Waking up at 7 this morning, I checked the weather. It was 48 degrees outside. Back to sleep.
I got packed up and on the road at 11. The motel owner had talked my ear off when I checked in but I managed to keep our conversation short as I left. It was a 15 mile ride through suburbs and then East St. Louis before crossing the Mississippi river into Missouri.
I made my way to the Gateway arch park and took a picture of my bike in front of the arch. There were tons of tourists but they all were right below the arch – I wanted a picture of the arch in the background so I went to the edge of the park. I was planning on asking someone to take a photo of me with my bike but it was entirely deserted, and I thought it was a great spot for a photo. Weird.
I decided to eat lunch at a brewery right next to the park, and it turned out there was some sort of festival going on. During lunch, the people sitting next to me were cyclists and they were impressed by how quickly I made it this far. The waitress then caught on and was pretty interested – apparently she rides casually. On my way out of the festival, some guys working a booth stopped me to ask questions and take a photo. St. Louis treated me pretty well.
It was a 20 mile ride through the city and the surrounding suburbs to connect to the Katy trail which will take me most of the way across Missouri. Once on the trail, I headed west and ran into a nice local cyclist who gave me recommendations for places to stay and eat. Unfortunately, labor day royally screwed up my plans. The restaurant was overflowing due to some event and the campground was completely full. I did notice one camp spot that was reserved but empty. I ate a dinner of trail mix at the park’s picnic area while waiting for darkness to set in, then pitched my tent in the reserved but empty spot. Hopefully I can get an early start tomorrow.
Today’s mileage: 63 miles.
Total: 1478 miles