On the Road: Crossing the Mississippi, playing with the semi's

Bridge across the Mississippi

Today was another milestone on our trip across the USA, crossing the Mississippi. It was pretty hairy getting across the bridge. I had expected that there would be a shoulder, sidewalk or bikepath since this bridge is used on the Transamerica bike route... OH NO.... two narrow lanes and full of trucks going into and out of Chester, IL. Then I made the mistake of routing us through downtown Chester where 3 out of 4 vehicles are semi's.

Anyway, we survived, but not without a few close calls.

Yesterday we woke up to thunder, lightning and rain in Steelville, MO. This seemed to be pretty mild compared to the weather that was passing through Indiana and Ohio or the flash flooding in Colorado Springs right where we stayed just a couple of weeks ago.

We watched the weather radar on the iPad until it looked like the worst had passed. At about 10AM, I headed out for Farmington, MO. I rode in very light rain for about the first hour and then the weather cleared up, eventually getting to hot and muggy. It sure felt like a slog for the 68 miles. I think taking 4 days off the bike was probably 2 day too long. The legs were feeling the effect of the previous day's 5400' of climbing on the hills. Here is the track for Wed, 7/10.

Early morning ride toward the Mississippi

Today was a near perfect morning for a ride. Our route took us along a number of very quiet backroads through the Ozark hills, then down to the Mississippi river bottom farms. Beth and I road the tandem the first 57 miles through the hills and into Illinois. Then Nicholas rode with me through the Illinois river bottom farms and into Lake Murphysboro State Park. The weather was really nice with relatively low humidity and the temperature in the low 80's. Here is the track for today's ride.

The state park has RV camping with electric hookups at each site with water and waste dump in the park. It is a really nice park with only about 8 of the 54 sites occupied. Almost like having our own private park to stay in.

Tomorrow is off to the much anticipated location of Cave In Rock, IL.