Got out late this morning. The blogger wouldn't accept all my pictures last night so I had to get up this morning and finish posting. Took about an hour, but, what the heck, ya gotta publish or perish, huh?
Pulled out on US160E from West Plains about 9:30 a.m.
The ride to Poplar Bluff is a fun ride on this road. It's the usual two-lane, but winds quite a bit with 35-45 mph marked turns. On the bike, and traffic allowing that's 50-65 mph unless you're one of the crotch rocket riders. If you're a crotch-rocket rider it's somewhere between 60 mph and DNMC (Did Not Make Curve).To add to your riding pleasure the hills and dells here cause some interesting road building procedures. There are quite a few areas where at speeds around 70 mph it's like a roller coaster. There'll be four hills each cresting higher than the last and the road drops out from under you at the top of each. Further, quite often the last crest is on a turn...a blind turn. You see the curve sign with the suggested speed (35-45 mph) but you crest the hill and the road drops out and turns. That's why I held the speeds to that I was sure would leave both wheels on the ground. You could pretty easily go airborne in these, but I decided that wasn't such a good idea. Very little traction in air.
Nice scenic little stop on the Eleven Point River in Riverton, MO. Had a bathroom. Didn't have a flush handle. Didn't stay long.
Took US60E out of Poplar Bluff. This road is much like that on US160 but less curvy and hilly, flattening out toward Sikeston. I took US61/62S to New Madrid.
New Madrid sits on a unique bend of the Mississippi.
The largest series of earthquates ever to hit the U.S. centered in this area in 1811/12. It actually changed the course of the river. The area was critical during the civil war as a jumping off place to drive Confederate Gen. P.T. Beauregard from his fortifications of Island No. 10 a short distance downstream. U.S. Grant, in his memoirs, mentions being in New Madrid several times.
Downtown New Madrid looking from the top of the dyke protecting the city from the waters of the Mississippi.
On the dock at New Madrid looking south down the Mississippi in the direction of Island Number 10.
(The island in the picture is not Island Number 10)
Looking north toward Cairo, Il.
It's cotton-picking time down south.
Cotton isn't King anymore, but there's a lot of it. And, good news if you are a cotton farmer, it's subsidized by the government.
Ironically, Ely Whitney's 1793 invention of the cotton gin revolutionized the southern cotton industry making slavery a fully viable economic system. If one is really looking at the person most responsible for the civil war, it would probably be Ely Whitney.
Jumped on I-55N back to I-57E at Sikeston. On I-57E for a few miles before taking US60E again.
Destination: Cairo, Illinois.US60E crosses the Mississippi and the Ohio rivers within two miles of each other. In the middle is Cairo, Illinios. Grant also stopped in Cairo several times during his travels down the Mississippi to take Ft. Henry, Ft. Donelson, and Vicksburg.
Customs House - Cairo, IL
Construction began 1865, completed in 1872.
BAC (Big-Assed Canon) at the Customs House.
This Rodman smooth-bore cannon saw action with both sides in the civil war at Fort Morgan, Mobile, Ala. It was used by the Confederates in 1861 and, after Fort Morgan was captured, by Union forces in 1864.
Cairo mansion built 1865
Across the street a neighbor, built 1867.
Betsy-the-Kaw classing up the neighborhood, 2007.
Pulled out of Cairo, back on US60E.
Mississippi River bridge US60E
Mississippi River bridge.
You can just make out the Ohio River bridge in the picture to the left.
(Click to enlarge)
Ohio River, US60E, just outside Cairo, Il.
Unfortunately, the bridge was under construction and only one lane was open so traffic was heavy and taking pictures before the bridge was impossible.
My plan was to take I-24 toward Madisonville, Ky, prepatory to getting a new front tire in Evansville, Indiana tomorrow morning. Jumped on I-24 okay, but "music by lane" got me and I forgot to take the turn off to the Wendell Ford Parkway out of Eddyville. "Music by Lane" you ask? Yeah, it's a theory the comedian Gallagher proposed. He thought it was okay to be listening to Lawrence Welk if you were on the access road, but you needed to speed it up whenever you enter the on ramp to the freeway. A little Rolling Stones, say, in the first traffic lane; but if you were in the far left lane you better be J.Giles'ing it.
I was pedaling along with the Moody Blues doing The Story in Your Eyes. Who can pay attention at a time like that? So, I missed the turn. Then came Joe Cocker's long version of Feeling Alright (from Mad Dogs and Englishmen), and I forgot to care. I determined that at speed of 75 mph Betsy's pipes were perfectly synchronized to the beat of the song. It was magical. One don't have time for turn-offs during magic. I actually felt the earth move...or, perhaps, it was my foot. I can't be sure. All I know is one pays for it later.
I finally realized my problem when I saw a sign that said: "Nashville - 77 Miles." You see, Nashville's in Tennessee and I wasn't (supposed) to be going there. The next exit was SR117N to Gracey, KY. I took it to Gracey, joining US68E there to Hopkinsville. Circled Hopkinsville and took the Perryville (??) parkway north to Madisonville.
Quick, how do you pronounce the capital of Kentucky? Is is Loueyville, or Luisville?
Actually, it's Frankfort.
Tomorrow, Indiana and a new front tire. Then? I think west toward Springfield, Ill and Abe's place.
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