but we were happy to be out of the wind.  What we did not expect was the best (and probably largest) omelet we’ve ever had. It was a great stop.  An hour later when we finally got moving again, the sun had come out and it was 15° warmer, the wind however, was still howling in our face.For a few miles after our late breakfast, our course turned enough that the wind was not directly in our face; we enjoyed looking around and the slightly more relaxing ride, even had time to chat with the cows.The sun had totally cleared the sky of clouds and really started to heat the day.  Our last 15 miles was head on into the wind, so we were eager to chat with Max from Vermont as he was sailing by with the wind.  By the time we got to our stop at 2:30, it had reached 91°; such a contrast in temperatures from this morning.

Just about dinner time a storm blew in, complete with hail and a tornado warning/watch.  So we poured a glass of wine and watched the storm from the enclosed patio of our delightful B & B.  The storm passed quickly and we were able to make it to dinner, before the one “restaurant” closed.Not a bad ending to a 53 mile day.