Day 45, July 11

Farmington, MO to Lake Murphysboro State Park, IL
90 miles

I got up and hit the road around 7 A.M.. Everyone else was either still in bed or still going through their morning routine.  It was a nice, sunny day, a bit less humid and the roads were a bit less hilly.

This old car was on the side of the road somewhere near Coffman. It looked a bit too far gone to become someones hot rod project. One of the c-pillars was completely crushed in.

Pelle showed up again while I was getting a snack at a convenience store in St. Mary. It turned out that one of the locals who was there had visited Sweden last year and previously hosted a exchange student from there. He and Pelle ended up talking for a while.

This was the view looking out of the hills toward the Mississippi river and Chester, IL.

This bridge over the Mississippi presented a bit of a challenge.  It had zero shoulder and the road had a lot of trucks on it. There was a foot or so wide walkway but it was useless to me since that isn't even wide enough to walk on while being beside my bike. The concrete was also spalling off, leaving holes big enough to drop a leg through. I ended up waiting for a long clearing in traffic then did my best attempt at a sprint. A truck caught up to me about 3/4 of the way across as I was coming to a stop behind another truck which was mysteriously stopped in the roadway. Once it started moving it quickly pulled away from me and the truck behind me just had to stay behind me for another 30s or so until I cleared the bridge.  Thankfully the driver was patient and there was no honking or other drama.

On the far side of the bridge was the welcome to Illinois sign and a visitors center.

Chester is the "home of popeye" and had a few popeye statues and signs.

Looking back:

Downtown Chester:

This is Gary. He was headed west and was involved in an astronomy project and was carrying telescope equipment in his rear bags. He is on a 13,500 mile ride through all of the 48 lower states.  His website, pedalingastronomer.com, is worth a visit.

Old church near Wine Hill, IL:

My campsite at Lake Murphysboro State Park:

The campground had a huge number of mosquitos and I ended up going into my tent at least an hour before it was even dark. It was a nice place though, with a lot of wildlife to watch and listen to.