St. Louis, MO to Litchfield, IL 05-12-2026 Day 32

What a great day today has been. From a riding perspective, maybe the best so far. It didn’t start that way. Our casino hotel had an air conditioner that didn’t cool, several restaurants, but only one open. None that were open when we needed to eat breakfast. I was able to find some coffee this morning. Throw some mouthfuls of trail mix I carry and that had to count as breakfast. So you know I was on a mission the rest of the morning to find 2nd breakfast – the most important meal of the day!

Before I could do that, we had to make our way back across the river to St. Louis and its riverfront bike trail. According to all maps available, we could catch it right off where we would exit from the bridge. That’s when the adventure began. We hadn’t gone far when we literally ran into a wall. The trail that should have continued ended at a tall wall, with no obvious way to go around.

We rode a few blocks away from the river and then went north. We saw what looked like another section of the trail. We rode down to it, got another 5-6 blocks worth and came to another dead end. I found 3 workers outside a nearby building and asked them “Is there a bike trail somewhere around here?” They told me to go around the next building and the trail is there. We did that, found a trail, and hit one more dead end. Making one more trip away from the river, we found the rest of the bike path and continued north.

Apparently, new construction and the building of what was probably a flood prevention wall had changed the course of the bike trail. We rode at least a few miles before we ever saw the river along the Riverfront Trail.

Eventually we did hit a part of the trail where we were not only riding along the river, but we could see it to our right. Along our left were railroad tracks where scrap steel was collected and other materials were in process of transport. We saw several bridges and kept wondering – is that the one we are taking? But we rode at least 13 miles north to get to the Chain of Rocks bridge that would take us to Illinois.

It was a long bridge that angled halfway across. We met a local biker halfway across. He understood our confusion with the trail around St. Louis. He took our picture for us.

I shot some video with the GoPro.

For me, when we entered Illinois, it was like Dorothy entering into Oz. The world was in color, not black and white. There were no rollers to deal with, no headwinds, and no rumble strips. The terrain was flat and we had crosswind or tailwind all day, with no flats. Ron was looking to get his wheel fixed from what turned out to be a broken nipple, not a spoke. Either made the wheel warp and wobbly. He made a call to the bike shop as soon as they opened and found they could take care of him as soon as he got there. His bike shop was 30 miles from our start in St. Louis. My target for 2nd breakfast was 27. Within 5 miles we were on a beautiful paved bike trail through Edwardsville. Ron would go straight to his bike shop and let me know when he was done. He turned me loose for what he knew would be a big breakfast.

We were only on the trail for a few hundred yards when we came across 2 bikers. John and Ed informed us the trail was closed ahead for construction on a bridge and we needed to turn around. Between taking pictures and our own additional planning, we leapfrogged each other a few more times on the trail.

I met Ron 2.5 miles down the trail at a (surprise!) Dairy Queen. He had got something to eat and was working on his blizzard when I found him. We headed back on the trail and out of town. The trail took a small break as we passed through Hamel.

We had another break in the trail as we approached Worden. That’s when we could really see we were in Illinois farmland.

Even though I recorded it when we were still in the college town of Edwardsville on the tree lined part of the trail, the lyrics spoke to the pictures above while John and Ed coincidentally photo bombed me.

In Staunton, we took a break at a Dollar General. Ron got a cold drink and I washed my ice cream sandwich down with a lot of water.

The bike trail came to an end in Staunton. After the Dollar General, we were on the Historic Route 66 to Mt. Olive. We had some tailwind pushing us on. I stopped for the Soulsby Service station.

With a strong tailwind at our backs, Ron and I held 20 mph for several miles on a 3 foot shoulder of good pavement. Our ride into Litchfield was literally a breeze. We had made such good time, we decided to visit the Route 66 Museum of Litchfield.

We had a nice conversation with the volunteers that worked there. One woman had been a school teacher in town and grew up on a farm just outside of town. She was kind enough to take this picture for me. She also recommended the restaurant where we ate tonight.

After getting into our hotel and doing the usual routine of cleanup and charging electronics, we headed for the Ariston Cafe for dinner. I also got a chance to return a call from an old HP colleague, Michael Uram. He had left a message offering me a place to stay in the Chicago area. We got caught up on some old memories and we each learned a few new things about each other.

This tenderloin stood up to the standards I experienced in Indiana. Even Ron had one. Neither of us could resist dessert.

Just before we got to Litchfield I noticed that yet another button on my Garmin GPS had disintegrated and was now gone. I made a MacGyver version 3.0, putting a tire patch over the remaining button and carving a replacement for the 4th loss.

Good pavement, paved trail for > 40% of the ride, good food, good scenery, tailwinds at the end, good hotel with excellent wifi, great dinner, beer, dessert, and a “hot breakfast tomorrow”. Conversations with new people and old friends. Does it really have to end?

The ride stats are here. The 3D video is here.

The Not So Lone Rider