July 29 - Vandalia, OH to Hannibal, MO - 460 miles

There had been strong thunder storm activity through the night and into the early morning at Norm and Kay's home in Vandalia, Ohio.  By the time we had eaten breakfast and I was ready to leave on the motorcycle, most of the rain activity had slowed down at least.  However, as I started on my way, all suited up in my rain gear, more rain came along the way.  As a result, I rode in the rain (sometimes light to moderate, sometimes heavy) for about 80 miles, until I got close to Indianapolis.  At a gas stop close to Indianapolis the cash register clerk said they had abut an inch of rain yesterday.  Then I ran out of the band of rain which had blanketed the Ohio Valley for two days.

(Oh yes, Norm did stay home this time, so it's just Deane riding across the U.S. to get home now.)

My route was to take me completely across Indiana and Illinois.  After the rain, I ran on two-lane highway through the farms for the rest of the day.  It was a very pretty route, with lots of big fields of corn and soy beans.  In fact, it seemed like the whole of Indiana and Illinois was just a two-crop area - corn and beans, corn and beans, corn and beans!  Where do those people get all of the other foods they need?

I did have one very bad detour that took me way out off my route.  On Highway 36, a major East-West route, a detour took me way south and then back, about a 30-mile detour.  I'm afraid I said some bad things about the ancestry of the people who planned the detour.

Western Illinois was interesting in that more rolling hills were there, and the crops got thinner and thinner.  Then I crossed the Mississippi River, at Hannibal, Missouri.  What a sight!  The river is quite broad there, with very high bridges cross the river, apparently to allow high shipping to pass.

So, here I am in Hannibal, Missouri, the birth place of Mark Twain.  After dinner I rode down to the "Historic Hannibal" area and enjoyed the restorations of many buildings in that tourist trap.  Business had names like "Becky Thatcher Restaurant", "Steamboat Annie's Gift Shop", "Mrs. Clemmons' Shoppes", "Pudd 'n Heads Restaurant", and so on.  It is a fun area.  I also visited "Cardiff Hill", where Tom and Huck and their gang played.

This area of old town is right on the Mississippi River - maybe one block off the river, as it was in Samuel Clemmons day.  As I rode down to a modern boat harbor, a big tug came down the river, pushing several barges with railroad cars on them.  Now I know I'm on the Mississippi once again.

All in all, despite the rain it was a good riding and sight seeing day.

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