July 26, 2018
Farmington – Carbondale
161 km (100 miles)
1328 m (4356 feet) elevation
6:13 moving time
5107 km (3174 miles)
Today was a beautiful riding day, one of the best so far. The weather was cool until in the afternoonwhen it reached 34° celcius with very high humidity. The road surface was silky smooth for long stretches and we had very limited traffic except for a short stretch of road where one semi-truck did his best to try to run Saemi of the road. Probably our only real ‘close call’ so far and hopefully our last. Asshat driver!
As we ride farther into east Missouri the houses are becoming nicer and there is less trash along the side of the road. The cars are also newer and cleaner.
At the motel we stayed at last night there was a family that has followed our blog. Didn’t get to meet them but the guy at the reception told us that they had asked for us but he wasn’t allowed to give out our room number. Weird coincidence that they were at the same hotel.
We crossed over another state-line which is always fun (except when we entered Kansas 😂). We have completed Missouri and entered Illinois with only two more states to ride (Kentucky and Virginia).
We had really nice conversations with many people today. Talked for a long time with a fireman who is riding his Harley across America and was interested in coming to Iceland and finding a girlfriend.
We had lunce in Chester, the hometown of Popeye. The owner of a brewery sat down at our table for a long time to chat which was really nice. He has done parts of the TransAm and this summer finished the Dirty Kanza 200 mile gravel race.
Riders on the TransAm get a free beer at the brewery which Saemi couldn’t turn down even though he is hardly drinking any beer on the trip. Beer is good but it isn’t the best sports hydration. We had our picture taken and it was posted on the brewery’s Facebook page as we were their first TransAm riders. Had the best burger ever so far!
We had planned on staying in Murphysboro but heard that the motel there was dirty and had bedbugs so we decided to ride a bit further to Carbondale. On that extra 15 km ride it started to rain which is the first time in 43 days that we have had rain. It was actually quite nice as it cooled us down.
Went to two bike shops in Carbondale for new front tires but neither had the right size. When inside it really started to pour and then came the lightning and thunder so because the store was closing we had to wait it out under an awning of a store.
We had an insightful comment on our blog post yesterday where we discussed religion and guns: ‘You are in the Bible Belt where there are a lot of practicing Christians. I think a lot of rural people are more cautious and maybe distrustful. They may have less proximity to law enforcement. So they feel the need to have guns for protection.‘
Icicle-Bicycle 
Have a safe bike ride to Yorktown Virgina!
Enjoyed riding with Robert today.
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Sorry we missed you. Would have been fun riding with you!
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Congrats for making it to IL! To me, Kansas and Missouri were the most challenging part of the trip and you have them in your rear view mirror! Your lack of rain matches our same situation on our crossing on a Northern route split between early summer ’17 and late May/early June this year. We actually had less than 5 hours of rain in 41 days of riding! This after investing in all of the Ortlieb waterproof backpacking gear! You guys have definitely dodged some bullets though. I came across this piece today in the Washington Post regarding US weather in the last week. Check it out to see what you’ve been missing:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/capital-weather-gang/wp/2018/07/25/extreme-jet-stream-pattern-has-spurred-a-week-of-wild-weather-in-u-s/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.decf5bae8610
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Wow, we have really been lucky. Today was another wonderful day of riding. Beautiful weather!
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Greetings from central Kentucky,
At the rate you are riding it appears that you will be in my area on Sunday. If you think you will be staying some place between Hudson (east of Rough River State Park) and Springfield, Kentucky I would be happy to meet you for a short visit. I could bring some snacks, fruit and other items you might need as well as offer information on what is ahead on your ride. If you encounter any problems my phone number is 270-352-7090. Perhaps someone would let you use their cell phone to make the call. I recently helped a transam rider in western Kentucky who had two broken spokes and have met many other riders over the years. I would certainly understand if you do not wish to meet, having had that feeling on my own tours. Your time in camp or in a motel is limited, especially with the long daily distances you are covering. I will be monitoring your blog and wish you all the best.
Bruce Thompson
Elizabethtown, Kentucky
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Hi Bruce,
Thanks for the offer. We would like to meet you if both of our schedules line up. Let’s stay in touch after tomorrow’s ride 🙂
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Greetings and goodbyes from Illinois.
You passed through the farthest part of the state from me here in Chicago.
If closer, I would have been happy to visit with you.
Nonetheless, reading your blog is quite heartwarming and wonderful.
Thanks for posting so much!
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Jerry , we absolutely loved riding through Illinois. The scenery was beautiful, the people friendly and the weather was great. Only issue were the hills! The were so many and so steep! 😂 we would have loved to spend more time riding through Illinois.
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