Day 25: To Cape Girardeau, Missouri

October 3, 2014

Today will be a long day because I want to detour to the southern tip of Illinois to see the post-apocalyptic city of Cairo and to see the Ohio river merge with the Mississippi river. Fortunately most of the route is flat, in the river deltas. Easily the flattest day of the tour so far. But I got on the road at 7:45 to give me more daylight.

During my rest day I discovered that a bike trail goes southwest from Vienna, exactly where I want to go. So the day started with 10 miles on the Tunnel Hill trail. It might have a hill to the north, but my part of the trail has gentle terrain and no tunnel. The crushed limestone surface was soft and slow because of so much rain last night. But I enjoyed the peace and quiet. No cars, no houses, no people at all. The sky was very dark and there were a few showers in the morning.

Tunnel Hill rail trail in southernmost Illinois.

Creek swollen by last night's big storm.

When the trail ended I tried to take a back roads shortcut to the southwest, but it turned into a gravel road for 3 miles. Probably more time and effort than staying on the longer paved roads.

Near Mound City the road gets close to the Ohio river again, but a big levee obstructs the view. I took a detour to the top of the levee just to see the river.

Grain terminal at Mound City, Illinois. The only way to see the Ohio river is to go up on the levee.

Also in Mound City I stopped for a few minutes at the National Cemetery. I was planning to stop anyway, but was amused that the caretaker ran out and literally begged me to stop and see the cemetery. It was founded in 1864 and people are still being buried now. An interment was scheduled for today.

Mound City National Cemetery, founded in 1864.

Traffic was heavier as I approached Cairo. Cairo (pronounced KAY-roe) is the southernmost town in Illinois, 2 miles north of the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. It was an important regional trading city when being surrounded by giant rivers was considered an asset. The population peaked in 1920 at 15,200. Now it's only 2831 and most of the downtown buildings are either abandoned or torn down. And Cairo has the lowest median household income of any city in the U.S.

My first stop in town was in the residential Park District. I'm sure it was a thriving neighborhood 100 years ago. Now it's very far past its peak but does have a few restored mansions.

Entering Cairo's fancy residential neighborhood.

Riverlore is a French Second Empire style mansion built in 1865.

Then I continued to downtown. It's quite a sight to see. It seems to be more than half vacant lots. Less than half the original buildings are still standing, and nearly all of those are vacant. Kind of a smaller version of downtown Gary, Indiana. Touring the area makes me feel like I'm participating in disaster tourism. Like touring New Orleans after hurricane Katrina.

Then I continued south of downtown to the river. The confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers is at Fort Defiance State Park, which appeared to be permanently closed for repairs. I pedaled past the closed gate and went in to see the river. This tour started where the Ohio river arbitrarily begins, and I'm determined to see the Ohio river arbitrarily end, more than doubling the flow of the Mississippi river.

Barges on the Ohio river. Kentucky on the right.

This is the lowest elevation of the tour. 290 feet (88 m).

Confluence of the blue Ohio river and the brown Mississippi river.

I stopped to take pictures of the two 1920's internal truss bridges that cross the rivers. I could easily have pedaled the narrow bridge to Missouri, but instead will go farther north to a more bike-friendly bridge at Cape Girardeau.

Narrow 1920's internal truss bridge to Kentucky.

Narrow 1920's internal truss bridge to Missouri. The telephoto view makes it look steeper than it really is.

Cairo has few restaurants and motels. On the way out of town I planned to stop at the barbeque joint, but somehow missed it and stopped at a boring Subway instead. Barbeque would surely have been better, and would have been a good place to experience the local culture. Cairo is mostly black. The only other black neighborhoods I saw on this tour were in Pittsburgh and Fort Worth.

In the morning I had a strong tailwind going southwest from Vienna to Cairo, but now I have a strong headwind going north to Cape Girardeau. The terrain is flat but the wind definitely slowed me down. Traffic was also heavy, and there is no shoulder for 10 miles from Cairo to the US 51/IL 3 junction. The reason it's so windy is that a cold front is coming through.

Mississippi river from the Cape Girardeau bridge.

State #8 on this tour. I had never biked in Missouri before.

The new Cape Girardeau bridge has a 6 foot paved shoulder. Very safe to bike on.

Beauty shot of the new Cape Girardeau bridge.

With the strong headwind and gradually dropping temperature, I was quite chilled when I finally got my motel in Cape Girardeau at 6 PM. I got a room for $101 at Pear Tree Inn which is a subsidiary of Drury Inns. Cape Girardeau is the headquarters for Drury Inn, and pretty much every motel in town was some variation of Drury Inn.

In the evening I got a Missouri road map and planned my route across southern Missouri.

Today had a high temperature of 70F. Cooler than the last few days. The sun only shone from 11 AM to 2 PM and it was very windy. After dark the temperature was 50F with a howling wind.

Not much climbing today, but the long distance and afternoon headwind made it a very long day of pedaling. It would have been a short and easy day if I pedaled directly from Vienna to Cape Girardeau.

Distance: 84.7 mi. (136 km)
Climbing: 1445 ft. (438 m)
Average Speed: 10.8 mph (17 km/h)

Today's ride: 85 miles (137 km)
Total: 1,274 miles (2,050 km)

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