Day 28: 47 Miles

Chester, IL to Farmington, MO

Today started off much earlier than normal. By 5:00 AM I heard Alan getting his things together. I rolled over and went back to sleep, but heard Charlie getting up around 6:00. I didn’t think I’d fall back to sleep so I started to get my things together. I talked to Matt and Charlie about their plans for the day. Matt was planning to head to Farmington, while Charlie decided to take a rest day. By 7:00 I was on the road with Matt, headed for Missouri.

I made a quick stop at the convenience store in town and then headed a couple of miles to the Mississippi River. Just before leaving town I stopped at the Chester visitors center and took a picture of the Popeye statue. Chester, IL is the home of Popeye and there were statues and murals of Popeye everywhere.

The crossing of the Mississippi was a little dicey. The bridge was two lanes with no shoulder and large trucks traveling in both directions. I made it across the river incident free and was now in Missouri. This is state number 9 for this trip. The first 10 miles of the day were pretty flat, but then I was right back into hilly terrain that looked similar to what I had seen in Illinois and Kentucky. The hills were steep but not too long, so the day overall wasn’t all that hard. The final 10 miles of the day flattened out and we were in Farmington right around noon. This was an early stopping time, but the next decent town was 60 miles away from Farmington.

Tonight we are staying at Al’s Place, a bike hostel run by the town of Farmington. It is by far the nicest hostel I’ve stayed in so far. There are 3 bedrooms with bunk beds, a laundry room, kitchen, 2 bathrooms with showers, fresh linens, and stocked cupboards. I don’t think I could ask for anything else. Matt and I got our things inside and then went off in search of a Chinese buffet. There was a menu in the hostel that promised all you can eat plus a free drink and ice cream for $6.00. We got to the Chinese place and found they no longer did the buffet, but the lunch specials were good enough for us. On the way back I stopped at a liquor store and found they actually had a great beer selection. I’ve gotten very used to my only options being Bud, Coors, or Miller so a place with a build your own 6-pack and beers I’ve never had before was great.

The plan for the remainder of the night is to get some rest and find dinner somewhere. Tomorrow I’ll be working my way into the Ozarks which I’ve heard are very hilly, so we will see how it goes. At least with an early ending time today I’ll be well rested for tomorrow.