Monday

Waking up at 4.30am has not got any easier as the trip has gone on but we were treated to a breakfast of pancakes (for the carbs), eggs (for the protein) and orange juice (vitamin C) cooked by Jay. Checking the weather report we learnt that a storm was quickly coming in and so we quickly packed and got on our way. We stopped for another breakfast at a small Subway which was disappointing as the egg was like a piece of rubber and the cashier got Matt's and Jack's order the wrong way around which was only discovered when Matt was halfway through Jack's sub. The next segment of cycling was pretty standard with nothing of note occuring and we stopped for lunch at McDonalds. Bored of burgers, Matt & Jack decided to spread their wings and venture into the realms of Filets of Fish and Chicken Burgers which was a nice change and then Jack finally manged to phone home after about a week of trying on various payphones. Cycling on we had to stop at every small town as Jack's body decided it did not appreciate the change away from Big Macs and rejected it very quickly. A slow period of riding followed as Jack's concentration was elsewhere and he developed additional saddle sores in an attempt to keep his wind under control. We had dinner in a very dodgy roadside restaurant that only had one paper menu and all the food came from frozen including it seemed the potato salad was was fluorescent yellow.

Entering Grand Island which didn't seem very grand we cycled through the whole of town trying to find a motel and got chased by yet another dog. Turning around we stumbled upon a motel which was operated from an old lady's living room but was a very reasonable price. We found our room had a kitchen, shower, dining table as well as funny smell but we were so tired that we didnt really care. We stocked up on supplies and Tom visited Subway to get some free WiFi and found a message from Alex saying we could meet up with her tomorrow to arrange some food and somewhere to sleep in Lincoln. Jack passed out in bed almost straight away whilst Tom and Matt fell asleep to our new favourite tv show; "The T.O Show", a reality programme following the exploits of american football player Terrell Owens.

A massive thanks to Jay and all the Matze's for their incredible hospitality and help this week. It is greatly appreciated and without you guys we would have had a really tough time with Jack getting ill and finding places to stay. Thanks.

Matt