DAY TWENTY-SIX: St. Louis, MO

June 27, 2007
Chester, IL to St. Louis, MO
~65 miles

Today’s forecast: Sunny in the morning with a chance of rain later

A simple breakfast bagels, cream cheese, cereal, etc.

The thought of reaching St. Louis certainly excited and motivated everyone today. With only one small directional issue (a missed street), the route was pretty solid. Mostly flat roads.

The first highlight of the day was riding alongside a few enormous mines. It was a sudden shock that each of us experienced as we were hit by 50 degree gusts of cold air flowing from the openings in the rock face beside the road. Liz and I decided to venture into one square opening in the mine. As we walked deeper and deeper into the cold, misty, pitch-black mine, we began to feel as if we were in Lord of the Rings, walking into a endless abyss. After hearing some weird sounds, our curiosity was satisfied and retraced our steps back to the mouth of the mine.

Back on the bike, lunch wasn’t too far away.

But, without question, the best part of the day was entering East St. Louis (ironically), because as we reached the peak of the bridge, we each caught our first glimpse of the St. Louis Arch. And after crossing the Mississippi River via Eeds bridge, it was official, we had reached the “West.”

We stayed in the GIGANTIC Third Baptist Church, where we were ate with community members at their weekly cafeteria-style dinner (right before choir practice and other meetings).

Ben and Morgen took over the slide-show, and they were a great team, informing and entertaining everyone.]