STL2ATL Days 1-5

I am five days into my bicycle tour from St. Louis to Atlanta. So far, it has been quite the adventure with all of the “issues” not related to the actual bike riding. I am typing this in a cabin at Cave-IN-Rock State Park, IL, overlooking the Ohio River. For those of you not intimately familiar with the geography of southern Illinois, I am 20 miles northeast of Paducah, KY (as the crow flies), 52 miles on the river. The view is gorgeous, even with the clouds and rain. I had planned to camp here but succumbed to the creature comforts of a cabin when the weather turned wet several days earlier than I had hoped.

Day 0 – Going Nowhere and Staying Dry

I had originally planned to leave on Wednesday morning but delayed for a day so that I could attend Rabbi Reinhart’s Whiskey & Wisdom at my congregation. These monthly events are way too good to miss. Little did I know that, by delaying 24 hours, I would also miss the severe thunderstorms that rolled through the region.

Day 1 – Valmeyer, IL to Chester, IL

I started in Valmeyer rather than ride 60+ miles through the St. Louis metro area. My ride started with a two-mile descent from the town hall to the level of the Mississippi River. I managed to top 31 MPH, which is way faster than I can pedal on my bike because it’s really low for climbing hills with a heavy load. I love downhills. They make me feel like a road racer!

From there it was easy riding with tailwinds down flat roads in the floodplain to lunch in Prairie du Rocher. I did the guilty pleasure thing and ordered a bar cheeseburger with fries. I even made friends with the bar dog.

The rest of the ride had a bit of climbing, first to cross Kaskaskia River and then up into the town of Chester, IL.

During the day, I shared the road with a bunch of cicadas. They fly so slowly that several crashed into me as I whizzed by at my blazing speed of 12 MPH. I got to see a fox with two kits. She darted before I got close enough for a photo. I rode past a baby box turtle no bigger than a silver dollar. Two snakes, one green and one black, scooted away as I rode near them. There were zillions of turkey vultures keeping the world clean and safe. Or maybe they were waiting for me to crash.

The Chester Eagles have earned a gold star in my book. They have a bicycle hostel next to their lodge. I got to stay for free, indoors, with a shower, real bathroom, and air conditioning. All I was asked to do was buy dinner from them, which I gladly did. The facilities were top notch (for a free hostel), the food was good, and the beer was cold and awesome!

I finished the day with a couple mile ride to Walmart for dental floss. The next morning, I found the floss that I had brought from home, of course.

Day 2 – Chester IL to Lake Murphysboro State Park

I was up and out early in the morning. I hit up Hardee’s for breakfast. The highlight there was nattering with the other grey-hairs in the restaurant who were bemoaning the fashion choices of the young ‘uns these days. And get off my lawn!

On the way out of town, I stopped to see the statue of Popeye’s four nephews: Pipeye, Peepeye, Poopeye, and Pupeye.

I’ve got pictures… but you cannot see them. I was dismayed to discover that my trusty Chromebook does not have enough memory to process the large photos that my current camera shoots. Trying to get my pictures to a state where I can share them has been the bugaboo of my journey so far. It has been a total failure. Sorry to say but you will just have to wait a bit to see photos. The few pictures that are in this blog post are snapshots that I took with my phone.

The next five miles were “fun” with heavy truck traffic. Route 3 has very little shoulder and non-stop large dump trucks carry coal from a mine to the barges. Those drivers are on missions so they don’t slow down for much. Thankfully, they were all polite, either moving well to the left when they passed me or actually slowing down as I crept up the hills until they could safely pass. We hear so much about how horrible drivers are but these guys are top notch. I would share the road with them any day.

The rest of the ride into Lake Murphysboro State Park was sweet with tailwinds (who knew that that could happen two days in a row). I was surprised at how few businesses there were between Valmeyer and Murphysboro. From last year’s bike tour, I was accustomed to passing gas stations with convenience stores. This time: nada.

The park is beautiful though unnecessarily hilly. I got to ride the hills four times: once into the park when I arrived, a second time when I went into town for dinner, a third time to get home to bed, and finally back into town the next morning on my way to Harrisburg.

Day 3 – Lake Murphysboro State Park to Harrisburg, IL

I passed the most awesome mural on the way through Murphysboro.

The rest of the ride was long and pretty boring. The highpoint was stopping at Larry’s House of Cakes in Marion. It was a bit off the path but the chocolate brownie with walnuts was oh so worth a couple miles of pedaling. As a bonus, it got me a pointer to Walt’s for a fantastic veggie calzone for lunch.

Yes, you got that right. I ate dessert first.

I ended the day at a hotel in Harrisburg. Nothing special but it had a bed and a shower. Exactly what I needed.

Day 4 – Harrisburg, IL to Garden of the Gods

Day 3 had been 58 miles with 2,027 feet of ascent. Day 4 was just 23 miles with only 1,426 feet of ascent. That is kind of misleading, though, because over half of that ascent was in the last 4.5 miles… with a maximum grade of 17.3%. Guess what. I got off and pushed my bike up some of those hills.

I was well rewarded for my efforts. First a super kind guy gave me a couple bottles of water. I had gotten to the recreation area pretty much dry and could not find a working water pump. After giving me some water, he drove up the hill to the campground, found another pump, tested it to be sure that it worked, and then drove back down to find me and reassure me that there was water available and tell me exactly where it was. He is proof that people are generous and nice.

The hiking and camping in Garden of the Gods, in the Shawnee National Forest, are spectacular. Go visit. Here is a snapshot of my campsite. Better photos coming when I get my computer problems sorted out.

Day 5 – Garden of the Gods to Cave-in-Rock State Park

This was supposed to be an easier day. More ascending overall but it was spread out over the 22 miles and it began with a spectacular descent. I actually topped 42 MPH. Wheeeeee.

Unfortunately, and unknown to me in the planning phase, an hour of the riding turned out to be on gravel roads instead of pavement. Between the deep gravel and the steep, short grades, I had to push the bike up a lot of hills. Had the road been paved, I could have ridden most of them. But the gravel was deep enough that my rear wheel would spin when I mashed down on the pedals. Pushing a heavily loaded bike up a paved hill is hard. Pushing one up a gravel hill is much worse. When I found pavement again, I did not bend down and kiss the ground but I was pretty darned close to doing it.

Cave-in-Rock State Park overlooks the Ohio River. Even on a cloudy, drizzly afternoon, it is very pretty. Here is the view from the restaurant.

Tomorrow I will ride the ferry across the Ohio River into Kentucky. Stay tuned for more updates.

You can see maps of each day’s ride here.