Illinois: Seventh State Line Crossing

When I was getting up this morning, fumbling for the night stand lamp switch, giving up and making my way to the bathroom "by feel", I realized that I've stayed in roughly thirty different hotel rooms in the past month.  Imagine the scene that I just described when it happens at 2:00am and then, just to make things more interesting, I know somewhere in the back of my mind that there is a stealthy looking bike lurking somewhere in the room, but where?  Moving a little more upstream with the room situation, there is also the basic issue of remembering your room number (I refuse to write it down, yet).  I've only tried to enter the wrong room once so far.

As we leave the West, I would like to take a second to talk about a common western landscape feature which is also the nemesis of the cyclist: cattle guards.  For those of you who don't know about these devices, they are installed on the highway between two fences and are intended to act as a barrier to prevent livestock from escaping their confines.  Their design makes them more of a threat than even railroad tracks because they frequently have "cracks", wide gaps just waiting to ensnare a bicycle wheel.

Some have far wider cracks than those shown above. 

Now onto the current news.  All the riders departed from the hotel at the same time this morning.  CrossRoads looked upon this day as a recovery, code for easy, ride and there would be no need to give extra time to the "early departers".  More about that assumption later.

Morning departure out of Kirksville, MO

Well, it turned out to be anything but an easy day.  For starters, the wind was mainly in our face at 18 mph, the temperature reached the lower 90's, it was very humid and there was a decent amount of climbing.  And it was not a particularly short ride.  Other than that, it was a piece of cake.   It required a lot of energy and mental toughness out there.  Jeff (NH) thought it was the hardest day so far.

As a side note on the weather in the Midwest today, our daughter, Michelle, and her friend, Manny, went swimming today in Lake Superior near Marquette, MI, where they both live.  Even the hardy Upper Peninsula folks rarely venture into Superior this early in the year unless it's really hot.

Tom and I were doing a fair amount of pace lining today although occasionally I needed some time alone to gather my thoughts and get my head straight.  We even stopped at a roadside store, which we never do, to sit down and get something cold to drink.  I consumed a quart of whole fat chocolate milk (880 nutrition laden calories) and was actually thinking about a second.  Tough day but, as always, it had its rewards.

Nice looking ranch spread

The following is a video clip on the Missouri landscape during the ride:

This is the first of the two milestones of the day:

And this would be the second, crossing the mighty Mississippi:

The bridge had no shoulder so we had to "take the lane".  It was also quite windy.

Crossing the Mississippi River is the symbolic and geographic transition from Middle America to the Midwest.  Even in our battered physical state today, the significance of this was not lost.  For me, personally, it also meant that we were now in my part of the country (finally!).

As we traveled through Quincy, IL, we had the good fortune of riding down a stately, tree lined street graced by many mansions of late 19th and early 20th century vintage.

Writing this from the comfort of my hotel room, only the excitement and triumph of the day remain.

Total Miles:  75          Total Vertical Climb:    2800 ft.