It was a nice morning waking up in the warmth. Since we aren't in too much of a rush, having more than enough time to get home the day we want to, we slept in a little. By the time we were up and moving, and got everything all packed, it was after 9. Unfortunately we didn't have a chance to see Dan and Patricia again this morning, since they enjoyed their Sunday morning to sleep in too. We were on the road by about 9:30 and followed the same route out as we did coming up to their house. Although it was nice to start the day off with quite a bit of downhill, the only bad part was that we didn't have any time to warm up our bodies by riding a bit- so it was a pretty chilly ride down. After getting back to the river, we followed the river trail all the way to downtown. We decided to ride around there a little bit just to "see what there was to see," which of course wasn't too much. We had planned on finding a grocery store or a little cafe for breakfast. Mile after mile, our tummies grew hungrier. We didn't find any cafes, well I should say we found one- but it was 10-15 bucks a plate, just for breakfast! Needless to say, we didn't go there! Eventually, after about 9 miles (of mostly flat ground along the river, thank goodness!), we found a grocery store. We climbed up the hill and got some cereal and milk, even though by that time it was almost 11am. Next mission was to find someplace inside that we could eat it. We rode for a few more miles, crossed a bridge over the river and continued heading north. A couple miles later, we came into the valley town of Etna, still looking for a place to eat our cereal and milk indoors. We weren't having any luck, but we did see an "Eat n' Park" restaurant and decided to just go there. Our milk was not going to go bad since it was so cold out and we figured we could just have it for dinner later. This place reminded me of a Denny's stye restaurant, but it was actually better. When we were being seated, we saw a buffet bar-- when we asked about it, we found out that it was a Sunday Brunch buffet. We had definitely come to the right place!! Everything from fruit and bacon, pancakes and home fries, to chicken, mashed potatoes and salad! It was perfect. Joey and I each got a nice big cup of hot cocoa loaded with whipped cream and drizzled with chocolate. Everything hit the spot! Both of us are so glad that we decided to go there, especially since we were nice and warm while we were eating. After filling our bellies, we continued on through the valley, gradually climbing for quite a few miles before the grade started to increase. There were a few steep spots, but nothing as bad as yesterday. Just a lot of uphill climbing. I felt like that's all that we did today, slowly climbed up and up. It was in the upper 30s, low 40s for most of the day, which is always the worst for days with a lot of climbing because we have so much warm gear on to stay warm that we sweat a lot on the way up and freeze like crazy on the way down. Having the face masks on is a must, but that also makes it harder to breath on the way up, not to mention they get soaked after breathing through them for a while. The miles just dragged by today. After all the climbing we've done since we left Wheeling, we are just feeling worn out, mostly because we had so much time off and only did a few miles each day-- but it didn't make much sense to go for a ride and freeze our butts off if we weren't going anywhere. The town we kept looking at getting to initially was Butler, after what seemed like forever we saw a sign that said Butler 16 miles. Since brunch, we had only gone 10 miles!!! Ugghhh... it was going to be a very long day. What seemed like hours and hours later, we made it to Butler. It started to get colder out by the time we got there around 4:15. As we continued following on Hwy 8, we went through the little downtown section of the city and then we saw where our road went-- up another HUGE hill. Already exhausted from the constant long hills that we've been going through, neither of us were very excited. Joey really wanted to make it to the next town, which was about 16 miles further down the road. Once we started climbing the hill, we could feel every last ounce of energy being drained out of us. It's been quite a while since either of us have felt this exhausted. I even beat Joey up to the top of the hill, not by much but I still did- which never happens. After that hill, we were both just drained. I just couldn't believe it. At that point, we weren't sure if we would actually make it to the next town or not. Either way, we were both ready to be done for the day, even if we didn't have as many miles as we would have liked. I have a feeling the cold weather takes it out of us a little faster, which doesn't help. So, with that being said, we kept our eyes out for a church with an overhang and cars in the parking lot. We passed by a couple, but no luck. Then, just as we were about to head out of town, we found a church with a huge pavilion full of picnic tables. We road around towards it, and sure enough there was a car there! We parked and rang the doorbell. The door was unlocked, so we went inside where it was warm. We did a quick look around, but didn't find anyone. After our "hello's" weren't answered, we figured the person who owned the car would be coming back shortly, so we just sat on the floor inside the door and waited. Since we were hungry enough for dinner by that time, we had some of our cereal and milk in the nice warm church. We waited and waited with no luck of seeing anyone. There was however a calendar of events in the hall by the door that said there was a meeting here tonight at 7, so we figured SOMEONE had to be coming here within the next hour or so. While we waited, I just sat and typed blogs Both of us were ready to just fall asleep on the spot, I don't understand how we are just THIS tired! About 20 to 7, sure enough, a car pulled in the driveway. A lady was here for a meeting. When we introduced ourselves and asked if we could set up the tent under the pavilion for the night, she said it shouldn't be a problem but that she would call the pastor just in case. The weird thing was that she had no clue whose car was parked there by the door or why the door had been unlocked- she said maybe it was just meant to be that it was unlocked. After a while, the pastor called her back and gave her the all clear for us to camp under the pavilion! That was great news because that way we didn't have to worry about waking up and finding our tent and our bikes covered with snow (since they are expecting 4-6 feet in the next 24 hours, so they say). The lady said that their meeting would go til about 8:30 and that we were welcome to sit inside where it was warm until then! We got to change inside where it was warm, brush our teeth inside where it was warm, and were all ready to set up or tent quick and get in it right away when the time came. While I was typing away, Joey walked over to the grocery store to get some more shaving cream for himself, and a packet of index cards so I could make the last of our makeshift business cards. I would have said the heck with it since the trip is almost over, but whenever we talk to people, they seem so interested in what we are doing and excited when I share the website with them. So, I will make a few more just to get us to the end of the week. When 8:30 rolled around, we headed down to the pavilion and got everything all set up. Hand warmers, check. Jumbo clips to hold the tent door closed, check. Water bottles in the tent so they don't freeze, check... we crawled into our sleeping bags right away and were happy that the open wifi network from the church reached all the way down to the pavilion. Maybe we will try to watch a movie on Netflix!?!! We rode a long 43.10 miles today. Getting closer to home with every peddle stroke!