Golconda, Illinois, to Marion, Kentucky -- 38 miles

We woke at 6 am and got on the road at 6:45 am. It was cloudy and HUMID outside – Lenny said it felt like we were biking through syrup. We stopped at Cave-in-Rock, to see the cave where pirates used to hide out and rob the flatboats that came down the Ohio River. Lorraine thought it was pretty cool, but Lenny thought it was pretty disgusting. She explained to him, “It’s a cave in a rock, it’s not the Holiday Inn! If you were a pirate, you’d be living there too, along with the pigeons, bats and mosquitoes!”

We took the ferry across the river – it was free, paid for by state funds. A tugboat chugged past us, towing barges loaded with coal that stretched a thousand feet back. When we arrived on the other side of the Ohio River, we had come to our 9th state – Kentucky. 

We saw “horse-and-buggy” road signs and found out later that an Amish community had moved to Kentucky about 20 years ago. We stopped at the Pilot House convenience store to get a map of Kentucky and some granola bars. When we asked a young man if this is where we would get tourist information, he said yes and added, “Welcome to Kentucky!” It was a nice greeting and the first time we were welcomed to a state. 

The woman working there told us to visit Yoder’s Variety Store – an Amish store; she said it was just down the road on the right. We asked what they had there, and she said, “You name it!” It turned out that Yoder’s Store sold everything from jellies and spices to Amish-style black hats and boots. Lenny talked to Melinda Yoder, who is 12 years old. She asked him questions about our bike ride and told him about her cousins from Montana who came to visit for her sister’s wedding. Lenny asked if she had ever visited her cousins in Montana and she said no, but some of her siblings had, and it was her turn next. Melinda was joined by two younger sisters and a young male cousin who she said probably didn’t understand us because he only spoke German. She has 9 sisters and 3 brothers! She said that she likes to bicycle, but prefers riding her pony in the fields. We bought some dried pineapple, dried papaya, and mustard pretzels – yum!!!

As we were leaving, we met Rich Jirsa who started biking along the Northern Route, then rode down to follow the TransAm route. He told us that he had landed in the hospital a few days earlier with heat exhaustion, so he was taking it slower now. We continued biking to Marion and stayed at Tobin’s Tourotel motel. We had a great meal, including the best pork chops ever, at the Magnolia House restaurant.

Carbondale, Illinois, to Golconda, Illinois -- 67 miles

We woke at 5:30 am and began biking at 6 am. The route went through the Crab Orchard National Wildlife Refuge, along tree-lined roads and past two pretty lakes. We met Brian Flatley and Ben Kull from Washington DC, who are biking east-to-west. We talked to them about the dogs in Kentucky – they said that they sprayed them with their water bottles and, also that the dogs seemed to run out of steam after a short distance (which made Lenny feel better). We stopped in Goreville to buy some groceries and fill our water bottles.

We went up and down more long hills. We stopped again in Eddyville to get sodas, a bite to eat and to cool off. We talked to horseshoer, his assistant, and some Illinois DOT workers. They commented that we were taking a roundabout way to get from one place to another. We stayed at Michael’s Motel in Golconda, a couple miles off the route. We stopped at the library to check out our website, then walked along the main street so Lenny could take photos of the town. We had pizza for dinner.

Chester, Illinois, to Carbondale, Illinois -- 49 miles

We woke at 5:15 am and began biking at 6:00 am. We had a choice of 2 different routes – the hilly main route and the flatter “Mississippi Levee Alternate.” We decided to take the alternate route. As we left town, Lorraine was wobbling on her bike - the problem was low tire pressure, so we stopped for Lenny to inflate her tires. We missed one of the turns because of road construction, and missed the part of the trail, which ran beside the river. When we turned off from the highway, we were riding on back roads, past cornfields and little houses on the prairie.

We reached Carbondale by 11:30 am, and rode through the campus of Southern Illinois University, trying to find our way to Main Street. We stopped at Carbondale Bikes to get another cyclo-computer and more Halt dog repellent spray. We checked into the Uptown Motel and turned on the air-conditioning! Lorraine surfed the Internet at the library while Lenny walked about a mile to go to the post office. We had an early dinner at Murphy’s Bar & Grill. Lorraine had great tortilla soup, Lenny had salad, and we both had burgers and homemade cheesecake with strawberries for dessert.

Pilot Knob, Missouri, to Chester, Illinois -- 67 miles

We woke at 5 am and got on the road at 5:45 am. Lorraine noticed immediately that her cyclo-computer (which measures speed and mileage) had been stolen off her bike. There were a lot of cars on the road - we were surprised, since it was Sunday. We stopped at gas station in Doe Run for orange juice and to fill our water bottles. As we rode through Farmington, we admired several pretty houses. Lorraine missed a turn in the route and we backtracked about 1/2 mile. Jason passed us after about 36 miles. 

The terrain turned back to rolling hills, and there were more dogs to deal with. We filled our water bottles at a water fountain outside a school in Ozora. Josh and John passed us on the road. The terrain became flat land and corn fields as we entered the flood plain of the Mississippi. We could see the bridge over the Mississippi, but it seemed to take forever to get to it. It was a 2-lane bridge with no shoulder, so we had to ride in the car lane and cross as quickly as we could. Crossing the Mississippi was an exciting and significant milestone – we had arrived in Illinois. 

There was a small park near the bridge with a statue of Popeye (the creator of Popeye was from Chester, Illinois). We checked into the Hi-3 Motel, but the proprietor still had to clean the room, so we ate at a restaurant next door. After we got settled in our room, Lenny made some phone calls and went to the grocery store. Lorraine became engrossed in watching “Anne of Green Gables...the Sequel” on TV. Later, we had take-out Pizza Hut for dinner.