Chester, IL- Farmington, Mo
Miles: 50
Temp: 80-90+
Weather: head winds as soon as we got over the Mississippi, hot and flat with no shade, untill it wasn't flat anymore.
Sleep: ALs place al trail inn, top bunk
As soon as We thought it was flat it began to get hilly, and it didn't stop. We did alot of climbing today. We are getting close to the Ozarks, so climbing is what we will be doing for awhile, but it is really nothing compared to the mountains in Virginia. Today we left Chester, Illinois, the home of Popeye. Unfortunately, we didn't find a single Illinois sticker for our bikes. But Joyce at the courthouse tried very hard to get me one. She ran all over the place looking and even made some calls around town to find a sticker, but we had no luck. After leaving town we took a bridge over the Mississippi river, leaving Illinois and entering into Missouri.
Missouri is different than Illinois, entering into different states is really an amazing feeling. The difference between states is more apparent than I was expecting. In Missouri what I've noticed so far is it's flat, when there are hills they are long drawn out hills that go up, and down, then flat for just a long enough distance that you lose all your momentum, then back up. The people here are very friendly, however they drive very fast. When we got into town today we were looking for Al's Place; a Transam hostel. When we first arrived in farmingville we had no idea where to go, the spray painted arrows on the road disappeared and we found ourselves confused, and of course we have all the technology to run the world at our fingertips, but if no one answers our call it becomes useless very quick. While Bryn and I were trying to figure out what direction to go, a very nice lady named Chris came up to us and asked us if we were lost trying to find the cycling hostle. what a relief. we really had no idea where to go (she was awesome, and a huge lifesaver) We were only a few blocks away. Al's place is a renovated hostel made from the towns old jail. It was a great night sleep aside from some snoring. I got a top bunk and had a plug so I just listened to music to droun out the snoring. We cleaned up, showered and were out by 7:30. I think out of the indor sleeping spaces this was one of the nicest places we have stayed so far.
Yesterday Randy and Meg left the group. The aca Transam group for 2010 went from 16 to 14 unfortunately. Best of luck to both of them.
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