TRANSAMERICA BICYCLE 2015: Days 28-29: Missouri I'm here!

Day 28: Carbondale, IL to Chester, IL (55.5 - due to a wrong way loop I had to do) (HOME OF POPEYE!)

Day 29: Chester, IL to Farmington, MO (47.2 miles)

The mighty Mississippi

Ear Worms:

Rosanne Cash - My Baby Thinks He's a Train
"Nature Boy" - from Moulin Rouge
Mel McDaniel - Baby's Got Her Blue Jeans On
"Wild and Blue" -specifically Nina Feldman from guitar camp singing it!
Funky Town - (who did this?)

You can just never know what the day will bring. You really can't. How could I have known today when I woke up in my bunk at the Eagles bicycle hostel (the "shady rest motel!") that I would end up riding with Charlie and Jeff, two guys averaging 100 miles a day to bike from one bluegrass festival (Delfest in Maryland) to another (Telluride), crossing the bridge into Missouri, cruising the Mississippi delta with a train rolling along beside us, bluegrass wafting through the air via Charlie's speakers, Bob Dylan style. Or that as they gained distance from me and waved, the music slowly fading in what would be a perfect ending to a brief time with new friends, that we would meet again a couple hours later and ride the rest of the way to Farmington together. Jeff ringing his bell at all the cows as we past, stopping at the Cedar Creek (?) distillary/brewery for lunch and watching the women's semifinal match at the French Open on TV. That the day would turn so humid that I actually felt like I was in a steam room even though it wasn't raining. Or that when it did finally rain, it feel so nice and warm and refreshing as it splashed up on my legs. Or how struck I would be by Charlie and Jeff's carefreeness in their funky bikes as they peddle to Telluride in their granny gears since the high gears aren't working for them and the way they wave to everyone and try to get the trucks to pull their horns.....

Or yesterday how I would make a left turn instead of a right and basically do a big loop, adding about 12 miles to my ride and how I just had to laugh it off, relating it to the tennis I was listening to where Andy Murray had a match point and lost it, ending up having to go to a fourth set. Well I had my match point and fourth set all right!

My kind of fair!

And even if you think you know what your day will look like out here on the trail, it never turns out that way. Every day I get to wake up and wonder who I am going to meet, what I am going to see, and where I am going to sleep!

The "Shady Rest Motel"

Charlie and Jeff - riding from bluegrass fest to fest.

Check them out here: http://www.facebook.com/theDeluride

Like tonight I am now at Al's place, an amazing cyclist only hostel hosted by the city of Farmington in what was the former jail house. Add jail to the list of places I've got to sleep in on this trip. Along with fire house, churches, city parks, wonderful hosts... I hear a grocery store is coming up in a few days as lodging potential. I'm here with Janice and Catherine, another older couple and Lydia - a 19 year old solo female cyclist biking from Colorado to Florida!! So exciting to meet another solo woman on the road. We've spent the evening chatting, sharing stories and giving each other pointers for what we each have coming up. Lydia's got this wonderful, enthusiastic and bright spirit.. Too bad we are going in opposite directions, but definitely will be keeping in touch with her!

The crew at Al's Place!

Lydia and me! Two solo female riders on the road

The small town of Ava, about the size of my hometown, getting ready for a

community carnival

And so now I am in Missouri!! Three states down and almost 1/3 of the trip is already in the past. Illinois was a bit of a blur, I only just nicked a little piece of it, but what I did get was such a gem. Here's what I will carry with me from the Land of Lincoln (which by the way, how many of you knew that Lincoln was born in KentuckY?!)

The cicadias: I've nver heard/seen anything like that. Today I was biking and their sounds were truly like ocean waves coming in and out to shore in rhythm. It was really wild. Sometimes it was like an alarm was going off to the point that it almost hurt my eyes. I don't know if I could actually hear that all day long like that!... but for a little while, incredible. (But they are really creepy looking up close!)

The bounding white tail deer: That we rode together for a moment before it crossed the street. So beautiful to experience that effortless bounding as we kept pace with each other side by side.

The horses!: All the horses and the babies. More horses in Illinois than Kentucky for sure.

The friends: Kathleen and Steve and the kayaking on Cedar lake and yoga and food and music. A rest day in Carbondale with friends = great choice!

Chester: HOME OF POPEYE! Took a nice long walk around town and found all the statues of the characters. And I didn't even like Popeye all that much as a kid but it's still fun and exciting :-) Even walked all the way to the Popeye statue itself which involved getting on the road with no sidewalk - ugh - America we've got to give walkers an option!! ......So on to Missouri tomorrow. Three states down!!

oh also Murphysboro fun fact: the bricks that were used to build the Panama Canal were made there!

So now I'm in Missouri... the Ozarks are knocking at my front door!