Our day started out really early as we cycled for about an hour before we saw daylight. We were ok with this since we were backtracking and knew the road had a nice shoulder and there would be minimal traffic. We arrived in the town of Pleasant Hill, IL after 15 miles of cycling. This was the town where we had hoped to spend the previous night but the lodgings were no longer in business. We did find an open restaurant. Unlike our previous breakfast stops, the patrons were not overly friendly to us. However, the owner (the cook) was very grandmotherly to us and fed us well.
From there we cycled to the town of Hamburg, IL were the Mississippi River flooded our route. We managed to cycle around the closed streets and headed into about 20 miles of rolling hills. These hills were short but very steep and some required use of our granny gears and lots of sucking wind. At this point we were motivated by the thunder and lighting that was chasing us.
Along the way we noticed lots of barns with quilt patches painted on them. We speculated as to there purpose and came up with one theory. We know that quilts were used by the slaves to mark trails to freedom for runaways. If so, we could have been on an underground railway route. Regardless, they were interesting and provided a new twist to Joe’s old barn photo series.
In Brussels we stopped at a bakery. This time it was a real bakery but we were still disappointed in the limited selection. About 8 miles north we caught the Brussels Ferry to Grafton, IL. The bike trail into Grafton was also flooded. Since there was little traffic on the roads it was not a problem. Two years ago when we cycled the Lewis and Clark route we took this ferry after leaving Grafton. Another coincidence is our lodging in Grafton. This is our next to last night on this trip and 2 years ago our second night was at the same hotel and same room.
Arriving in Grafton, we noticed that many of the restaurants were closed despite posting business hours indicating that they would be open today. The hotel manager told us that the economy is so bad that these places (as well as his restaurant) just decided to close on Monday’s.
One of us was obsessed about cycling 70 miles and reaching our hotel by 11 a.m. Despite the many hills, food stops, flooded routes, photo opportunities we made it into town by his 11 o’clock goal. However, he was disappointed that actual mileage was 2 miles short of 70.
Maps: Today Trip to date
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