Cape Girardeau, MO to Golconda, IL

Monday, September 29, 2003
Distance Cycled: 80 miles
Total elevation gain: 1,870 feet
Our Total Flat Tires on trip to date: 1

When we woke up this morning at 6:00 AM, the temperature was 38 degrees. By the time we started to ride our bicycles at 6:45 AM, it was still 38 degrees. The sun was just coming up and the weather channel said that there was fog in the area. We got on our bicycles and headed for the bridge to Illinois. A new cable stayed bridge that is scheduled to open on December 13, 2003 is replacing the Cape Girardeau Bridge. The old bridge is a narrow two lane bridge without any bike lane or walkway. The good news is that at 7:00 in the morning there was very little traffic going across the bridge in the direction we were going. When we reached the Illinois side we came into a construction zone where they are putting in the road that will access the new bridge. We turned our bicycles behind the construction barricades and rode on the new pavement as far as it lasted. The only problem was that we went right past the city of East Cape Girardeau, IL where we had planned to eat breakfast. Five miles further on we reached McClure where we found a store that served food. I had a biscuit that enclosed a breakfast sausage and an egg. Mary Kay had a grilled cheese sandwich. This is not the best food to start an 80 mile cycling day. As we left town we saw the original home built by the founder of the town in 1828.

We continued on our way heading east to the thriving town of Tamms, IL. We had a very nice tailwind all the way. At Tamms Mary Kay had a sandwich and we shared a gateraid. As Mary Kay was eating a gentleman road up on a bicycle and he talked to us for quite a while. He stated that he was 61 years old and had never owned an automobile. We all stopped at the post office and sent home various maps and papers we had accumulated during our travels. At Tamms they have a very nicely restored railroad depot even if trains go longer go through Tamms.

We continued east with that beautiful tailwind when we entered the town of Karnak, IL. As we passed a restaurant, I suggested that we stop because it was almost noon and the towns that we would be traveling through for the next 40 miles did not look big enough to have eating establishments. A lady on a bicycle stopped next to us and she informed us that the restaurant across the street was the only one that we would see for many miles. We stopped and had a very nice lunch before we continued on our way.

Things got interesting between Boaz, IL and Mermet, IL. Becky read the map incorrectly and said that the next corner was 5 miles away when it was really only 1 mile away. We missed turning at the corner and headed in the wrong direction for about a mile before we stopped, turned around and Mary Kay waved an automobile to stop so she could ask directions. We then rode our bicycles back 1 mile and got on the correct route again. This led us to Rosebud Rd and our easy day was over because this road when up and down one hill after another. We went over so many rollers that it was impossible to keep count. Finally we got on the last road to Golconda and just as we were coming down a hill just before town, we saw 3 deer cross the road in front of us. We reached the motel and the motel owner took us to dinner and picked us up after dinner. What a great ending to our day.