Sullivan to St. Louis, MO 05-11-2026 Day 31

Breakfast was better than I expected. It turns out I didn’t need to get my own milk or banana yesterday. The protein from a Jimmy Dean’s breakfast bowl did fill in some holes. I was pleasantly surprised to find they had peanut butter and jelly to go on the toast. We both finished up quickly and were on the road at 7:30.

It was a cool 47F and the wind was light. It wasn’t long before we were into a lot of rollers. The hills were not so steep that after going downhill and started to climb the next, you might be able to peddle fast enough or hard enough to get to the top of the next. Maybe. It was a lot of rinse and repeat for many miles. The terrain the last few days reminds me of riding the Hilly Hundred in Bloomington, IN.

For most of today’s course, there were not going to be many “roadside attractions” or murals. When I looked at a guidebook for Route 66, I did recall seeing a few of them, including the Jesse James Museum, and Wild Animal Adventures near Stanton. They were closed at the hour we were riding by. To be honest, we probably wouldn’t have gone in anyway. I wish I could have seen the “Hot and Cold Water Towers” near St. Clair. Our Route 66 course had us on the other side of I-44, so that’s why we probably didn’t notice. At least I took a picture of the Indian Harvest Trading Post and the (abandoned) Sunset Motel.

After the town of Villa Ridge, I didn’t notice any of the roadside attractions. Looking more closely I see that anything before St. Louis was along the interstate in towns that were not part of our “Historic Route 66”. Pacific and Eureka were nowhere near us as we had bent miles from the interstate by then.

What Ron and I did remember on the first half was the rumble strip that covered the white line border of the road. If we had 18″ to 36″ of shoulder, we were OK. All too often the shoulder would narrow down to only inches. Even worse the ground angled downward to a ditch as soon as pavement ended. If there was 2 way traffic, we had to choose to go into the road a little more to avoid the rumble strip and hope the drivers behind were sensitive enough to give us some room. Otherwise we would ride the rumble strip, get bounced around so much we might fall and get run over that way. About the time I had had enough and was going to risk riding in the middle of the lane until oncoming traffic was clear, we then had no more rumble strips. I never realized I had such power. I know great power comes with great responsibility 🙂

In Gray Summit, we stopped at a service station so I could take off my jacket and pack it away. A young man who was working on his father-in-law’s pickup came up and asked about our trip. We talked about how he worked remotely as a design engineer for an agriculture equipment company. His father in law was on his way to a doctor appointment when his truck started stalling. So, he had to come and help fix it. Ron and I both enjoy talking to people about their business and career paths. It’s one of the things we enjoy most about the trip. That, the food, and the beer.

Big Chief Roadhouse in Wildwood, Missouri, is a historic dining destination on Route 66 that opened in 1929 as part of the “Big Chief Highway Hotel,” a premier 62-cabin tourist court built by William Clay Pierce. It was renowned for its Mission Revival-style restaurant—rumored to have hosted Babe Ruth and Al Capone—before transitioning through various uses after the highway was rerouted, ultimately returning to a restaurant in the 1990s.

After our break in Wildwood, we only had 30 more miles in our 75 mile day. We travelled through the residential areas of Wildwood, taking a bike trail for several miles. Eventually we were on county road 100, then we took some turns north and eventually ended up on Clayton road. This took us through the outer suburbs of St. Louis. Ladue and Clayton seemed to be very upscale and were beautiful.

We continued east, near Washington University and into Forest Park. It was huge, with a golf course, bike paths, and fountains. Several recent graduates of the University were in their cap and gowns taking pictures. We asked a dental graduate from Tulsa to take ours.

We made our way out of the park and into some heavier traffic. The road had some potholes that took us by surprise. I tried to jump one at the last minute, but with 27 pounds of panniers on the rear wheel I could only soften the blow a little. I think Hidalgo survived the pounding, but Ron’s bike did not. We had to stop because his rear wheel was now untrue and wobbled slightly. It was only when we got to the hotel that he found he had broken a spoke.

It was only 2 miles to the Eads Bridge over the Mississippi to our hotel, but it was rough due to the road, the traffic and the state of Ron’s bike. The bridge had a dedicated sidewalk for pedestrians and bikes. It was narrow, but we only met 2 people in our short journey to Illinois and our Casino hotel.

Once on the other side, we could take a .5 mile roundabout road or jump over a guardrail to get to the hotel. Guess which we did.

Like each day, we had our ups and downs. They came sometimes from the hills, in conversations with strangers, mechanical difficulties, new scenery and historic places, accomodations that are not as advertised, …. It all becomes part of the adventure.

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

The Not So Lone Rider