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Day 37 – Murphysboro to Elizabethtown

Posted by Alan on Mon, 12th Jul, 2010.
Filed under: Illinois

Mon 12th July 2010

Last night I was unable to find my gore tex jacket. On the way back from the shop yesterday our box of breakfast cereal fell out of my pannier and I picked it up. I thought that maybe my jacket fell out at the same time but I didn’t see it on the road and Chris, who was not far behind me, didn’t see it either. This morning I checked the road all the way back to the shop with no joy. I now think I may not have packed it away when I took it off at the start of the day. Either way I have no coat for the rest of the ride. I hope the weather stays nice!

We still set off at 6:30am this morning with the intention of getting to Elizabethtown. The roads were reasonably good and we had some cloud cover as well as sunshine so the conditions were good for cycling. We even had a tail wind at times. It was still very humid though and felt hot whenever we stopped. Not far into the day we passed Adam who was cycling the other way. He set out from New York (his home town) and was heading west. We chatted to him for a while and he told us about good lodgings at the Baptist Church in Sebree. We plan to stay there tomorrow so it was good to hear his recommendation.

We then met Ed another cyclist travelling in the same direction as us. He’s cycling up to Boston to see his son and was heading for the same place as us tonight.

The Illinois countryside is very well kept and was a pleasure to cycle through. I really enjoyed my day today (apart from having no jacket) on the bike and I thought it was quite a flat ride. Chris didn’t enjoy it at all and passed his day by counting the hills. The grand total was 146. So I guess that together with the total climbing today makes it a hilly day today after all. It’s funny how you don’t notice the hills when your enjoying yourself.

We arrived in Elizabethtown at about 4:00pm and managed to get the very last room at the B&B. A group of 5 cyclists turning up later were disappointed not to get a room. The only other place, a hotel opposite, was also fully booked. Our B&B is fantastic and Sue & Bruce who run it our great. Because we want to leave early Sue is getting up to cook our breakfast. She asked if we like pancakes, bacon, sausages and fruit. Sounds good to me.

They also recommended the local restaurant on the river. So we hooked up with Ed, the cyclist we met earlier, and headed down to try the local catfish. At the restaurant they had a special, as much as you can eat for $10. So we ate two big plates of catfish, baked beans, wedges and coleslaw. Ed then insisted on paying for our dinner so we hope we can repay him over the next few days. The food was excellent and the catfish was locally caught from the river. A memorable evening.

Tomorrow we will have a short day, about 50 miles to Sebree. After Sebree there’s nothing for about 60 miles so it’s the sensible choice and will put us back on schedule again. Sue has just brought me a Bud Light, I like this place.

Daily Mileage – 990.2 miles

Time in Saddle – 7 hrs 48 mins

Total Climbing – 5,199 ft