Winter 1998 - San Diego to Cincinnati
Journals - 12 March 1998
Day 43
12 March 1998 (south [2-3 miles] of Belleview, Illinois; mileage = 73) --
X - We got up quite early and went over to enjoy the buffet. Everything was
cold, but the cereal and fruit were good. We finally got going. It was
clear and sunny with almost no wind! It was in the low 20s, though. Very
soon, April had a flat. It's getting ridiculous! It is awesomely hilly in
this area. Even when we got on the main road, which runs parallel to RR
tracks, it was like riding in Indian Hill. The shoulder sucked and the
traffic was unnerving after our back-roads start. We made it to Ste.
Genevieve and we stopped at an ATM, a McD's for potty only, and the
visitors center to look for a map of Illinois. No go. We rode to the ferry,
which was a quaint thing that for $1 each took us from nowhere, Missouri,
to nowhere, Illinois. We had a few miles of nice back roads in Illinois.
There was one major climb out of the river valley, but it is MUCH flatter
than Missouri! We stopped in the library in Red Bud, and I got a better
map. Since a light breeze from the south had developed, we headed due
north. We must be in some kind of sub-suburb of St. Louis. The traffic is
horrible, and there are schlocky houses being built and strip malls added
to towns. I asked two people (who were outside even) and was flatly denied
the huge favor of camping on their zillion acres. Nice people! We rode over
a bridge with a lonely-looking, little road by it. We went down to where
there is a bridge out, and it is a very good, lucky spot -- so far.
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