also from Carbondale
It's amazing how quickly I forget what I've done in the last few days. Let's see here: After we left Robertsville State Park, Heidi and I had a stressful day of navigating Missouri backroads. This included steep up- and downhills, lots of traffic, absolutely no shoulders. It seemed like every person we talked to had a different story on what roads to take, and which roads were dangerous.
Early in our ride from the park, a kindly local decided we shouldn't be biking the 4.5 miles into the next town because of high-speed dump trucks, so he gave us a lift into Lonedell. Incidentally, Lonedell is where the stolen baby from Kansas was recently recovered. In Lonedell we also received a good luck hug from a cute old grandma.
The day continued with more unattractive highways and St. Louis traffic. The highlight of the day was meeting Kim, a woman also bicycling east and randomly on the same highway we had chosen to get away from St. Louis. She, however, was biking into the city.
That night we made it into the twin cities of Crystal City and Festus, where fate forced our hand and we ended up getting the cheapest motel room we could find. (This was after a couple conversations with locals about a possible KOA campground, which was alternately called the "A-OK" and the "Koah" campground.) Heidi and I were both pretty downtrodden after the stress of the roads.
The next morning, after the bad coffee one can expect at a motel, we set off towards Chester, Illinois, where we could meet up again with the TransAm bicycle route. We had lots of long hills all morning, with some pretty views of the changing leaves on the surrounding hillsides. At the town of Sainte Genevieve near the Mississippi, we spontaneously headed down into the old part of town.
The town of Sainte Genevieve was settled in the 1700s by the French. It was surprising to find a quaint French-looking village in Missouri, and to me it was odd to think that eastern Missouri was settled that long ago. Sainte Genevieve was a sweet surprise, and it definitely lifted my spirits.
From Sainte Genevieve we decided to take a ferry across the Mississippi, instead of taking the bridge into Chester. It was really cool to finally see the great river, and the huge, flat barges moving goods downstream. And, as a bonus, we got to bike in the FLAT floodplain on the Illinois side of the river, instead of battling Missouri hills.
We bicycled to Fort Kaskaskia National Historic Site for the night, which was a few miles outside Chester and saved us a few miles. It was situated on the top of a very steep, long hill, but the views of the Mississippi River below were worth every step I took pushing my bike up the hill. The campground had a festival feel, because many people were taking advantage of the long Columbus Day weekend.
Henry Dick, one of our friends from college, motorcycled down from his hometown of Bloomington, Illinois to meet up with us for the night. Some of our camping neighbors came by and asked if we needed firewood (which we desperately did), and then also offered us pork steaks, baked potatoes, veggies, and homemade cookies. So we had a great dinner and a great campfire and enjoyed the bright full moon.
The next day we all ended up staying at Fort Kaskaskia, and, again, when evening fell we had neighbors from both sides practically throwing firewood at us. It was truly the most generous crowd of folks we've met while camping. I think they took pity on us when they saw all three of us hauling a huge log to our campsite, and then me trodding around in the woods looking for sticks.
Yesterday we left Fort Kaskaskia and had a nice, flat day of biking in the Missippi floodplain. Last night we were in Murphysboro in the hilliest state park you'll meet. Friendly old guys fishing near our site helped us get water (which would have been a long uphill bike ride). Now we're in Carbondale in the internet time is OUT.
Thanks for reading! We'll try to be in touch regularly!
Early in our ride from the park, a kindly local decided we shouldn't be biking the 4.5 miles into the next town because of high-speed dump trucks, so he gave us a lift into Lonedell. Incidentally, Lonedell is where the stolen baby from Kansas was recently recovered. In Lonedell we also received a good luck hug from a cute old grandma.
The day continued with more unattractive highways and St. Louis traffic. The highlight of the day was meeting Kim, a woman also bicycling east and randomly on the same highway we had chosen to get away from St. Louis. She, however, was biking into the city.
That night we made it into the twin cities of Crystal City and Festus, where fate forced our hand and we ended up getting the cheapest motel room we could find. (This was after a couple conversations with locals about a possible KOA campground, which was alternately called the "A-OK" and the "Koah" campground.) Heidi and I were both pretty downtrodden after the stress of the roads.
The next morning, after the bad coffee one can expect at a motel, we set off towards Chester, Illinois, where we could meet up again with the TransAm bicycle route. We had lots of long hills all morning, with some pretty views of the changing leaves on the surrounding hillsides. At the town of Sainte Genevieve near the Mississippi, we spontaneously headed down into the old part of town.
The town of Sainte Genevieve was settled in the 1700s by the French. It was surprising to find a quaint French-looking village in Missouri, and to me it was odd to think that eastern Missouri was settled that long ago. Sainte Genevieve was a sweet surprise, and it definitely lifted my spirits.
From Sainte Genevieve we decided to take a ferry across the Mississippi, instead of taking the bridge into Chester. It was really cool to finally see the great river, and the huge, flat barges moving goods downstream. And, as a bonus, we got to bike in the FLAT floodplain on the Illinois side of the river, instead of battling Missouri hills.
We bicycled to Fort Kaskaskia National Historic Site for the night, which was a few miles outside Chester and saved us a few miles. It was situated on the top of a very steep, long hill, but the views of the Mississippi River below were worth every step I took pushing my bike up the hill. The campground had a festival feel, because many people were taking advantage of the long Columbus Day weekend.
Henry Dick, one of our friends from college, motorcycled down from his hometown of Bloomington, Illinois to meet up with us for the night. Some of our camping neighbors came by and asked if we needed firewood (which we desperately did), and then also offered us pork steaks, baked potatoes, veggies, and homemade cookies. So we had a great dinner and a great campfire and enjoyed the bright full moon.
The next day we all ended up staying at Fort Kaskaskia, and, again, when evening fell we had neighbors from both sides practically throwing firewood at us. It was truly the most generous crowd of folks we've met while camping. I think they took pity on us when they saw all three of us hauling a huge log to our campsite, and then me trodding around in the woods looking for sticks.
Yesterday we left Fort Kaskaskia and had a nice, flat day of biking in the Missippi floodplain. Last night we were in Murphysboro in the hilliest state park you'll meet. Friendly old guys fishing near our site helped us get water (which would have been a long uphill bike ride). Now we're in Carbondale in the internet time is OUT.
Thanks for reading! We'll try to be in touch regularly!
posted by Heidi & Liz at 1:40 PM
4 Comments:
Reading of the Katy Trail brought back memories as we did that trail with Myrna and Bob some years ago.
Mary
Tim keeps telling me he wants to do the Katy trail. I want to as well, but there aren't many summer opportunities on a farm. Maybe someday...
I think you guys should turn this adventure into a book--it is so interesting! sarah
Thanks for the update on your progress across the country. It's fun reading about it and seeing the great pictures.
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