7.09.2006
Day 19 - 97.49 Miles
A Milestone Day
Farmington, MISSOURI
We don't know what to be most excited about: our longest ride, entering our fourth state, starting our fourth map, or earning our third weekly indulgence! We started the day by taking an alternate route along some of the Mississippi levees. It was super-flat, good riding, and fun to see the mix of farming and industry that take advantage of the river. After 40 miles we rolled into Chester, IL, the birthplace of Popeye. There are statues, murals, museums, shops, put-your-head-in-a-body pictures, and even pizzas named after him (that taste good) - apparently, he's kind of a big deal around there. We actually got kinda creeped out, so we rolled down the hill out of town and over the Mississippi River into Missouri. That's right, we're now the baddest tourers WEST of the Mississippi. We were really shooting for an 87 mile day, but thought we could cut that even shorter by taking a "shortcut." That didn't pan out so well, when the road we wanted to take didn't exist. Going off route was quite a risk considering that when we asked for directions, the locals referred to roads not by name or number, but by the consistency of their surface (ie "take the blacktop road, not the gravel road"). But we made it with some daylight to spare and still got a good swim in the pool, updated the blog just for you, and hopefully will get a good night's sleep.
Farmington, MISSOURI
We don't know what to be most excited about: our longest ride, entering our fourth state, starting our fourth map, or earning our third weekly indulgence! We started the day by taking an alternate route along some of the Mississippi levees. It was super-flat, good riding, and fun to see the mix of farming and industry that take advantage of the river. After 40 miles we rolled into Chester, IL, the birthplace of Popeye. There are statues, murals, museums, shops, put-your-head-in-a-body pictures, and even pizzas named after him (that taste good) - apparently, he's kind of a big deal around there. We actually got kinda creeped out, so we rolled down the hill out of town and over the Mississippi River into Missouri. That's right, we're now the baddest tourers WEST of the Mississippi. We were really shooting for an 87 mile day, but thought we could cut that even shorter by taking a "shortcut." That didn't pan out so well, when the road we wanted to take didn't exist. Going off route was quite a risk considering that when we asked for directions, the locals referred to roads not by name or number, but by the consistency of their surface (ie "take the blacktop road, not the gravel road"). But we made it with some daylight to spare and still got a good swim in the pool, updated the blog just for you, and hopefully will get a good night's sleep.
