It seems like we are taking an unusually long time to get across Kentucky and it is. We did do the Mammoth Cave loop which added 80 miles of additional riding and we have been plagued by too many short riding days. At least too many short days is my opinion. We are finally saying good bye to Kentucky and had mostly a pleasant ride downhill hill to the Ohio River to catch a ferry into Illinois. Once in Illinois we had to visit the Cave-in-the-Rock. I missed this feature last year and it is pretty cool I am glad that I did take the 2 extra miles to see it.
After cave in the rock it was onto Goreville. Southern Illinois is not flat. It is up and down, up and down, and up and down. The rest of the state may be flat but this part is not. In addition resources are scarce.
We made it to the church in Goreville and Amador was already there waiting to get inside. So was Steve another solo cyclists from Oregon. Steve was a rather talkative person and after a long hot day we did not have much patience for his stories. Sorry Steve. The church in Goreville had an even smaller space to sleep than did the place in Marion. I was able to score a place at the end of hallway next to the furnace room. It was dark and cool there and I was away from the others who were snoring up a storm all night long. I got a good night of sleep.
Today’s stats: total mileage 72.57 miles, average speed 11.8 mph, elevation gain 4908 feet, elevation descent 4724 feet, maximum speed 37.3 mph.