Day 6: 5/31/2022: Chester, IL to Meramec State Park

Pic below at Devils Kitchen Lake taken yesterday between Goreville and Murphysboro.

Last night I stayed at "Eagles Bicycle Shack", a bicycle hostel hosted by the Eagles Club (Fraternal Order of Eagles) in Chester (pics below).  Fortunately, I had the whole place to myself.

When I arrived at Chester yesterday I was hot and tired and decided to "belly up to the bar" at the Eagles Club and have an ice cold...

...and it hit the spot :)

I couldn't leave Chester without taking a picture of Popeye (pic below).  E.C. Segar, the creator of Popeye, was born in Chester.  I just wonder how many kids nowadays even know Popeye.  🎶I'm strong to the finich, cause I eat me spinach. I'm Popeye the sailor man.🎶

Pic below of the bridge I used to cross the Mississippi River.  I woke up at 5 a.m. this morning to try to beat some traffic over the bridge.  It seemed to work as there was not a lot of traffic on the bridge.  You really understand how wide the Mississippi is when you bicycle across it.

Woohoo!!! I made it to the "Show Me" state.

The last 2 days I have been riding on U.S. Bicycle Route 76.  It has been a really nice route with definite perks, such as agreements for lodging for cyclists arranged by Adventure Cycling Association.

Today after I crossed the Mississippi River I left USBR 76 at St Mary, MO, and began heading more north.  

At St Mary, I actually got on the Mississippi River Trail (MRT) bicycle route for awhile (pic below).

St Mary is a very small one flashing light town.  It was so quiet that I found myself mesmerized watching their flashing light below.

I went through Ste. Genevieve, and this is the first time I have biked there. Some pics below.

Pic of a beautiful valley below.  View is nice, but unfortunately I-55 goes through the valley so there was a lot of traffic noise.

A few pics around DeSoto, MO.

DeSoto, even though small, has some outdoor pickleball courts. I'm a little jealous.

A few pics of Richwoods, MO.  The town has almost completely dried up, but it still has a nice Catholic church.

This afternoon most of the roads I was on looked similar to the pic below.

After a long day, I finally made it to Meramec State Park. When I pulled into the park, a directional sign indicated the campground was 2.8 miles away.  I wasn't expecting that.  In addition to that, after about a mile, I had to climb a BIG hill with 100 miles already on my legs to get to the campground.  Sure wasn't expecting that either:(

Total miles today: 102.2