9-15-2012 (Saturday) Hannibal to Troy, MO

63 miles
Ride Time – 5 hrs. 19 minutes
11.9 MPH

This quote speaks for itself!

We are now 825 miles from Dorchester and 1285 miles from International Falls, Minnesota and according to our bike maps 1134 miles from New Orleans, so we are over half way to our destination. 

We left the hotel around 7:00AM and went to the Mark Twain Restaurant in Hannibal for breakfast.  After talking with a few of the locals we decided to change our route today.  Our Adventure Cycling map takes us on Hwy 79 out of Hannibal  and talks of roller coaster hills that follow the river bluffs and continue to the river’s edge. The locals told us there would be a lot of tourist in the area and it being Saturday Hwy 79 will have a lot of traffic on it and the road is narrow, steep in spots,  and curvy with no bike lane.  So we opted to take Hwy 61 instead of 79 all the way to Troy. This made for a very pleasant day of biking through the Missouri countryside with very gradual rolling hills on a very well maintained highway with an 8’ wide shoulder all the way. Weather conditions were perfect, about 65 degrees,  overcast skies, and very little wind.



It has been interesting to see during the last week how we have gone from where corn is still standing and green, to where corn is mature and drying, to where corn is being harvested, to where all the corn has already been harvested, and now it looks as though we are more or less out of the corn belt and the majority of the tillable land is either soy beans or grassland or wooded.

Flowers growing right alongside Hwy 61

We arrived in Troy about 2:15 and checked into the Super 8, showered and went for a swim in the pool and a dip in the hot tub. Who knows what the evening holds in store for us? 



We stopped at Walmart in Bowling Green and were surprised to see Amish buggies and their horses tied up outside.  Apparently there must be a substantial amish population in the area as they have shelters built for their horse and buggies at Walmart.

John called his cousin, Gloria Stoiber Becker, and we are planning on spending tomorrow afternoon and evening with her and her husband, Bill.  They live about 30 miles from Troy so our plan is to get up in the morning and go to church and then bicycle to their house.