Days mileage: 137 miles
The traffic trying to get from Chester to Murphboro was pretty lame and forced me to surrender myself to the side of the road (nearly in the bushes) to avoid gettin plowed over by overzealous tractor trailors and dump trucks...so it took a while with all the stop and starting taking place.
Humidity had already soaked through everything within the near and distant distance with a sun already promising another hot and sticky summer day. Hurrah for east coast summers....
I'll just say right here....rather than sayin it later....Illinois has got to be, in some shape or form, some nearly related identical twin to Missouri.
It was hilly, with steep hills tossed inbetween those hills, and then there were some other hill-like forms tossed inbetween the hills that were between the hills that were between the original hills.
Anyways, as I was sayin. There were a lot of turns that had to be made and I'll be the first to admit that I missed a good bit of them. I was not used to having to make tursn on different roads....rather out west you just sit on one road until all the cows, and cowboys, came on home.
My goal was to get out of Illinois, and I did. I was rolling on thru the hot evening when I sudenly saw the Ohio river to my right...woohoo! I started to pedal harder to get to the ferry that would...ferry me across...but my legs refused the offer of inspiration....so I just steadily plotted along until I got to Cave In Rock..hoped on the ferry...said ta-ta to Illinois and rolled straight on into Kentucky....it was 7:30 pm and the nearest town (Marion) was 12 miles down the road. I clipped into the pedals and started booking it towards Marion....the amount of sunlight left in the day was about gone and I feared the idea of having to plod along thru Kentucky in the dark.
It was a huge relief to finally roll on into town around 815 pm...just in time to get a strawberry milkshake and call up Loretta to know I arrived safe and sound. I then meanedered on down to the old city fairgrounds and pitched my tent behind what once used to be an old concession stand. Some stray dogs came and kept me company while I glanced over maps and journals with my headlamp.
My legs were tired and it was gettin late. It was a clear night in Kentucky with a nearly full moon making it's nightly charge towards the zenith of the night sky. I zipped the tent shut and feel asleep sooner than I could have expected....
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