July 14

July 14, 2013

We left Farmington at 5:40 this morning.  Great sunrise. Ride was beautiful in beginning.  Not too bad as far as hills. We saw a few dogs today.  Sue had bought whistles for us as a deterrent against the dogs.  A shitzu came at us; Jack said if I used the whistle on the Shitzu, I had to wear a pink tutu the rest of the trip.  As we went up the last up and down, before us was the most beautiful sight—flat land down below.  The Ozarks were behind us.  Missouri may have been the most difficult state with the hills/mountains.  Went through St. Mary, pop 360, (there were no bells in St. Mary’s) and then we crossed the Mississippi.  We left the Mizzou state and entered the Land of Lincoln.  When we crossed into Illinois, we crossed the bridge into Chester, pop 8,856.  If you didn’t know, Chester is the home of Popeye (I yam what I yam).

You would think that a city of that size would have a place to get a pancake and a cup of coffee.  Not.  We ended up at a Hardees.

We decided to do a n alternative Mississippi levee alternative route from this point.  We expected to see the Mississippi.  Not.  We got a glimpse of it early and then it was marshland and corn and soybeans.  I half expected to see Shoeless Joe Jackson come out of the corn patch.  The alternative route wasn’t too great.  We did see a coal drop.  We got to see a machine in a little house actually turned a coal car upside down to get the coal out of it.  Amazing.  Never had seen so much coal.  Then we ran cross some guys fishing.  They were fishing for catfish, but there were these fish called Gars jumping out of the water.  They were good ol’ boys.  We proceeded on to parts unknown.  At times, we were t 4^th and Plum.  Four miles out and plum in the   middle of nowhere.  Ended up in a bar in Neunert, called Bottom’s Up.  We just wanted to get walter.  But they had popcorn, so Jack had to have some.  Watched the NBA Developmental League.  Then it was onto Murphysboro for the night.  We are in an RV Marina Campground.  We have no running walter, no electricity, and the restrooms are several hundred yards away.  And it just rained.  We went to a laundry mat.  Then, to get out of the heat, we went to a Mexican Bar and had a round of beers on the Greely’s.  They spotted us some “fun” money.  It rained dogs and cats while we were there.  We decided to stay and have dinner there.  Had to be about our 5^th time for Mexican food.  Back to the campsite.  Could rain again.

Saw some banana trees today.   Not nearly as big as the ones I have at home.  Seeing lots of road kill, many times a double hit.

Ended up doing about 85 miles today.  Saw some turkeys, rabbits, a deer, Gar fish, and dawgs.  407 miles to Berea.  Tomorrow, 95 miles.

Gotta stop here, the flies are driving me crazy.

Jeff, Jerry, Jack, and Sue