Up until today everything had gone exactly as planned. Even last Thursday when morning thunderstorms
in Jackson appeared to threaten my plans to ride in Mississippi, they ended
early enough that I was able to get in both the Natchez Trace Parkway ride and
the ride that afternoon in Shreveport.
Today the plan was to ride off Choteau Island and pick up the
Madison County Trail down the Illinois side of the Mississippi River about 12
miles to the McKinley Bridge to cross over to St. Louis. Then the plan was to ride up the Riverfront
Trail on the Missouri side of the river, and cross the Chain of Rocks Bridge,
the former Route 66 span that is now for pedestrians and cyclists only,
returning to the car at the parking lot on the Illinois side.
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| On the road leading to the former Route 66 Bridge |
| People Used to "Get Their Kicks on Route 66" |
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| The road off the Island was part of Route 66 |
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| This is not the Chain of Rocks Bridge. This is the bridge off Choteau Island where the Chain of Rocks Bridge begins/ends. |
Very early on in the ride I lost the trail and ended up on a
local road through a semi-rural area.
After several miles I saw a utility crew and asked them if they knew
where the trail was. One of the guys
said I should turn around and go about ¼ of a mile back where I’d see it cross
the road. Somehow I’d missed it on my
way down. The trail at points ended up
using local streets with turns not always well marked. Eventually I made it to the point where the
trail goes along the river to the McKinley Bridge, but there was a sign that
the trail was closed while an 18 month reconstruction projects was being done
on a railroad bridge that crosses the Mississippi, and which the trail passes
under. I hunted for an alternate route
and finally rode about three miles on a highway shoulder to reach the
bridge. The bicycle trail across the
bridge used what had apparently been a railroad right of way at one time. The Gateway Arch, downtown St. Louis, and the
twin towers of a highway bridge that each looked like the arch were all visible
from the bridge.
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| The suspension bridge with arch-like towers crosses the Mississippi and the Gateway Arch is seen at the right. This view is from the McKinley Bridge. |
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| The Gateway Arch |
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| The bicycle and pedestrian section of the McKinley Bridge |
When I reached the St. Louis side I headed for the
Riverfront Trail to head north to the Chain of Rocks Bridge, but part of the
trail was closed just like the one on the Illinois side. So I headed north on the bike lane on Broadway,
past basically an industrial area. It
became obvious that I was slowly moving away from the river. I asked a man, about my age, who had just
gotten out of his car how to get back over to the river. He gave methe directions and then said, “That
will be $2.00.” I assumed he was kidding
so I joked back, “Put it on my account.” He responded that I didn’t have an
account and that I’d have to give him the $2.00. I’d never had an experience like that. I said, “I’ll send it to you,” and pedaled
away as quickly as I could.
After several more miles of riding through industrial areas
I reached the Riverfront Trail. The
night before it had rained heavily and there were puddles and patches of
mud. Unfortunately one of the mud
patches was a bit deeper than it looked and I ended up with thick mud all over
the bike. In fact it was so thick on the
wheels that it fouled up the brakes and as the bike moved it picked up dirt on
the trail and turned it into mud. I had
to stop, pick up some branches and work for about 20 minutes to get enough of
the mud off the bike that the wheels would turn. I should have taken a picture to post here,
but I was too focused on trying to get enough mud off the bike to ride it, that
I never thought about using the camera. Finally,
when I got back to the hotel (it’s a good thing I had asked for a late
checkout) they turned on their outside hose so I could somewhat clean off the
bike. That thick mud clung to the bike
like concrete and I must have been spraying the bike for at least 15 minutes!
On the Chain of Rocks Bridge there were a few artifacts from
Route 66 which were a nice touch.
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| Entrance to the Chain of Rocks Bridge |
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| Crossing the Bridge |
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| Route 66 artifacts on the bridge |
So even though the day did not work out quite like it was
planned, I did get two more states, Illinois and Missouri, bringing the total
to 41. Tomorrow is a 30+ mile loop from
South Bend through parts of Indiana and Michigan leaving seven states for next
year!
Thanks for following along.
There will be another post about tomorrow’s ride, possibly one more
since I’ll get to do a short ride in Ontario, and then sometime this coming
weekend a wrap-up of this trip.
Here’s the data from today’s mudfest!
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