I'm writing this while thunder and lightning flicker outside, torrential rain pours down, bouncing off the trucks outside, our bikes are safely indoors, and the lights flick on and off as the power lines fail. The wind is hurtling through the motel parking lot, tornado sirens have sounded and tge occasional wailing police vehicle rushes by. Today we've got warnings for extreme thunderstorms, extreme heat and tornadoes - all for this area. Seemed like a good night to be in a motel, especially as the campsite is about 4 miles off our route. Last night did turn out severe in terms of T storms. But the tent did not succumb! Yea it did triumph over high winds, torrential downpours and lightning (mostly sheet lightning that we saw). We spent a brief period reading our books in the park shelter when the storm was at its height - there was no way of sleeping at that point. We slept well from about 1.30am until a lovely sunny morning started at 6am. Isaac had rocketed off west at about 7am I think. Jake and ourselves set off at about 9am, Jake heading east, west for us. A nice day for cycling with light SSW winds - lovely ride down to Henry, but sadly the food store was shut due to the power being off after the storm. There were trees damaged and sheds and roofs blown to pieces here and there. But there was water from the park by the impressive River Illinois bridge - kind local directed us there so we could get hydrated. So on to Bradford for a sort of lunch - minimalist really but high in carbs. Rather a nice village, elegant small library and a park with water. It reminded us of our own Bradford, in West Yorkshire. Huzzay! Getting really hot now and the next 17 miles to Kewanee were sweaty, my eyes stinging from the salt dripping into them. The temperature was about 92 Fahrenheit so about 33 centigrade. The breeze from cycling was a great help. We arrived and were intending to camp but a good nights sleep would be useful and the weather made that an unlikely thing. A cheap motel for $70 just down the road from the enormous Walmart where we were buying salad (an obsession after so much gas station food) and liquids, seemed ideal. My android phone was complaining about the heat and switched onto a dark theme - not seen that before, so serious heat.
So we're under cover while the night is filled with sirens, thunder and the drumming of rain.... The forecast is for much improved weather in the coming days - cooler, less thundery (but could there be an East wind too? Well the forecast says light NW and a touch of light NE later in the week, fine...).