Day 26: Spending the night in jail

Day 26

Chester, Il to Farmington, MO 48 miles

Weather outlook was much better today, and after filling up with breakfast in the hotel I was on my way.

Quickly crossed the bridge and made it into Missouri – the 4^th out of 10 States I will be passing through.

Look at all that lovely flat riding!

And the early riding was lovely – dead flat and little wind. It's interesting comparing my experiences to that of other riders. There is one british guy who started a month before me who, in his blog, said he found the exact same ride I did today to be horrible. Huge head winds kept him and his group from making any sort of progress. Whereas it was the complete opposite for me!

The whole section through Missouri takes me through the Ozark mountains. Although they are not as high as the Appalachians – I think the highest elevation I'll do in them is around 1400ft. And today even the climbing was nice. It was lots of shortish sections of uphill (none of which were horribly steep) punctuated by bits of flat or the odd downhill section. Progress was pretty quick, and the weather was perfect for cycling.

Just trying out some of the new features on my camera's updated software!

The last 20miles or so actually reminded me a lot more of biking in the English countryside than any other day so far. The roads were undulating rather the severe up and downs, the fields weren't full of tobacco plants and there were no big rock bluffs on the side of the road.

Could almost be back in good old Blighty

All in all, after a great days riding, I arrived in Farmington around 1pm. I must have done something pretty wrong, as I quickly ended up in the local jail!

Not to worry though, as the old county jail house has been converted into “Al's place” - a cyclist hostel for people doing the TransAm! Its dedicated to local cycling enthusiast Al Dziewa who sadly died from cancer. In his honour they turned the disused building into an awesome place for cyclists to stay. It has a load of dorm rooms, each with matresses, bedding and towels. There's showers, laundry facilites, a kitchen, wifi and cable TV! A great place to stay.

Probably another Olympic bribery scandal!

Across the road is a bike shop so I put Whiskey in for a service. Nothing really wrong, but after 1200miles it would be good to get everything tightened up and running smoothly. Also managed to shed a bit of excess weight by getting my hair cut – every gram counts! At least it means I wont get 'helmet hair' again for a while – where my head has distinct ridges cut into the hair from wearing my helmet all day.

An excellent days riding overall. Actually not to worried to arrive a day later than planned. Gave me time to get some things done which wouldnt have been possible if I had arrived at 4-5pm.