We had a decent breakfast at super 8, after sleeping in until almost 8.

We were considering a short 25 mile day to Hannible Missouri.... as a semi-rest day. After finally getting out of Quincy after a several mile disruption (my fault, the hotel I called was not on the route like I thought) we rode through Marblehead Il.

We stopped at Lock & Dam #21? Katie had seen several of them from a distance over the last few days and wanted to see one in action. We had a great view of a barge passing through. Today's cooler weather also seems to have stopped the mayflies.

The sink at the lock & dam was full of dead mayflies.

We soon came to the turn for I 172 to Hannibal. This route took the only section of interstate in Illinois that allowed bikes, and let you cross the river into Missouri.

Looking ahead, the interstate was uphill, backtracking north, for several miles to town (not to mention the headwind and rumble strips. The at this fork in the road we needed to decide between hannible and risking it with the tiny towns on the Illinois side. Also, we had noticed on the map that staying on the Illinois side kept us on flat terrain, while the Missouri side was terribly hilly. We tried calling ahead to hotels, but none answered their phones. I made the call to skip Hannible...something I would soon regret.

During a rest stop, WE found a pile of soybeans. I filled my bag so i could throw them at Katie during the ride. I didn't notice, she did the same. We had quite the battle. Her last toss landed a soybean directly inside my ear (she threw it while riding far behind me). This entertained us during a long flat boring stretch. Katie really is a bad influence on me.

After passing through Hull, we discovered that some of these towns are not quite what they appear on the map. Most businesses are gone. We hadn't really planned on going far, and wanted a rest day. Kinderhook was the next town, and again it was empty. At least they had a nifty post-office (one of the 12 most unique post offices in the country). We mailed 13 more lbs of stuff home.

Laura was exhausted, and we hadn't eaten since breakfast. The kinderhook city park was a nice little area where we used the restrooms and got some water. Chuck cooked all of our backup food and we ate it all. He does quite well cooking with his portable stove.

The nice people of the area made sure to call the park manager to have him unlock everything for us, and he said we could sleep in the park if we wanted. Thanks everyone!

A local person informed us of a town only 6 miles away that wasn't on our maps, with all of the amnemities that we desired. We finished our food, and Laura decided she could handle the trek. After 6 miles we arrived at Barry Il. The hotel is a nice little place, an old Ice House; it is surprisingly called "Ice House Inn". Thanks for the hospitality John!

John let us put our bikes in an unused hallway, and we walked to Wendys for a craptacular dinner.

If Laura isn't up to riding tomorrow, we will take a rest day exploring Barry.

Taters quote of the day: "I just figured out when to say 'afternoon' instead of 'good morning'. After Noon!!!!"

After a craptacular dinner at Wendys (the only thing open still) we went to bed. Roger had a salad............weird.

Google Earth File
46 miles (500 miles total)