The Mighty Mississippi

It's a little tough to know what the lead story should be for today. We had several milestones all packed into one day. Early on in the day we passed the official 2000 mile mark for the journey. Only 1600+ left to go!


Crossing the Mississippi river strikes me as a real milestone. It's the dividing line between the East and West. When pioneers crossed the other direction they were entering unknown country. I'm not exactly sure that I've ridden to "civilized lands", although I'd guess that Illinois will seem somewhat more civilized than Missouri. To be fair, we'd heard all sorts of horror stories about "Misery", as Missouri is sometimes described. The roads weren't nearly as bad as we'd been led to believe, and the drivers for the most part were the friendliest we've come across. I was dreading crossing Missouri and it was actually really pleasant.

Here's a shot of the Mississippi River taken from a little park on the Illinois side. There are two bridges, one in each direction. We biked across the other one, but it wasn't as nice looking, so I'm including this shot instead.


We're now in Illinois after crossing the Mississippi.Taking this picture was a bit of a challenge. The sign is right at the foot of the bridge with about a 20 foot drop-off on the edge of the fence. The only way to take the picture is to run onto the highway during a traffic break. Ian, Joanna, and I took turns timing the traffic for each other.
As for the ride itself, if you like a little headwind mixed in with the occasional torrential downpour then today would be your day. This would be one of those "bad" days I mentioned yesterday. Sharing the misery makes it considerably more palatable though. 14 of us hung out under the awning of a post office while we waited for the rain to subside. Another group hid out at a house. Someone opened his garage door and they stood under it.



The accumulated wear and tear of 2000 miles is taking a toll on my equipment. One pair of bike shorts has a hole in the backside, probably making them illegal in this part of the country. My shoes are the big concern. The soles started separating from the shoe a couple of days ago. I make a quick repair with super glue and duct tape that seemed to hold, but the rain was too much for that fix. Here's how I rode the last several miles today. The shoe went slap-slap-slap with each pedal stroke. I bought these things in 1994. I can't believe their falling apart ALREADY.


I've tried a more serious repair with 2 in 1 epoxy and more duct tape. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it holds for 2 more days. I'll finally replace them when we get to Champaign.Two more days my pretties, that's all I ask. Then you can enjoy your retirement to the nearest garbage can.

Today's Google Earth file: http://tomerceg.googlepages.com/QuincyIL.kmz