Iggy's Wheel Spinning Adventures: Day 5 Missouri- Illinois- Kentucky- Tennessee

I left Columbia, Missouri this morning at about 6:30 hrs. after having breakfast at the motel. The morning was still cool and the ride was enjoyable except that the sun was low in the sky and directly in my eyes. I crossed into Illinois on I-70.

I ran into some extended road construction today. I had to detour about 30 miles. The slow speed and the heat made riding the bike a challenge. That engine gets hot and it needs air to keep it and the rider cool.

When I got to St Louis, I decided to see the Arch (I went right by it on the Freeway). The Arch was finished in 1965. It's official title is "The Jefferson Western Expansion Memorial." It is to commerate the Lousiana Purchase and the new land the US had acquired.

The Arch is the largest (tallest- 630 ft) stainless steel structure in the world.

You can see how large the bases are by the size of the people in the picture.

I got "creative" with the camera. You can see the moon if you look closely.

The elevators were installed two years after the structure was finished. They were not in the original plan. The stairs took most people an hour to climb. It was too much for many. The elevators have 4 1/2 foot doors on them. Each seats 5 people. Its like sitting in a space ship. There are no windows in the pods.

I made it to the top. That cost $10.

There are slit windows one can look through to see the city (behind me). They look out on each side.

Inside the building at the bottom are several museums and art work.

When I got back on the Freeway, I passed this place (no time for a game right now).

I continued on to Metropolis, home of Superman. My brother was a Superman nut when we were kids. He had hundreds of those comics.

Of course, they also have a statue (what else?)

I had kept my true identity secret for years. It's out of the bag now....

Just after Metropolis, comes the Kentucky State line.

By this time, I was half dead from heat stroke again. So I stopped in at the Cracker Barrell and drank about 6 glasses of water and had a salad. It was COLD in there and I welcomed that. It helped revive me. The guys on the radio kept repeating that they were experiencing dangerous heat levels. They advised people to stay inside. Yeah, right. Back on the road again.... It was 107 degrees again today. The humidity was high. I'm not sure how high it was but it was a bugger for sure.

The Cracker Barrell.

After a couple hunderd miles more, I came to Tennessee.

Of course, I had to stop in and see Nashville (I didn't come to any place on the Freeway where I could stop and take a good picture without getting killed, so all you get it this one).

I was hotter than the hinges on the gates of hell so I needed to hydrate again. Let me see....where to go for that??

I threw down a couple beers and 4 more glasses of water.

The traffic in Nashville was TERRIBLE. Of course I was passing by at 4:00. Heavy creap-stop-creap-stop traffic. My bike started to burn the insides of my legs. It was HOT. The slow traffic went on for about 10 miles---- more than enough for me.

When things cut lose, so did I. I cranked up the cruise and tried to get to my planned destination before dark. It wasn't to be.

When I got to Gordonsville, the temp dropped rapidly (I knew what that meant) and a few miles later, the sky opened up. It wasn't rain, it was a deluge. I had no time to stop and put my rain gear on at all. Cars were dodging for the sides of the freeway and I took the first exit I came to. Luckily it was only about 1/4 mile away. I was dripping wet. Just off the exit was a Comfort Inn. I stuck my head in there and waited for about 15 minutes. The rain stopped but the road was still wet. I had the lady at the desk call the next place down the road: full. And the one after that: full. I was about 110 miles short of my target, but I decided to check in and hit the shower. I had some extra time so I did my laundry.

Day 6 and 7 are both shorter mileage wise, so I should be able to catch up OK baring any further storms or heat waves (its getting old).