Day 19

                                                                             Day 19

                                                            Kirksville, MO to Quincy IL

                                                               97 miles,  Avg 17.1 MPH

     The memories of the previous day were still fresh, as we left the Day's Inn in Kirksville at 7AM.   Although this was to be a shorter ride than yesterday, we were promised the same hills that we've gotten to know the previous few days, at least until we crossed into Illinois.  On that very first hill today, I got a message from my legs that they indeed also remembered the climbing of the last few days quite well.  If they could talk, they would have said, "Mark, let's call a cab."   Unfortunately, the only way to get to Illinois and out of Missouri was over those hills.  The saving grace of the day was that the sky was overcast, the temps early on were in the high 60's, and the humidity was tolerable.   After a few of the rollers, I started to feel pretty good and as long as it didn't rain, I felt that everything was going to be a good day.  The farmland was waking up as we rode past overall-clad farmers in our loud jerseys, spandex shorts, and carbon bikes.  What a sight we must have been.   At the first SAG stop in Baring, Manny went into the cafe across the street and apparently upon his entry, the place fell silent and all the faces turned and stared at him.   To them, Manny, with his blue and white biking outfit, biking helmet, blue sunglasses, and tatooed arms, must have looked like he just arrived from another planet.  The joke we had is that he should have asked, "Do any of you gents have any chamois creme?  I have the worst chafing problem".   Anyway, he left there unharmed.  I took a picture there of the bank across the street there that had seen better days. 

     After Barring, I rode the next 45 miles at the front of the pack.  My energy level was high and I felt great.   Buckeye Bob and San Diego Chris kept pace.  After our last climb in Missouri, you could see off in the distance the Mississippi.  It was exciting as it was not only an important landmark on our coast to coast journey but also was to be the site of our lunch.  Because of the recent flooding there had been concern all along over whether the water was going to be too high for the ferry to run, but this was not a problem today.  After lunch, we got onto the ferry and ten minutes later we were across and into Illinois.

     Illinois was remarkably flat.  There were about 6 of us doing a paceline into the wind, each of us pulling for one mile.   This worked great because by time your turn came up, you felt like you had pretty well recovered.  The mile pull took some effort, especially with trying to maintain an 18 MPH pace, but it was a lot easier than dealing  with the wind on your own.  As we approached Quincy, our end point for the day, it broke up as Craig peeled away to go to a local tavern on the river, as Craig is want to do. 

     Quincy seemed like the most civilized city we had visited since Albuquerque.  After all those miles and miles of desert and farmland, to come upon a city with children playing in schoolyards, people going about their business in a bustling downtown, and a street reminiscent of Summit Avenue in St. Paul complete with tall hardwood trees and Victorian mansions....was a really nice sight.  Although I loved everything we had seen up to now, this was a world with more familiarity to me. 

     Steak and Shake was also familiar to me, as was their 2-4 "Happy Hour" which we arrived at with plenty of time to spare.  We stopped there before the hotel as we were in dire need of some recovery that in truth only a chocolate shake can provide but we were also hoping to escape the chore of unloading the luggage van which fell upon those that arrive first, in this case, if our calculations were correct, would be the Kiwis.  The shakes were superb and gave us all  instant energy boosts that we immediately put to good use by unloading the van that was waiting patiently there for us at the hotel entrance.   The Kiwis had taken there own pre-hotel trip to a bike store and arrived just as we had unloaded the last bag.   We were outsmarted.  All was good though, as soon I had showered, spent time in the hottub, read the Wall Street Journal, and watched an episode of "Jail" on Spike TV.  Life is good.  Tonight I ate healthy Pannera Bread dinner.  Oh it's nice to be back in a Blue state and back in civiliziation. 

-Grinner

Baring Bank-- Too many withdrawls

Canton Ferry

The mighty Mississippi

Waiting to load the ferry

Quincy Illinois- the eighth most livable town in the US

One way to avoid flood damage on the Mississippi

Biking across the Mississippi

Morning in Missouri

Downtown Quincy