May 18
We crossed over the Ohio river on the ferry and stayed in a cute and eerily quiet town of Cave in Rock. Funny name. We stayed at a small state park named after a cave that opens to the river. History and stories documented that the cave was occupied by pirates back in the day that would rob large boats as they passed by. The entire town has a population of 199 and has all of these beautifully decorated bikes around, however, we didn't see a single person walking around except at the restaurant in the state park.
You can explore the cave
May 19, Ride day 16
We rode 75 miles in the hilly, hot, and humid terrain of southern Illinois. The weather was rather miserable most of the day. The air was so humid, I couldn’t keep my glasses from either fogging up when stopped or clean of sweat when climbing. Michael couldn’t keep up so we are back to a group of 3. Mark tried out his drone and got some sweet footage before crashing it into a tree.Roger and I went into a state park campground that Anita and Riley set up. And Mark went on a little further today to stay in a hotel in Carbondale as there was some rain storms in the forecast for the night.
May 20, Ride day 17
We went for a measly 50 miles and pretty flat too. However, we were met with fierce 20 mph head winds with gusts to 40 mph. So it took us a long time to get to our destination. Since Mark didn't stay in the campground with us, we rode separate for the day. Dad and I opted not to follow either of the official routes. One was longer and went into the hills and the other that road over the dykes of the Mississippi river. We tried to get to the route along the river but we were met with the head winds so opted to take a direct highway towards Chester.The town of Chester, where we stopped for tonight, had a big wind storm last night and knocked down lots of trees and a new gas station. We met lots of folks again on the road (the owner of a roadside bakery that was off the route who took our photo for her Facebook page, and some guys outside of their work shed who yelled that they have cold water for us so we turned around) and we also met an East bound rider who started his journey from Kansas City.
Stayed at a Fraternal Order of Eagles Club, Chester IL last night. They host cyclists. Chester is the birthplace of Popeye creator. There are many murals and statues of the characters.
Reflections
- Southern Illinois was much hillier than I was expecting
- Polluted rivers surrounding the farm lands
- Cave in Rock bicycle display was pleasant and unexpected
Places to visit or bike
- Nothing of particular interest that we saw in our two days, although the ferry into Kentucky is quite fun :)
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