More Hills
Day 36
As I left the campground north of Chester, I felt a few sprinkles. The sky looked a little ominous. Rode back down to Chester, and who should I run into but Ted, who I mentioned previously. We rode back up to the park right next to the bridge over the Mississippi, where I got the following shots:
And who knew?
The map gave two possible routes starting out, one along the Mississippi and one inland with more hills. Both Ted and I chose to head along the Mississippi. As we made our way down to the level of the river, the rain picked up and started coming down in earnest. Stopped to put rain gear on then headed down route 3. This was very busy with trucks going back and forth to a depot/port about 10 miles down. This made the riding kind of nerve wracking when added to the rain and absence of a shoulder on the road. Ted, being fully loaded was much slower than I, so I took off. Eventually I passed the truck turnoff, and the traffic situation improved markedly. Eventually the route puts you on top of the Missippi levee. Here is a shot of the farmland from atop the levee
The ride comes into the side of Murphysboro, then immediately east towards Carbondale. You pass through the southern suburbs of Carbondale and pass the campus of the Southern Illinois University. The roads through this section were beautiful, smooth pavement with wide shoulders and bike lanes.
Then you wind along a couple of lakes south of Carbondale and the local Boy Scout Camp.
The route turns south on a small lane with progressively steep hills and poor pavement and a head wind to boot. As I was climbing one of the hills, a woman in a car going the other way said something to me, she stopped so I turned around. She was looking for Marion Illinois, and was lost. I'm afraid I wasn't much help.
Made it to Goreville and headed south to Fernclyffe State Park, the stop for the night.
A somewhat long day with lots of climbing.
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