This was a very good day.  It started with a gorgeous sunrise while we were at breakfast and continued with meeting another pair of cyclists doing the MRT.

Matt Card (on the right) and Jerry Gillaspy met while cycling in the San Juan Islands.

Matt is from the LA area and Jerry lives near Eugene.  They too started at the headwaters and are headed for New Orleans.  As you can see from Matt's bike, they are carrying their gear and camping.

We'll see if we meet them again along the way.




I couldn't resist this shot of the bridge into (and out of) Lousiana.  The sign on the left is of the motel where we stayed last night.

 

Cathy ferried me the few miles to Atlas, the town on the MRT where I turned off to get to Lousiana.  The morning promised to be enjoyable.  The temperature was in the high 70's and though the humidity was more than we have at home, there was little or no wind.  The road was flat and smooth and I loosened up quickly.

 

This is one of several creeks I crossed.  Most had little or no water.  This one was prettiest.

 

I rode past this activity and then circled back.  I couldn't resist the juxtaposition of the sign and trucks. Kind of makes you think, doesn't it.

 

I kept finding interesting things
along the road.

For the next several miles, I could only assume the line of trees I saw on my right was the Mississippi River.  I knew I was inland quite a ways and, while the left side of the road was treed, the right side was farmland.

 

But after a few miles, I started seeing glimpses of water through the trees.

 

This last picture does not do justice to what turned out to be a small lake.  I didn't really see the river until after I was past Mozier.  When I got to Hamburg, I could see how easily many of these towns can flood. This was taken from the edge of the road.

 

 

After finding out that Iowa has nothing on Illinois when it comes to steep hills, I finally got to Brussels.  This hotel is across from the Tourist Information center.  The two buildings are actually quite similar but this one was a little more spectacular.

 

From here it was an easy 8 miles to the Brussels ferry that took me across the Illinois river.

 

 The next stop (and end of the day's ride) was Grafton.  Again, I was along the river and could not resist this shot of the river's equivalent of a long freight train.  The tugs that move these barges even sound like Diesel locomotives.

 

One thing we have learned--Illinois loves motorcycles.  When we were in Savannah, we saw Poopy's Bar and Grill (I still regret not photographing the sign) that must have had 200 bikes parked outside.  As I neared Grafton, the sound of bikes got louder and louder until, when the bike trail ended, I found myself in the midst of some kind of rally. I got there before Cathy and was waiting on a park bench when I heard what I thought was a motorcycle revving its engine over and over.  Instead it turned out to be this vehicle whose owner seemed to be revving the engine the same amount whether the car was idling or moving forward.

Data follows.  Still no power meter.