Ride Time 1 hour 38 minutes
Average 8.4MPH
Our decision to take a day off was a good one as we both were feeling half beat to death from all the hills in the Ozarks, and we both agreed we don’t want to push so hard that it’s no longer fun. So this morning we slept in until 7:45, another indication of how tired we were.
After a continental breakfast at the hotel we headed for the laundry mat, got that chore out of the way, and then headed for another bike shop to pick up a Quick release skewer for the BOB and White Lightning for the chains. We stretched our chains a little crunching gears on all the hills so I also adjusted the timing chain and also put a new tube on the BOB. Everything should be good to go again for another 500 miles or so. I hope! We were talking with the young man at the bike shop and he had stated that other bicyclist that were doing the “Great River Route” have commented that the stretch that we just biked (through the Ozark’s) was harder than doing the Cascade Mountains or the Rockies. John and I agree with that comment whole heartedly.
After dropping off our clean laundry at the hotel we headed for the riverfront and historic downtown Cape Girardeau where we viewed the murals painted on the downtown flood wall that was built starting in 1956 and completed in 1964 at a cost of $4 million. It has saved the historic downtown area many times over. The mural depicts many historic events in the area and many of the influential people that helped settle the area and make it into the thriving community it is today. Cape Girardeau has been visited by such people as Mark Twain, Lewis and Clark, Harry S. Truman, John Wesley Powel, and Frank & Jesse James.
We also toured the Old St. Vincent Church that was built in 1853.
We spent a good share of the afternoon touring the historical downtown area and then went to 4:00PM mass at St. Mary’s Cathedral church in downtown Cape Girardeau.
Tomorrow morning we will be crossing on the beautiful 3/4 mile long Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge over the Mississippi river and into southern Illinois for the last time. We plan on starting early as it looks like we are going to need to bike approx. 74 miles to get to our next hotel.
One thing that I wanted to share on this blog was a conversation that I had overheard when we were having breakfast in the little town of Lesterville several days ago. When John and I walked in there were three men and a lady (all locals) sitting at a table discussing the world problems. I over heard the lady tell the three men that she had an unexpected visitor at her house last night. She said she was sleeping in her bedroom that is on the front of her house just off the porch when her motion sensor porch lights came on in the wee hours of the morning. She said she got out of bed and quietly pulled back the drapes so she could see what was outside and here was a mountain lion pacing back and forth on her front porch like he owned the place. I don’t know if she was telling this story for the benefit of John and I so we would get out of Dodge or not but it sure made me uneasy as we pedaled out of town.
It sure does look like a beautiful town. Now you can replace your fear of bears with a fear of mountain lions! haha
ReplyDeleteHave a great Sunday. We are headed to Devil's Lake.