Let me start by thanking all the Illinois drivers I encountered. I know I only spent one night there, but it was the first state I passed through that didn't have any dumb ass drivers. Nobody flew by a few cm from my handlebars. Nobody blasted their horn or yelled, "get of the road." Nobody pulled over like they wanted to fight. So thanks Illinois, and keep up the good work!
Today was a big event in the trip because I crossed the continent's natural seam, the Mississippi river. After riding downtown and taking some pictures of the arch, I rode upstream on the Missouri side of the river for a few km and then crossed into Illinois.
Waking up to the feeling of rain through my tent screen was a disappointment because I thought the last of the storm had passed last night. But I used it as an excuse to sleep in longer which felt pretty good. When it tapered off, I carried my whole tent, sleeping bag and all, still set up to the corridor where I had hung out the previous day. I packed up there, and had the great idea of leaving my sleeping bag in the tent all the time. I would make setting up and tearing down camp easier, and the waterproof tent would keep the sleeping bag dry if I got caught in rain.
I woke up around 4:00 to the feeling of raindrops hitting my face through the screen on my tent. It was only lightly sprinkling, but I knew I had to get my bike and packs covered quickly or my clothes would be wet and heavy, and my drive train would be squeaky.
My tire was flat again when I woke up today. Looking more carefully, the stem of my tube seemed to have gotten cut from riding crooked through the wheel the other day. I replaced it and reinflated it with the campground's air compressor. That puncture proof tube served me well, but now that I'm out of thorn territory, I might not miss it's extra weight anyway. By 8:30 I had said goodbye to my friends from the night before and hit the road.
It was a cold morning and it took me a few minutes to get out of bed. When I finally did, I tore down my camp quickly. I pushed my bike through the gravel driveway and hopped on at the paved road. But when I started riding I felt a bump. Looking down I saw that my rear tire was flat. I was surprised because it felt fine last night. Few people were up at the campground, and the owners weren't around so I decided to just reinflate it with my hand pump.
Wow, what a crazy day. Just about nothing today went according to plan.
I woke up feeling pretty discouraged for several reasons. It was cold. I was itchy from all the mosquito bites. The wind was fast and east. My bike had started making a concerning squeaking sound the previous day. And worst of all, my formerly broken arm had started hurting and was a little swollen.
Today started out pretty typically. I had a homemade breakfast of eggs and fried potatoes, said goodbye to my hosts, spent an embarrassingly long time looking for a missing glove, and hit the road around 8:30.
The skies were darker than I expected from the forecast and the wind was right in my face. I could tell it would be a hard day quickly because I couldn't get my speed much over 20 km/h and with about 160 km to ride that isn't what you hope for.
After a subway breakfast I went to district bicycles in Stillwater to get my spoke fixed. This is unquestionably the best bike shop I've ever been to. The fixed my spoke quickly, were super friendly, and even gave me a granola bar on the way out. I got back on the road around 11:00.
It was hard to get out of bed this morning. I finally managed to get everything together and leave the hotel room by 9:00. I made a quick trip to Subway where I ate half a sub for breakfast and saved the other half for later.
