As I was breaking down camp, I noticed what I thought was two bugs hanging off my back tire. At first I thought they were mating, but on closer inspection I saw that the bottom bug was just a dried out shell - it was a metamorphous !! I carefully picked the bug and it's shell off my tire and placed them on a nearby tree to complete their change. I am sure this must be some sort of sign ...
On my way through town I stopped at Don's barbershop and got a haircut. Don is an interesting guy, and it is great having a buzz-cut again.
Next I rode to the Family Steakhouse for breakfast. While eating my omelet, I talked with a nice older guy about my route for today. The Adventure Cycling maps had me heading West and zig-zagging all over, and it hardly passed thru any towns.
The old fellow said the roads on the maps were narrow and hilly - it sounded a lot like the roads I did yesterday. He suggested I ride South on Hwy 21 instead. I did some checking on my iPhone maps, and the route to Cape Girardeau using his route would save me over 50 miles compared to the Adventure Cyclist route, and on less hilly roads. 50 miles is a lot to me, about one days ride. So I decided to head South on Hwy 21, instead of the Hwy P on my maps.
Hwy 21 turned out to be a great road. The traffic wasn't too bad, and there was a nice 2-5 foot shoulder for about 35 miles. I saw lots of interesting things, like old trucks, an elementary school with domes made out of tarps, an old wagon, a log house jail, and more. The scenery was much, much nicer than yesterday.
I also had a little tail wind, and there were not any killer hills like there were yesterday. The weather was pretty cool, too, compared to a few days ago. I could climb most hills today in my middle chainring, at 8-10 mph. Yesterday I had to downshift into the small chainring and granny gear for almost every hill, at 3-4 mph.
I got a telephone call from Jim and Tom, two good buddies and colleagues at Tallahassee Community College. They were worried I wouldn't be back in time to teach my classes this Fall - Ha ! I told them I'm planning to call in sick the first three weeks of classes !
Just before I reached Ironton MO, I stopped at the Elephant Rocks State Park. What a neat place - it was only a mile hike, and the granite rocks were fantastic. They looked like a line of elephants walking by. A really neat thing I found was some old graffiti with my last name "Kerwin" on one of the rocks. It wasn't dated, but looked as old as some of the graffiti that was dated 1918. I wonder if it was done by one of my relatives, many years ago ?
I stopped at the McDonalds in Pilot Knob MO and ate a late lunch. In Ironton I turned west on Hwy 72. It was newly tarred and graveled, with no shoulder. Luckily the traffic was very light. Just before getting into Fredricktown there was a detour around bridge construction across Hwy 67, but I was able to walk my bicycle around the barriers and thru the construction.
I got in to Fredricktown about 7:30 pm and checked into the Madison Inn Motel. I had a nice talk with the owner, Elanja, and I believe we ended up solving all of the World's problems. Next it was off to town where I picked up some dinner and then I did laundry and took a much needed shower.
I had a great day, and it was fun venturing off-route !!
