Today we had to decide between staying on the Missouri side, or crossing over to Illinois.

"I am not sure if it is the right decision, but I decided to stay. Katie was a bit bummed, she wanted another boat ride." - Chris

We started off with breakfast at the hotel. Afterward we stopped at a gas station hoping to find a map of the area, so we could find a way around the crazy hills and busy roads. Had no luck. So we had to take the busy road. We couldn't really figure out how that could be a national bike route. On the positive side, we had a decent shoulder.

Going into Chaffee we had a cop following behind us not letting cars pass by. That was nice of him.

We got a snack in that town also. I got an icee and the machine practically exploded all over when I pushed the button. It went all over me and Laura who was like 5 feet away. So I made quite a mess, it was funny though.

Chris kept getting flats on the same tire, and then everyone carefully inspected his tire. Chuck found a really tiny wire. No flats since.

Our first half of the day was hilly. I hit 30mph on one downhill, I used my brakes a little at the start. The second half of the day was nice and flat. By the end, Laura wanted to kill Chris for saying he sure wished there would be some hills.

Continuing on, we came into construction. It was quite rough, but they let us go through. They were laying black top so it was all fresh and hot stuff.

Then we made it to the town of Benton where we stopped for lunch at the Benton County Seat Cafe. They have very low prices and give you so much food. Chris and I got a meal with 3 sides, the main dish, dessert and a drink for 6 bucks. Neither one of us could finish it. The waitress came up to Chris and said "Did you not like that sweetie? I can get you something else." Chris told her oh no, I'm perfectly fine. It was funny because they were so nice and thoughtful. We all recommend this place to everybody!

After our lunch break we stopped at the post office and mailed more stuff home. 5 more pounds, making it a running total of 31 pounds total sent home. Chuck and Roger sent their sleeping bags home.

Then we kept riding on and I heard a noise and looked and a plane was flying really low. We were like its going to crash! But of course it didn't.

We finally got to Charleston for the night. Checked into the EconoLodge, the Comfort Inn wouldn't let us put our bikes anywhere without paying the full price for the room. So we weren't going to stay there for sure. Checking into the hotel Chris saw the Mexican Restaurant across the street, in front of it was a fake donkey thing and he kept talking about it. The lady at the front desk was like "You sure like that donkey don't you?" I found it quite funny. But here we didn't even ask if we could put the bikes in the room, we just put them in the room with us anyways. Then, we went to supper at Las Brisas authentic mexican restaurant.

I was already ready for bed at about 6:45, we have to wake up early tomorrow morning to beat the heat.

"Yes I (being the evil time keeper) have informed the group of a 5:30 wake-up call tomorrow morning. The amount of rejoicing at this announcement was far less than I had anticipated. The only one unphased by this announcement was Roger. Laura and Katie were in bed at 7, and asleep before 8. I hear partying in a nearby room; I can only assume it is Chuck and Roger. For the first time since Wisconsin, we had some flatlands today! Tomorrow should start out flat and we should make good time in the morning." - Chris

52 miles (833 miles total)

Google Earth KML File