Category: Illinois

  • Rest In Peace Campground, IL, near Cape Girardeau MO

    July 19th, 2006

    Chelsea and I got up and got dressed and got completely ready to go – we took the bikes down ourselves for the first time, had eaten, had our sunscreen on, and were ready to rock and roll. It was taking us a long time to get going, and we finally realized we were absolutely exhausted – the heat was still intense – we had gone to bed at 89 degrees in the tent again, and we had been riding for 7 straight days. We decided that discretion was the better part of valor, and we had Alex drive the route till the next campground. It was great fun seeing the route, and it was great fun seeing the Illinois countryside. What a change from what we had been seeing! Suddenly it was all farming – and we’re talking big operations too.

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  • Golaconda IL, Rauchfauss Campground

    July 18th, 2006

    We started out with good attitudes on Tuesday the 18th, but it became clear very quickly that Chelsea’s derailleur was not working properly. After struggling up one particularly steep hill, we realized we needed a bike shop, and going back to Grand Rivers was our best bet. Alex picked us up and we went back to the bike shop we had seen the day before. What a wonderful experience it was! Turns out that both Chelsea and I needed new chains and new derailleur cables, and one of Chelsea’s shifters was broken. We left our bikes for a few hours to be fixed, and went to get lunch and send off some packages full of things we don’t need on the trip. It has been seriously great to have the extra space from sending back those items!

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