This was the first cold morning I've woken up to. It was nice to be out of the heat for a bit. I slept in a little since I knew this was going to be an easier day. I even snuck in another outdoor shower while I could.

Most of the steepness of Illinois had passed yesterday apparently, there was a lot of it to be fair. Today was gentle and before I knew it I was getting up to the Crab Orchard wildlife reserve that has that closed road I was warned of. Everyone else before me had been allowed through or went through while the crews weren't working so I followed their lead. Some of the road wasn't sealed but I had it to myself for most of it. Eventually I came up to a park ranger and he waved me down, he allowed me to go through but told me to send messages back as far as I could that they didn't want cyclists coming through that way. I carried on through, heading past workers building new barricades and emerged safely on the other side.

It was a short ride from there into Carbondale, I headed to a local bike shop to pick up another spare tube and ask for a derailleur hanger but they didn't have them. They did have some electrolyte powder so I stocked up on that. Carbondale centre was nice, lots of old brick buildings. I got a bit lost due to some road works and one way streets around the train tracks but it's a nice place to ride around. It's probably going to be my last "big" city for quite a while.

I checked into my motel early and headed out shopping. I needed some new shorts and slides since my main shorts had ripped and my others were too tight and my slides were absorbent and had a funky smell that meant I couldn't keep wear them or even keep them in the same room as me.

 That was successful so I headed to a hardware store to pick up a tiny bolt for my bell that had fell out in Brooklyn. I figured I had the right one and I'd install it once I got closer to the Katy Trail where I'd want it. Walking between these stores in the giant American shopping centres is brutal in the heat. The car park carries on forever.

For my lunch I went to Mod Pizza, a pizza chain that encourages you to choose all the toppings and doesn't charge you extra. I liked the concept, kind of like Pita Pit for pizza, I hope it catches on in NZ.

Finally, I grabbed some groceries from WalMart and made the hot walk back to my hotel at the far end of the car park.

It's nice having these half days where I still get some miles in but I finish early enough to run errands and relax. Tomorrow I'm planning a reasonably big day, I want to get to Farmington, MO if I can, so that I can catch up to the South African couple ahead of me before turning off the TransAm.