Oct. 23 – Yeah, it was scary!

The downhill ride continued, and except for a brief lunch break in Sikeston, I made a bee-line towards the state line. It was cotton country, with the harvest in session, and huge bales of cotton lining the fields.

You might be looking at your next pair of underwear right there! As I got closer to the rivers I started seeing signs advising that the highway 60 bridge over the Mississippi River was closed due to construction and I was to “seek an alternate route”. Well, the only alternatives I could see were to ride about 40 miles south to a ferry or take the interstate bridge, where bikes are not allowed. I called both the Missouri DOT and highway patrol to see what they recommended. After being passed to three different people, the highway patrol told me to just take the interstate bridge. This was comforting to me as I figured the bridge would be like an interstate – with wide lanes and a shoulder I could ride on. So I was excited when I saw the sign:

Then reality hit – the interstate bridge was 4 lanes with a one foot shoulder that had a sunken drain grate every few feet – so I would be riding on the road with all the traffic, and lots of big trucks!

I stood there staring at the bridge in fear for a good 10 minutes before getting up the guts to push off and go. By far the most terrifying 10 or however many minutes it was of the trip so far. I was riding in traffic as speeding cars and trucks jockeyed to pass me….but I made it and entered Illinois!

I rode down into Cairo, Illinois – which, by the way, is a very shady-looking place….a lot of loitering going on. At the other end of town I made the turn to cross the Ohio river and was met with a 2-lane bridge, with the same shoulder full of drains, that was actually longer than previous bridge! Noooooo! At least on this bridge no one would be passing me (unless there was no oncoming traffic), but I would be holding up all the bridge traffic going my way. This ride moved the Mississippi bridge to the #2 most terrifying 10 minutes and became #1.

But I made it to Kentucky – even if it was pedaling like hell with a semi breathing down my neck! I think my hair might be gray now. I rode about 15 more miles to the pretty little town of Wickliffe, where I decided to set up camp. There was a really nice park in town, and a quick call to the police department set up approval for me to camp there. By 7 I had picked up a couple of pulled pork sandwiches and some slaw from a a place called the Kentucky Hillbilly (very tasty) and a big coke from the convenience store – unfortunately it is a dry city 😦 , and was tucked away in my tent for the evening. I breathed a big sigh of relief.