Missouri is cool

Today was a journey. Crossed the Mississippi via the old chain of rocks bridge, which didn’t open until 9am, unbeknownst to me. So I had to twiddle my thumbs for over an hour, and aimlessly ride around, which didn’t make me too happy having woken up early in order to have spare time during my ride.

Anyways, rode along the river then past the gateway arch, through St Louis west in a snaking route, seeing very different parts of the city, then west through some honestly really wealthy towns with names such as “Town and Country” and street names such as “Manors Way”. It was a nicely maintained and marked road, but hilly. Missouri is hilly, at least this southern region.

Then I descended into Rock Hollow, which was amazing. Felt like a theme park ride, as it was all downhill for miles and I could just coast at whatever speed I wanted. I saw a deer and the whole place smelled ancient. This was one of the most unique experiences of the trip so far. Glad I wasn’t following my paper maps this section, or else I wouldn’t have seen it. Met some ghost hunters and gave one of them water because she needed it, as they were climbing up the hill.

Then it was back on the roads to conquer one last largest hill of the day (a preview of hills to come) before the last stretch to my campground. Pulling in, I noticed another biker, who says he’s from LA heading to NYC. I’ll have to go talk with him after posting this.