Day 20 Meet me in St. Louis 50 mi Pere Marquette St. Pk. to Columbia, IL

End of the ride photo fun at the Gateway Arch, St Louis.

Both Wendy and I agree that we had one of the most enjoyable rides of the MRT today.  The scenery and hustle and bustle along the river and bike paths seemed to be ever changing today culminating with the crossing of the Chain of Rocks bridge crossing, the bikeway into St Louis, and visit to the Gateway Arch.  However the most enjoyable part of today occurred after the ride was over when we got to visit our hosts for tonight, Mark and Linda.

Yesturday's rain was a distant memory.  Traveling toward Alton IL was highlighted by sun sparkling off the Mississippi as the road took us right along the river.

It was a day to catch barge traffic moving goods up the river.

We stopped at the Alton's Saturday market near the bridge to purchase a vendor's Oowey Gooey Pastries then a quick stop at the McDs for coffee and a sandwich before exiting town on the Missouri Confluence  Trail leading out of town toward the Chain of Rocks bridge.

The trail was glued to the levy adjacent to the river.  

Here we are about to cross onto the Chain of Rocks bridge known for being one of the links along Route 66 as well as making a bend in the bridge as it crosses the Mississippi.  This information Kiosk was playing " Get your kicks on Route 66"  which explains why I was snapping my fingers and Wendy was doing a high kick.

The bend in the bridge.

Old Chain of Rocks Bridge gets my vote for best bicycle  bridge crossing on the Mississippi.

Next, the riverfront trail took us through some industrial and historic sections north of St Louis.

Part of the Freedom Trail from Missouri to Illinois.

Wendy and I at the Gateway Arch on a radient blue sky day. Time to take alot of photos. Here were some of them.

Wendy's husband, Mike, has a colleague who lives in Columbia,  a suburb of St Louis.  Mark and Linda, graciously offered to pick us up from the Arch and bring us to their home for an overnight stay, a hot meal, and lively conversation.  I can't say enough about how much we enjoyed their company and warm hospitality.

Cheers, from Columbia, IL

Day 19 Hannibal MO to Grafton IL 95mi

MRT - more rain today.  We left Hannibal by crossing back into IL after breakfast. Viking Cruise Line had one of their river ships docked in Hannibal this morning.

Wendy and I would be traversing a peninsula between the Illinois and the Mississippi River all day then conclude with a ferry crossing to the east side of the Illinois River to get to the Pere Marquette St Pk.

Rain started at about noon then didn't really stop until close to 6 when we were closing in on the ferry.   We warmed up in a senior center in Hardin, IL for 30 min then headed to a Subway restaurant next door for some hot soup and a sandwich before riding the last 26+ miles to the Brussels Ferry.

Day 18 Keokuk to Hannibal MO via IL 63 mi

Wendy and I put IA in our rear view mirrors for the rest of the adventure as we crossed the bridge from Keokuk into IL this morning.  Weather wise we had improving sunshine with a robust tailwind directly from the N.   The IL town of Warsaw is just across the river from Keokuk.  Alot of the towns we have been riding through lately have that "could use a little TLC" look to them.  There was still a cement factory on the outskirts of town.  Cement making seems to be one of the more noticable industries next to farming.

This is my "vista grande" view of the IL cornfields from a slightly elevated roadway S of Warsaw.

The only major city we would be passing through today was Quincy IL.

Wendy captured a nice photo of me down at Quincy's riverfront park.  

Our transportation parked outside of the cafe we stopped at in Quincy.  We both went for sourdough bread sandwiches and a coffee to hold us over till we reached Hannibal.

Time to head back to the river and get out of Dodge (Quincy in this case).

The after lunch ride was on a more trafficed road with a narrow shoulder.   We concentrated on riding a narrow fine line on the edge of the pavement and the drivers obliged by moving towards the center of the road to pass us.

We used an interstate bridge with a wide shoulder to cross into Hannibal.

The man behind the visitor desk gave us some recommendations on all things Mark Twain to see.

The Tom Sawyer character is based on Mark Twains personal childhood.

A lot of Mark Twain quotes throughout the displays in the museum sites in town.

Hannibal has a lot of building murals around town as well.

We ended the day like we end a lot of days on this tour by heading down to the river in the evening to check out the activity on the great waterway.

Day 17 Burlington IA to Keokuk IA 51mi

Today started off looking like a promising weather day.  Rain had passed through early in the morning and was supposed to be over.  Wendy and I were told about Burlington's Snake Alley which dates back to the early days of Burlington when it was necessary  for horses to pull carts up and down the sides of this hill.  It's a series of switchbacks on a bricked street, not unlike another famous road in San Francisco.  Today it's just another fun way to get around town for pedestrian and bicycle traffic only.

We headed to the waterfront after leaving Snake Alley to check out Burlington's Mississippi River bridge crossing.

Wendy was checking on our way out of town.   We came across another cyclist who verified the route to Fort Madison, IA that was or designated lunch stop.   

Somewhere short of Fort Madison the low chance of rain that we heard about at breakfast time became 100%.  The skies opened up and the scene turned into a frog drowning shower.  

Here I am under the roof at the gas station in town.  Even my bike flag was all wet and stuck to itself.

We biked through the rain to a cafe at the south edge of town to dry out and hope for the latest wave of rain to pass.  The coffee, hot bowl of soup, and banana cream pie helped get my hopes up that the showers would soon end.   

After lunch and a bit further down the road, it was apparent that the rain wasn't planning on ending soon.   We ended the day in Keokuk, IA.  We chose a local motel to overnight and dry our gear off at.  Not all meals are at a restaurant.  Tonight we bought our meal at the grocery store to bring back and eat at the hotel.  Tomorrow we plan to head for one of Mark Twain's stomping grounds in Hannibal, MO.To get there, we plan to travel on the IL side of the river most of the day.

Day 16 A Tale of Two Fountains, Fairport to Burlington, IA 73mi

We woke up to what promised to be a breezy warm fair weather day.  The wind would be blowing up from the south bringing with it hot end of the summer weather. We packed up our tents that remained dry throughout the night due to the breeze and had a breakfast of doctored up oatmeal, cuties, and coffee then headed on down the road toward Muscatine, IA.   We stopped at the Hi-Vi supermarket in town.  We picked up some oranges, bananas,  plus doughnuts, and chocolate milk to top off our breakfast.   The riverfront park had a combined fountain-splash zone that I struck this "drinking from the fire hydrant" pose.

Muscatine had a history of clam harvesting.   We both took turns posing with the harvester statue, took one last look at the town then headed south into the wind.

The south end of the Muscatine pathway combining gas lamp type lighting styles with uber industrial/chemical skyline along the river.

We got some good advice from local bicyclists on a less trafficed route to Our lunch stop at Wapello, IA.  

It was really turning to a human rotisserie kind of day with a 10-13mph 90+ degree headwind.  We found some respit from the heat and access to drinking water at a wildlife rec area visitor center just north of Wapello.  We were told get a bite to eat at the Cynful Smokehouse eatery serving up anything barbecue along with fries and a root beer float.

We topped off our water bottles at the Casey's General Store in town then headed south into the IA rotisserie.  

We had already gone 36 miles since the start of the day and it was looking like we needed to repeat the task if we were to make it to Burlington, IA.  

By about 12 miles out of Wapello we were both drinking water like we sprung a leak or were trying to put out a fire.  We came apon this postage stamp sized waypoint of a town called Oakville and decided to look to see if we could locate someone to top off our water bottles.  We made a loop through the residences with no luck. A last closer look at a small park next to the town sign led to the spotting of the second fountain of the day.  This one may have saved our lives.

Someone had thoughtfully installed a water spigot with drinking fountain setup.  We called it the Oakville Oasis and put it to use to lower our body temperature back to normal as well as rehydrate to the max before returning to the rotisserie.  

It was rough going fighting the wind the remainder of the day but thanks to late afternoon shaded  treed  ridges leading into Burlington, we rolled into town choosing  hotel A/C over a campground for tonight.  Tomorrow promises tail winds for our segment to Keokuk.  So we say goodnight with hope that that promise comes true.

Day 15 Downwind, Downriver Day 64mi Fulton IL to Fairport IA

We woke up in Fulton to a clear day with the wind at our back.  The plan was to jump on the combination of mostly paved bicycle paths connected by marked MRT or Great River Road signage that connected Fulton to the I74 Bridge connecting the IL to the IA side of the Quad Cities then to continue down the IA side if the river to our destination campground.  Here we are early on, up on the dike protecting Fulton from flood waters. 

This section of the Mississippi was taken near the town of Cordova, IL.

The street in front of the town's library was decorated with artwork from the children in the area.

20+ miles into the ride it was time to re-energize with Vit D milk infused with chocolate thanks to Shamrock Dairy and Dollar General.

A bit further downwind and downstream we came across this gentleman riding a high wheel bicycle in a Port Byron park.

This gentleman was happy to take our photo then tell us about the annual tug of war event between teams pulling from the IA side in LeClare and the teams on the IL bank in Port Byron.  

This was a tree carving inside a welcome center on the way into East Moline IL.  We also got some strong positive recommendations to cross the river into ia using the new I74 Bridge with separated pedestrian - bicycle lane.   

There was a huge separated lane for bicyclists, walkers, and runners.

In the middle of the span there was a wider rest area and viewing deck with a glass windowed circle in the pavement that allows you to view strait down towards the river below.

Their was also a riverfront park with bike path on the IA side of the Quad Cities.  A large swing railroad bridge was swung open to allow barge traffic to pass.

Before leaving Davenport all together, the path made its way through an island wildlife refuge.  Here Wendy is crossing back from the island to the IA mainland.

Our camp at the Shady Creek County Rec Area. The Mississippi is in the background.

The sun finally settles on day 15.