June 22 - Dallas City to Keithsburg, IL (46 mi.)

Doris fixed me a nice breakfast and rode with me to the edge of Dallas City. Jess' bike had a flat so he wasn't able to go. What tremendous hosts!

I met Eric in Dallas City at the designated place and time. I think he'd been there a while. I left at about 8:15 AM and headed for Lomax. At Lomax I had alternate directions provided by Jess that would keep me off of Carmen Road which the local cycling group has designated as unsuitable for cycling. However, since I'd followed the Adventure Cycling map before without incident and since it was Sunday morning, I chose to just go up Carmen Road to US34. There is a convenience store there that I would have missed otherwise and there were no other services the rest of the way to Kiethsburg. The traffic was light and all the drivers courteous. It turned out to be a good decision as I NEEDED the convenience store by the time I got there (enough said). I then had to ride about a mile east on US34 which normally has high traffic and no shoulder on this section. Again, probably because it was Sunday morning, the traffic volume was not so bad and the drivers very courteous. The rest of the way to Kiethsburg was pretty quiet and I passed the Henderson Covered Bridge.

Me at the Henderson Covered Bridge

 Other than the bridge there wasn't much in particular to look at most of the way though I enjoyed the ride. There was a bit of a tailwind most of the day so I made good time and arrived in Kiethsburg at 12:30 PM. I've been sitting in the Eagles Nest all afternoon eating lunch, watching drag racing on TV and checking tomorrow's route to my sister Deb's house outside of Milan, IL. I'm really looking forward to seeing her (and Randy of course). A thunderstorm also rolled through. I'm planning to camp tonight and it sounds like I have a good chance of getting rained on. Really, once I'm in the tent, I don't mind the rain. It's sort of soothing so long as the storm is not severe.

Tomorrow off to Deb and Randy's; not sure the exact mileage but somewhere around 50.