September 9: Crossing the Mississipi; 48 miles

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Guest Sag drivers Janet and Tina ready to serve!


Yesterday was a wonderful rest day in St. Charles Missouri.  St Charles is a wonderful small town on the banks of the Missouri River directly across from St. Louis.  The cobblestone streets and quaint shops made for a wonderful atmosphere for wandering and exploring.  

Our dear friends Tina and Janet drove all the way from Virginia to visit and spend a day sagging for BEBA phase III.  

We ventured into St. Louis to visit the Arch and museum.  Pete made a delicious moroccan dinner.  Janet brought homemade bread and COOKIES! for us.  After dinner, Sue and Pete entertained us with music.  Such a lovely day.


Tina and Janet enjoying a song.


We were saddened to lose yet another BEBA rider today.  Sue needed to fly home today......great sadness was felt all around.  Sue brought a great deal of silliness, fun, and entertainment to our group.  She's an awesome rider and has legs of steel!.  We will miss her dearly.

Janet and Tina brightened our day by graciously offering to sag for the day!  Hooray and Yipee.  It meant that the 3 leftovers could ride across the mighty Mississippi together and into Illinois.....another state border!  They met us on the otherside of the Mississipi for a delightful lunch.  They bid us farewell and took our car over to our lodgings for the night.  Thank you Janet and Tina you were our trail angels today!

The ride today was wonderful, dangerous, and perfect.  We finished the Katy Trail (hooray!) and became "End to Enders (yippee).  It was a fun experience and one on my personal bucket list. 



From there we headed to the Mississippi.  The rural route was pleasant until we neared the bridge and needed to merge onto a highway.  Although there was a generous shoulder, it was littered with a great deal of FOD (foreign object debris)!  About midway into the bridge approach we were notified of bridge construction which brought our shoulder down to 1 foot and then none at all, forcing us to ride in the opposite shoulder against traffic.  At one point we needed to wait for a break in 60 mph traffic so that we could cross back into the regular lane and proceed across the bridge.  😬😳.  The whole experience was quite exhilarating.  






Once on the eastern side of the Mississipi, we found the most amazing network of bike trails.  With the exception of an ugly 5 mile stretch along the refinery, we spent the afternoon on shaded, well maintained trails.......GO Illinois (it is my home state after all).  

UGLY


A great start to phase III.  BEBA 3.0.  Looks like we should be home first part of October.  Whatever will we find to do with ourselves then????


 

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