Team 242: Day Eleven

Day 11: Carbondale/Murphysboro, IL to Union City, TN.  105.00 miles.

We spent the night in Carbondale, but our ride ended just south of Murphysboro.  This strategy had quite a few advantages.  1. We were able to utilize our 1st year method of chalking a 242 at our ending location.  This way we knew exactly where to start the next day so we wouldn't miss out on even an inch of riding.  2. We didn't have to ride into Carbondale which shaved some miles off of the day.  3. We were able to take 127 south instead of 51 (127 is scenic and 51 is double wide traffic).  4. Beloiter and current SIU grad student Karen Baumann lives in Carbondale and she offered the use of her washer and dryer.

After scenic 127 (please remember, I define 127 as scenic south of Murphysboro), we dropped into the Mississippi River valley and found ourselves in the suburbs of Cairo, Illinois.  Future City.  Or a city is planned to exist in this location in the future?

From the first ride, I remembered Cairo as a depressed community.  On par with Gary, Indiana from our Lake Michigan ride.  I really hoped we would enter Cairo and find a vibrant community making positive strides, but... not so much.  On a train bridge welcoming visitors into Cairo, a set of train cars had been switched onto a side track.  The cars directly above the road (thus the most visible) were rusted and in absolute disrepair.  John Bell's Award Store (offering trophies, certificates of achievement, and ribbons) was shuttered and next to it was John Bell's latest business venture: tombstones and headstones.  Since it was the 4th of July, it was difficult to tell if the businesses we saw were closed for the day or closed forever.  However, the liquor store was open and judging by the number of vehicles in the parking lot, business was booming.  And near the liquor store I watched a young man throw the wrapper from his cigars onto the ground.  He must not have read the sign.

After Cairo, we crossed the Mississippi River into Missouri.  After the first DBrowne ride, we started pronouncing Missouri as misery.  This year the weather was hotter (109 on Slovic's bike computer), but the road conditions were much better (smooth Missouri pavement... who knew it could happen?).  Though despite the improvements, we still couldn't find any trees to rest under.

Despite the barren landscape, we were ready to shower Missouri with compliments and remove the misery from the state.  But after following all of the signs that said "Ferry" (and with arrows), we arrived at the Mississippi River with no ferry in sight.

A lady who was there told us the ferry was closed due to low water.  So if the ferry was out, why was she there?  She was going to watch the fireworks that would take place across the river (she was at least 4-5 hours early).  I'd also like to point out that KRN checked MODOT's website to see if the ferry operated on the 4th of July and the website said the ferry was only closed on Christmas.  No warnings the ferry was closed.  And if you look closely there's a handwritten sign, but MODOT didn't bother to put any of those signs with their "Ferry" (and with arrows).  Jerks.

We thought about swimming across, but we remembered what happened 10 years ago when we played in the river.  We then thought about caulking the bicycles and floating across, but we've all played Oregon Trail and we know how that always turns out.  So I rode my bicycle to the river, dipped my wheel into the water and we loaded the vehicle and the trailer and drove north to Cairo following the same route we had just ridden.  I tried to close my eyes as much as possible so I wouldn't get transported back into the 55 mph world.  After a 1.5 hour detour, we arrived to the location where the ferry would have dropped us off.  So I dipped my wheels into the river again and had thoughts about taking the ferry for a joy ride on the river.

But no joy ride on the river, we had a bicycle (day) ride to finish.  14 miles later we were on the outskirts of Union City when a red Mustang made a quick u-turn in front of us.  The driver even gave us a fist salute out his window.  We assumed this must have been some sort of apology for the u-turn or, perhaps, it was just a Union City greeting to bicycle riders in spandex, but when the driver slowed down we discovered it was Dan from the church.  He drove out to find us so he could lead us to the church and we would not get lost.  We did not get lost.  And even better, Dan cooked a feast for us and had the pork, mashed potatoes, seasoned green beans, carrots, and bread all warmed up and waiting for us.  A delicious end to the day.

Track 11: Mates of State - Halves and Have-Nots.  We will laugh, we will laugh of how our nerves caught and held us down.