We were without Internet last night so this update will cover two (2) days.
Hannibal, MO - Pere Marquette, IL - Our Friday morning ride started out great with great weather and a great plan. As we started out the weather was nice and cool with little humidity. A pleasant surprise. We intended to head down the Mississippi on the Illinois side and then cross back over to a town called Louisiana, MO. But as we have learned during the course of our trip it is best to ask questions and always let the people you talk to know what and why you are asking. During our morning coffee break, in a little town called Kinderhook, which we had wanted to see as Rex had heard the Post Office was interesting, we talked with the cook we said that the crossing of the bridge over the Mississippi into Louisiana, MO was a little tough as the bridge was a bit narrow, in fact he said that when two trucks went across at the same time they were bound to having "kissing mirrors." We you know David does not like any of that kissing stuff, so we took that young man's advice which was to continue on down the Illinois side. He thought there might be a couple of places for us to stay "down yonder". Anyway, we made great time the entire day as the roads were flat and the traffic very light. We found a whole lot more corn again..........sorry about the corny jokes...........but you have to see in person how much it around. We made it down to a little town called (will come up with the name on next blog) and stopped in a little information center/museum and go that low down on a place down the road to stay. We had lunch at a nice little spot across from the river. Typical low key place. One other person in there and seemed like not much else had been going on. Hunting season starts in October so they are all waiting for the big event. We continued on our journey, and ran into the start of the high school football team leaving for the big game. Tied up traffic. Anyway we made good time and covered a lot of ground and arrived in a state park called Pere Marquette, and stayed at a lodge built in the 1930's under the WPA. Great place. Similar to the hotel in Yosemite. All in all our best road biking day of the trip.
Pere Marquette, IL - St. Louis, MO
We got a little bit later start this morning as breakfast did not start until 7:00 AM so that meant we did not get off until 8:00 AM. Weather was a little bit hotter, but basically the entire journey was on bike paths. Stopped and looked at several sites having to do with the expedition of Lewis & Clark. David regaled Rex and I with his knowledge of the journey and said he had the time of his life. We made good time and entered into St. Louis with only a couple of minor little problems of going down the wrong path......where have you heard that story before. We went across one of the longest pedestrian bridges in the world, i.e. Chain of Rocks Bridge, which is famous as being part of Route 66. This lead us into St. Louis. We went in via the waterfront bike way and came upon a Corvette show, and have checked into the Drury Hotel and are about to explore downtown St. Louis. Rex needs to find some micro beer as we did without last night and he is not happy. Working on a plan for Sunday tour.
And now the facts from David..........................
From day 10 yesterday:
82 miles! (they told me it was to be 60) gotta watch these over achievers.
9.5 hours.
Total miles 668.4
avg daily mileage: 66.84
From day 11 today:
50.42 miles not bad.
7 hours.
Total miles:718.82
Avg speed: 10.3 (over hill and dale)
St. Louis is interesting. I was awed by the Gateway Arch and the Lewis and Clark Museum.
Daily avg miles: 65.34. You can only whip a race horse so long.
No comments:
Post a Comment