I am writing this from Pleasant View, TN after three more days of pedaling. On day 6, I rode from Cave-in-Rock State Park, IL to Princeton, KY. Day 7 was from Princeton to Hopkinsville, KY. Day 8 took me from Hopkinsville to Pleasant View, TN. I will write more about those soon but, since my last post was all words, this one is mostly photos. You can click/tap on any of them to see larger versions.
I began my tour in sunshine in Valmeyer, IL. This pictures shows you how everything gets packed onto the bike. The two panniers in the rear have clothes and food and odds ‘n’ ends, like a book and a backpack for hiking. The pannier on the left front is the most difficult to get into during the day so I fill it with things that I don’t need while riding: tent, sleeping bag, camp chair, and a jacket. The pannier on the right front is the easiest to get into so it has the things that I am most likely to want during the ride, such as snacks and sunblock. To balance the weight a bit, it also has my kitchen in the bottom. The blue/silver thing on the back of the bike is my sleeping pad. It does not absorb water so it does not need to be inside a pannier, even when the weather gets wet.
Less than an hour south of Valmeyer, I found a cool bridge. I don’t know why bridges are bicycle photo ops but they are.
After lunch, I was riding past higher bluffs.
I passed this derelict house west of Ellis Grove, IL.
At the beginning of day 2, I rode south out of Chester, IL. Elzie C. Segar, creator of Popeye, grew up in Chester so the city is fairly crawling with Popeye character statues. I stopped to see the statue of his four nephews and was tickled pink when Jim Beers, reporter/photographer for the Sun Times News, took my picture. I even got a short write-up on the SunTimesNews.com website.
My second day ended at Lake Murphysboro State Park. It’s a beautiful part of the world. Add it to your places to visit.
Here is the Big Muddy River about five miles west of the park.
I had a picture book sky above.
This box turtle greeted me at my campsite in the park.
You can see maps of where I rode each day in my RideWithGPS collection, STL2ATL – St. Louis to Atlanta.
What a wonderful write up in the Sun Times News! And such great photos, especially the one with the sky reflecting into the river and, of course, of the turtle. Glad to see the Internet connection improved. Continued safe travels and looking forward to reading more as I “ride” along with you.
I wrote an offer on that lovely fixer-upper property and their counter-offer involved a photo op with some famous bike rider of noted esteem!! You in? 😉
In Murphysboro there is a statue of the legendary Big Muddy Monster, who lives in the Big Muddy River. 😉
Love looking at your pictures. Have fun and please be safe.
If only that Sun Times News article had a comments page so we could all chime in!