Mississippi River

Day 43: 57 miles - Last night when we got into Chester, a guy in a truck offered us a place to camp at the Fraternal Order of the Eagle. I didn't really know what to expect but he promised a free shower so we promptly followed. Turns out that this was the place to be on a Thursday night in Chester. We finally bedded down once things had died down a bit and other than the several bursts of screaming seranade from the drunk girls on the porch, slept pretty soundly.

We were up early the next morning and were rolling by 6:45. The route took us south a bit along the Mississippi River Levee, giving us some nice easy miles to start the day. Before we were 40 miles in, we were already feeling the effects of the heat and the past few hard days, so we decided to take the afternoon off in Carbondale, IL. We spent the day in air-conditioned buildings, hydrating, and then eventually rolled out to a state park campground on Little Grassy Lake about 7 miles outside of town. There was just enough daylight left when we got there to take a dip in the lake before throwing some steaks on the fire to finish out a much needed afternoon off.