Can’t believe we’re in Indiana….
View of downtown St. Louis from a bridge over the Mississippi River
Me posing in front of the sign on the bridge, where we officially entered into Illinois
Hey all. Jeff here.
Friday evening I got to have dinner with my cousin Cliff, his wife Jami, and their son Lliam. It was great to see them again and visit for awhile.
Yesterday we left St. Louis for Kinmundy, IL. It was a beautiful ride through downtown St. Louis yesterday morning, and not a lot of traffic because it was a Saturday. We passed right by St. Louis University and the "Arch", and rode along the Mississippi River along a bike trail.
We crossed the Mississippi River over a one-mile bridge that used to be the old Route 66. It was ironic because we spent so much time on the old Route 66 in California at the beginning of the ride. The view of St. Louis and the Mississippi River was spectacular.
The ride yesterday ended up being long - about 107 miles - but it was mostly flat and the weather was perfect. If we were tired by the end, the pizza, salad, and cookies provided by the Kinmundy Community Center quickly rejuvinated us. Robby provided some well-needed laughs.
This morning I was on support, but the rest of the riders rode about 94 miles. Although we marked about 30 miles last night before bed, Kami and I took off in the cargo van about 8:30 this morning and spent the majority of the day marking the road. It was pretty confusing - between what Jess google-mapped last night, the directions in the big binder, and our GPS, we managed to find a route that avoided most gravel roads and was under/around 100 miles.
Jess deftly handled a couple flat tires while he was in sweep, and Monica did a tremendous job as the lead van for the day without great directions or a gps (we actually had to call her with the correct directions along the route when we had cell phone reception).
This evening, a pair of wonderful women from Graysville made us a delicious dinner of lasagna, texas toast, cole slaw, and freshly-baked pies. With our bellies filled, most of us are ready for bed.
We have two lectures tomorrow morning here at Rural Community Academy (where we are sleeping tonight). Apparently the kids are really excited for us to speak, and we are happy to be here. After the lectures tomorrow, we have a relatively short ride of under 70 miles to Bloomington, IN.
Take care.