Day 7: 7/30/24: Goreville IL to Marion KY

Today's ride continued through the hilly country of Illinois and about 12 miles into Kentucky.  I was on U.S. Bike Route 76 the entire day, and have ridden this route a few times.

Below are a couple of pics of the Ohio River taken at Elizabethtown IL.

Loni Jo gave us a lift across the Ohio River and I entered into Kentucky.  The Ohio River is my third and last major river crossing this trip.  I crossed the Missouri River at St Charles, the Mississippi River at St Louis, and now the Ohio River at Cave-In-Rock.  The only other somewhat large river crossing I have left is the Cumberland River near Grand Rivers, KY.

I made it to Marion and ate at La Delicia, the Mexican restaurant I almost always eat at when I ride to Marion.  I'm staying at the Marion Methodist Church, and this will be about the 4th time I have stayed here.  They have a ministry that accommodates traveling cyclists.  They have numerous Guest Logs going back a number of years identifying cyclists that have stayed at the church (pic below).

This area had an excessive heat warning today (pic below).  The heat was almost unbearable while climbing hills this afternoon.  I am enjoying sitting inside an air conditioned building writing this blog.  Also, currently there is a thunderstorm rolling through the area, so I appreciate being inside and not having to deal with that.

Brian, the man that came and let me into the church, told me a little about the dark side of this area.  He said his wife is from here, and is a descendant of a person who shot and killed a man named James (Jim) Ford.  He said some of this history is covered in a book called " Satan's Ferryman."

Below is a little information about Ford from Wikipedia.  Ford was an American civic leader and business owner in western Kentucky and southern Illinois from the late 1790s to mid-1830s. Despite his clean public image as a "Pillar of the Community", Ford was secretly a river pirate and the leader of a gang that was later known as the "Ford's Ferry Gang". His men were the river equivalent of highway robbers. They hijacked flatboats and Ford's "own river ferry" for tradable goods from local farms that were coming down the Ohio River.

Total miles today: 75.0