| it was a treat to have debby's 2 older brothers & deb's sister-in-law joining us for breakfast. they had driven 11 hours yesterday to visit deb & headed back today. |
| it seemed kind of cool while we were eating breakfast & fixing our trip treats, but the weather warmed quickly...partly because we had some of those infernal hills to climb to get back out of the park & on toward carbondale (we never went into carbondale...just on the outskirts). today was not a good day for staying on route. some people even went astray getting out of giant city state park....not a good start. then there was a detour at about 20 miles, which required some backtracking & alternate routes. since we're strung out quite a ways, finding everyone & getting them back on route was a trick for gloria, who was driving the subaru today. |
| once we got past murphysburo we got into the mississippi lowlands. often the winds were at our backs; it was a great biking day. late morning sari & i stopped at gorham, a tiny wide place in the road. we had ridden over 30 mi & were ready for the first course of our lunch. we found a bench in the shade near some railroad tracks & had our sandwiches & bananas. while we sat there, 2 long freight trains went by. both of us love trains, so it was a special lunchtime treat. then we headed on down the road in search of dessert.....pie or ice cream. |
| as it turned out, however, today's route was practically devoid of towns. we stopped at one bar & grill & found, to our dismay, that there were no desserts on the menu, so pedalled on. after a while our route brought us up onto the roads running along the top of the levee. |
| we made a bee line for the place & each had an old-fashioned sundae...in those tall glass petalled glasses. it was chocolate almond fudge ice cream topped with hot fudge, pecans, & whipped cream. oh boy! just as we were finishing up, lin & joan
laxson arrived. they also had sundaes, as you can see in the photo. this was joan's last cycling day; she did the whole southern tier cross-country ride with womantours last year, but is doing only the first segment of this year's transamerica ride. she'll fly home from st.louis tomorrow. she certainly ended her ride on a sweet note! |
| our group has had several visitors here in chester. sarah has some friends from chicagoland. gloria's 2 older brothers & one of their wives have joined us here for a layover-day visit. |
| i am overjoyed to have my dear friends judy & dennis moss from iowa city & also bob & judy adams from burlington, ia, meet me in chester. bob & judy arrived around 6 & joined us for supper (supper was chicken picatta, along with a big green salad & wonderful fresh pineapple & red grapes). they brought my dog fritz along; what a huge treat for me. |
| tonight i'll go out with bob & judy to stay in their camper at rend lake, 45 mi northeast of chester. it'll be a relaxing change of pace & i'll get to spend extra time with my pup in the bargain. we'll meet judy & dennis back at the motel this morning. i'll love the chance to catch up on what's going on back in iowa. |
| the other riders will spend their layover day in chester. many have already found the walmart right next door to the motel....& the nearby dairy queen. plus the motel has a laundry room & a whirlpool. guess we bikers have everything we need. |
| Higher quality versions of the pictures from my trip are available here. If you would like copies of the original, full-size photos, or if you would like text-only versions of these daily reports e-mailed to you, feel free to e-mail my son Mark with your request. Stay tuned.... |
