After leaving a flat Nebraska it was very nice to see the rolling hills when we came into Iowa. We found a small highway with little traffic that took us through Iowa in about a week. The state reminded us a bit about the rolling hills back home, and we enjoyed that. We never used the tent, but slept on fields, in the dug out at baseball fields, at stands and under roof, protecting us from some showers. Iowa has been the rainiest state so far. We’ve spent every evening watching a game of thrones episode on Christofers new tablet. A really nice treat to sit in our sleeping bags, eating cookies and watching a TV series after a day of biking.
Now we’re in Chicago, Illinois. Here we live in an apartment with an amazing view over lake Michigan. Our host, Bill, met us 100km outside of Chicago and biked in with us. We made a stop at his mothers place in Batavia, where we slept for a night. We also took our first shower in ten days there. Pretty nice! We spent that evening in the close by city Geneva where they celebrated Swedish days because of the upcoming Midsummer. We ended the day at the bar Stockholms, where we sang the Swedish national anthem, which resulted in free drinks.
The following day we biked into Chicago and went directly down to the lake for a swim. We spent the evening chillin and eating pizza at Ginos East Pizza. After an ice cream dessert back home at the apartment we feel asleep, exhausted from a long day. The following day we slept until eleven and spent the day running around in stores to find all the ingredients for the Swedish midsummer party. We found a lot of stuff and spent the evening at the beach. With us was Bill, our biking friend Kim that we had met earlier, Kim’s friend and two of Bills biking friends. We ate potatoes, herring, lingon berry jam, Swedish meatballs, salmon, Kalles kaviar, sausage, cream cheese, strawberries and a lot more. We drank beer and vodka and sang Swedish drinking songs before emptying our shot glasses. It was an amazing evening. At 11pm our friends went back home, but we and Bill decided to continue the party at a bar. It ended up being more than one bar, and when we came back home at 6am we crashed. Deadly tired, but really happy with the midsummer celebrations!
We’re really having a good time here in Chicago, and it’s a lot thanks to Bill. Thanks a lot Bill!
Today we’re a bit hungover, but we’ll soon head out to see more of the beautiful Chicago. Tomorrow we’re heading east again. We’ll bike a couple of days with our new American friend Kim. A gal biking alone from Santa Barbara to Buffalo to go to her high school reunion. We’ll probably bike with her all the way to Buffalo and pretend to be her Swedish boyfriends, making all her old class mates extremely jealous. Who wouldn’t be, right? 
Hej på er!! Det var ju lyckat att ni fick fira midsommar med all svensk tradition !! Att er nya följeslagerska vågar hänga på….:-/
Cykla lugnt och ha det så bra!!!
Hej! Vi hittade er blogg igår o nu återupplever vi delar av vår USA-resa, med bil dock, genom era inlägg. Så häftigt att uppleva detta fantastiska land på cykel. När ni kommer till Maine får ni inte missa en tur med en whale watching båt. En helt makalös upplevelse! Fortsatt god tur!
Hej underbara ni! Säg som det är, ni längtar hem! Här är det svensk sommar, dvs mest regn men grönt och fint. Midsommarblommor överallt så klart. Härligt att läsa att ni i alla fall får någon annan mat än Donken till slut. Skönt att ni fått med er en tjej. Nu kanske börjar duscha oftare än var tionde dag. Puss och kram från Mamma Maggis
Nice tan! I really envy that one… You´re looking really healthy but a bit skinny after the shower AND the bath. Eat and enjoy!
Feels good that you had a proper midsummer! When will we see picutures from the bar tour? Take care and bike safely……and lucky Kim:)