August 7- Ozora, Mo. To Murphysboro, Ill.

A long and varied day, with a couple of milestones.

Once again, a large patch of thunderstorms came through during the night, and we were in the middle of it when we woke up; the lightning was past but it was still raining hard. We began to think about a Plan B for the day, since Plan A was for a 60-mile trek to Murphysboro. The only shorter option was 20 miles to Chester, Ill, but we weren't even sure we could get on the road at all. We might be stuck another 24 hours in a crummy motel with no sports on TV and rain in the forecast for all the next week.

Happpily, the rain did let up, and we got on the road at 10:30, hoping we could at least get to Chester before the next patch of thunderstorms caught us. The roads were wet, and Missouri threw a few last good little hills at us. We emerged onto the flat floodplain of the Mississippi under cloudy skies but no more rain.

We had been warned by another cyclist that the narrow 2-lane Chester bridge across the Mississippi was not ideal for bikes, but we got a break: there was construction on the bridge and traffic was limited to one direction at a time. So we had plenty of room for our crossing into Illinois.

Chester is a large blue-collar river port town which prides itself on being the hometown of Popeye's creator. We stopped for lunch at the first cafe we found, and thought about our plan for the afternoon while we ate. The weather radar was clear and neither of us was willing to stop for the day, especially with the possibility of bad weather for the next several days. The next possible stop was still Murphysboro, 39 miles, with a choce of two routes. One tracked away from the river on quiet country roads. The alternate sounded more interesting to us, following the levee, with fewer hills but also with a warning of "moderate to heavy traffic." Little did we know that the state highway along the river was a major route for trucks carrying coal to a barge depot five miles from Chester. The line of trucks was almost continuous and the road was just wide enough for two trucks to pass but no room for us. A couple of times we were crowded off the road entirely. It was so tough going that each of us was silently considering turning back to Chester. But once we got past the barge depot the trucks disappeared and it was pleasant riding. Soon after, we turned onto a smaller road and then up onto the levee itself. We rode that for several miles with the river on our right and large corn and soybean fields stretching away across the floodplain on our left.

About 4 o'clock we stopped for a cold soda at a bar and grill at the little town of Neuner, where the locals warned us not to get caught near there after dark. I thought maybe it was a Deliverance thing, but they meant that the mosquitos would carry us away.

The road remained flat almost all the way to Murphysboro and we made good time. This was the first time of the entire trip that we had a stretch of smooth flat road without wind.

In the marshes along the levee we saw quite a few white egrets. Though common at home, tese were the first we've seen on this trip, Great blue herons are to be seen everywhere.

By the time we reached Murphysboro and found a motel it was after six o'clock, so we showered and walked to a nearby Mexican restaurant for a relaxing drink and dinner.

Today's milestones: we crossed the Mississippi River, we went over 3000 miles for the trip so far, and we finished the ninth week of our trip. 3024 miles, 96,252 feet of climbing.

The first picture below is looking back across the Mississippi at Missouri. The other is the levee and a big coal depot. Trains and trucks bring coal from mines in the area where the coal is piled up and then moved by conveyor over the levee to barges on the river. The coal pile in view is the smallest of about six. One more picture- all through Missouri, there were road signs marking our route as part of the proposed U.S. Cycling Route system. The signs were very helpful, and we hope other states follow suit.