3 States In One Day

Keokuk, Iowa - Hannibal, Missouri

So you are asking how do you cover three states in one day on a bike.  Well to find the answer you must read on.  You will recall from yesterday that we had a terrible day of heat and wind and so when we went to bed we had a plan to leave early and ride in the cooler part of the day.  We got up early, and were able to leave at 7:00 AM......and low and behold the temperature was at least 10 + degrees cooler and with little humidity.  We needed to backtrack a little and go back across the bridge we had crossed yesterday to get us back on the road south.  We had a great crossing as there was a protected bicycle/ped path out of Keokuk across the Mississippi River as we headed out to Hamilton, Illinois (2nd state).  We proceeded down the road in a southerly direction (we always are heading south).  We went through a neat town (Warsaw) that out west would be called a "ghost town" but in this part of the mid-west does not yet know it is going to be completely abandoned in the next 10 - 15 years.  The town was an example of European architecture adapted to the US.  Lots of shops with living above it.  Anyway, with no job base the towns all along the river are dying slowly.  Must have been interesting in the early part of the 1900 hundreds, but today they are in decline with really no hope of coming back.  Some lessons to be learned.  We then turned away from the small towns and headed out into the farm land.  It was our best ride to date.  No heat and no wind.  We made great time peddling away at about 15 mph.  We made it to Quincy, Illinois in time for lunch.  Today was an especially great lunch for me.  We stopped at a little Bar and Grill by the river and as usual had a great experience.   Seems to always turn out that you meet someone who takes a special interest in our trip and is happy to provide some advice.  Today, we found a good way to get into downtown Hannibal, Missouri (our 3rd state) and also got the lay of the land for a motel and coffee shop.  Now with respect to the lunch.....the food was normal, but what was special was that it was free for me.  You see David and I had made a little bet about the route earlier in the day and he is still looking for the town of Marcelli.........sort of a paper map vs. IPhone map application.  David is slowly coming around to believe, but it is hard.  Kate and Sam, much more work needs to be done in this area.  Anyway, the lunch was great.  We made good time on the road towards Hannibal.  Traffic a little heavier in the afternoon as we went through some industrical type areas.  We should sent some of our CA type officals to look at these plants......  On the road we passed a road bike guy in full gear, and he shouted out "where are you from".  He caught that we said Sacramento, and he turned around and chased us down.  Turns out the Alex is from Sacramento, works at City Bicycle Works, knows the guy who built my bike and even knew when the bike was built earlier this summer.  He is going to school in Quincy at a college that specializes in the medical field, and works part time during the summe and his breaks at the bike shop.  Anyway we had nice chat and then continued on the road to Hannibal.  We arrived earlier than usual and had time for quick change and we were off to explore the town, which is famous for..................you guessed it......Tom Sawyer.....Huck Finn......and other assorted stories by Mark Twain.  We toured his boyhood home, and went through the museum, and all of us have a better appreciation of what drove him.  I am looking forward this fall/winter to reading some of his works.  David was in heaven and will be full of stories for years to come.  We of course went to a fine little bar after our tour so that Rex could opine on the beer selection.  All is still good on that front.

We are headed out south but we have a new road problem,......seems anothe bridge is out........and we need to figure out a way around it.  Not easy when a detour is 45 minutes by car.  Stay tuned.

(photo problem has not been resolved.)

Now for the facts................her's David......

Today's miles:  61.41
Total miles:  586.4
Days avg speed:  11.1
Daily avg: 73.3 miles
Water consumption:  All you can drink.
Note:  In 8 days on 6 tires, only one flat, the second day.  Was a sharp rock.  Quickly changed.
Personally I like our stay here at Hannibal, Mo. the best so far because of the Mark Twain history and museums.