Just a quick post. The librarian in Red Athens, IL very nicely let us kick some computer gaming kids off so we could use the station quickly.
We are on our way up to Horse Creek State Park, just outside St. Louis. We didn't get too far yesterday. We ate at this great vegetarian restaurant twice called Longbranch, which was fantastic and our waitress was quite an interesting lady and got to telling us about the strong Sufi community of Carbondale that has it's own organic farm, etc. We got our bikes worked on (again, we are building our bikes (esp. mine) across country), rode off, then came back to tweak the bike, then rode off again and about 1 mile out met Randy who had come from the west coast. He seemed to have had some rough travels but we were impressed with his solo journey and exchanged tips for what the other had already seen, especially some ways to cheat the Adventure Cycling system, which occasionally seems to want the last laugh.
We rode onto Murphysboro, which Randy had described to us as a bit of a dump, but honestly after seeing some of the poorer parts of Kentucky it seemed pretty lush and welcoming. We dined at an Italian place recently opened by some Sicilians who had just moved there with American accents (we couldn't quite put it all together). The food was very good and we rode onto our free night at Murphysboro Lake State Park.
There was another cyclist there, but apparently he was already in bed, but he awoke Andy at 3am with his big bike light when he started riding around the campground for 20 minutes and then left. I am glad I am a heavy sleeper.
And again, raccoons ate the snacks we had bought for our intended longer journey. We will learn.
Today our day started out swell. A place called Tippey's for breakfast and much debate about where we should go next with the Mississippi supposed to crest at our next destination, and the other alternate road closed from flooding, we chose route 127/13, which so far has been pretty pleasant. Especially our meeting of Clark and Curtis, two lovely middle aged gents 600 miles into their 800 mile tour of southern Illinois on very nicely outfitted recumbent bicycles, complete with bug shield. They kindly gave us their Illinois bike map and a pat on the back. Definitely started our day out right (not to mention that for the first 25 miles we had the tailwinds behind us).
We stopped in Pinckneysville and stocked up on food and since have been riding with the wind pushing us sideways and some scary tractor trailers. I fell off/blew off my bike about 4 miles ago and now we are taking a breather in this nice library and on the hunt for Ibuprofen. Yum! We have about another 30 miles today (60 already) until we hit the park.
Love and missing you all.
5 comments:
you guys rock! more pics! especially of all your new found friends! and the landscape!
You can start fires by using flint and steel on dryer lint. Stock up on it if you hit a laundry mat. You can get the flint and steel at any outdoors store or probably a walmart. I'm also enjoying that the unofficial title of this blog seems to be, "How we confirmed that other states are vastly inferior to VA by biking across the country". Keep that up.
Good to hear your voice last night. It all seems so amazing. Took Shaggy and Amber to the airport at 4:45 a.m. just so you know others are rising early as well. We're off to celebrate the 4th in Franklin. You are an inspiration to the rest of us to get fit. Love henri
you all are an inspiration, period. Wish we could have "met you in St Louie" (where the ice cream cone was created at the World's Fair there) You all just passed the gate to the West. We cannot believe you have gone so far. We love hearing about your adventures and the people. we will miss you today, the 4th, but you can bet you will be part of the conversation. je vou embrasse, tous les deux. Mgb
Your trip sounds amazing so far! If you make it to the west coast, you won't have to worry about getting enough veggies--our garden is booming and Shaggy and I would love to feed you!
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