Bicycling the Lewis & Clark Trail
St Charles to St. Louis MO

Wednesday, September 8, 2004
Distance Cycled: 63 miles
Average Speed: 12.1 mph

Today was our last day of bicycle riding. We have traveled a total of 3053 miles in 13 states on the Lewis & Clark trail. The 6 of us had a wonderful time and feel great about what we have accomplished together. It was a great feeling as we rode our bicycles into St. Louis and the St. Regis Hotel.

This morning we headed north out of St Charles into a headwind. After riding 14 miles we took the ferry across the Mississippi and Illinois rivers at Grafton, IL. From Grafton we turned east following the Mississippi River. A bicycle path ran along the shore of the Mississippi River and we saw several Blue Herons and some turtles as we continued our travels. We stopped in Alton, IL and ate lunch at a Subway shop. We rode back to the bicycle path and continued along the Mississippi River dike. However, whenever we came to a road that crossed the Mississippi River dike we came to a set of gates that required us to dismount from our bicycles and snake the bicycles through them. This occurred every mile or so and these gates became a real pain. Finally we got far enough south of Alton that these gates disappeared and we were traveling along at a comfortable speed when we came around a corner and saw across a field of grass, the Lewis and Clark center at Harford, IL, the place where Lewis and Clark spent the winter prior to the start of their exhibition. We spent an hour or so looking at the exhibits and watching a movie.

We then continued to the old Chain of the Rocks Bridge across the Mississippi River. However when we reached the bridge, we found that a gate across the bridge was locked and we were unable to cross the bridge. A construction worker made a phone call and after about 30 minutes he was able to obtain a key and unlock the gate. We then crossed the Mississippi River and headed south along the North Riverfront Trail to the St Louis Arch. We spent a short time at the Arch and then we headed west on Market Street to our motel which was located in the old train station.

We all enjoyed dinner together to celebrate the end of the journey.

Tomorrow we will be regular vacation people seeing the sights of St Louis, including the Zoo. Friday Jan and Ken fly home. Saturday Jim and I drive to Ohio to visit our daughter and husband, we will then return to St. Louis to catch the train home. George and Jane will fly home on Monday. It has been a great vacation; we are already talking about where we may want to go next year.

Thanks so much for reading about are adventure and sharing the ride with us.