Day 23 Goodnes, Gracious, Great Balls of Fire (& Cotton): Cape Girardeau to Charleston MO 49mi

The weather has really been cooperating since we survived the drowning we took four days ago.  Cloudless skies, moderate temperatures, and the wind blowing from the north half of the compass have made our southerly trek more enjoyable.

We came across a hilly ridge to traverse 10 miles into today's ride.  There was a very steep section that sent Wendy's grade alert on her Garmin into red alert and had me gasping for more air.  The above photo was taken several miles later.  Wendy was just cresting another of the rolling hills in the ridgeline.

North of our destination for tonight we came across this scene.  I had always thought farmers turned the corn stubble (left after harvesting) under but I guess some of them like to burn their field to the ground.  This was a huge burn and we saw other separate burns underway as well.

It turns out that large cotton farms can be grown in this region.  Wendy grabbed some cotton balls for the next noisy campground we happen to stay at.

A little further down the same road we came across these large rolls of cotton balls.  

We stopped in at the Charleston Chamber of Commerce.  Karen pretty much runs the place.  This was a great place to view alot of town history and memorabilia.  We were looking for a place to pitch a tent on such a nice day.  She had some suggestions that we had already vetted with no luck.  She gave us a couple of other options as well but in the end her recommendation for one of the hotel options in town convinced us to stay put.  She started to give us some restaurant recommendations in town then out of left field asked if we'd like to try some of her homemade chicken and dumplings.  We of course said yes.  She put us in charge of the Chamber for 15 minutes while she made the round-trip to her home to get the chicken and dumplings.  I can't think of anything that says "Welcome to Charleston" better than some home cooked food.  Karen gave us a history lesson on the towns annual Dogwood & Azalea Festival around the 3rd week in April each year while we ate and talked.

We said our goodbyes and headed a few doors down to the local ice cream shop which also had alot of character.  

So if you ever decide to ride the Missouri side of the MRT, make sure you stop in and say hello to Karen then head on over to the Scoop Ice Cream Shoppe.

Day 22 Turnin N Burnin 70 mi Chester IL to Cape Girardeau MO

On the route out of town this morning we located the murals of the characters that Chester IL claims as their own.  There are statues scattered throughout the town but I kind of prefer the colorful artwork someone painted on the side of these buildings.

The first few miles out of town carried some heavy traffic and wasn't the most bicycle friendly.  It eventually transitioned to a  roadway with better shoulders and straight runs to make us more visible.

You are never far from a railroad when traveling along the Mississippi.

You can sort of see what makes up one of the better sections of the IL road to Cape Girardeau in the right of this photo taken at a typical (guard)rail snack break today.  Wendy saw a semi without its trailer who had the slogan " Turnin N Burnin" on the cab and that became our motivation for the day - keep (the pedals) turning and keep burning up the miles.

Wendy calls this her (alfalfa) Field of Dreams shot of me.  We were off the highway on a parallel road along the levy in southern Illinois.

We were somewhere between the town of Wolf Lake and the town of Ware when we came across this street sign.    I howled my approval of the name of the street.  Just don't visit on a night with a full moon!

A business along the road we were on had this mosaic of the USA and where we are currently located on our adventure.

The river crossing from the IL to MO side of the Mississippi into Cape Girardeau was very bicycle friendly with easily a std car lane wide shoulder on the run up to the bridge and a still heafty shoulder on the bridge deck.

In Cape Girardeau we learned that the "Camping" part of the Cape Camping & RV Park must be silent because they were only allowing RVs and no tents even though their web site showed tents in its photos.  No stars for that place.    There were no other camping options in the immediate area.  We spent our money at a nice budget hotel that we both liked instead.

Tomorrow we head further south, this time on the west side of the river. Good night y'all.

Day 21 Columbia to Chester IL 63mi

Wendy and I had an early breakfast with Mark and Linda, packed our gear back on our bikes, then said our goodbyes and headed out towards the home of Popeye the Sailor, Chester IL.

We were on a road called Bluff Rd with fairly flat bottom land farmland to our right between us and the Mississippi which was not within sight most of the day.  To our left was often bluffs and steep hillsides.  The road managed to thread the needle and avoided alot of elevation changes.  With the wind at or backs and the fair weather we managed to maintain a quick pace throughout the day.

This is an example of some vertical cliffs that would have been to the left side of the road as we headed south.  Ancient cultures may have used this area to provide some partial shelter.  Today, the roof of the cliffs housed a bird species.

We stopped at a midway point for a sandwich stop in the town of Priarie du Rocher. 

Closing in on Chester we get a hilltop view of the Mississippi for the first time all day.

Chester is a town spread across a high hilly bluff overlooking the Mississippi River.  It is also the home if the creator of the various Popeye characters.  Statues of different characters are scattered throughout the town.  We plan to capture some of the artwork on our way out of town and hope to share it with you tomorrow.  

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.