Day 1 -Granite City, IL to St. Charles, MO (60/60 miles)

I started my long and arduous bicycle journey on the Lewis and Clark Trail on this gorgeous spring day from the replica of Camp Dubois in the Illinois Lewis and Clark Memorial State Park. Following the route laid out in the adventure cycling maps, I traveled north along the Mississippi River and took ferry boats across both the Illinois River and the Mississippi River, ending the day in St. Charles, Missouri.  In between the two rivers is Calhoun County, Illinois (better change that name), which is a gorgeous strip of land with a spectacular wildlife refuge that is very reminiscent of Door County, Wisconsin and Leelanau County, Michigan.

I met a nice guy out for a day ride along the levee above the Mississippi River who rode with me for about 10 miles.  He liked the bicycling aspect of my journey, but expressed concern about camping in the wild (i.e., not in a campground).  Originally from New York, he was fearful that someone could attack at night and bludgeon him with a baseball bat!?!?!  Hmmmm.  Personally, I am more worried about that 17-year-old girl coming up behind me who is texting while driving!  Apparently a road worker who passed me in Missouri shared my concern because he pulled over and gave me his reflective vest!

Saint Charles today is a prosperous bedroom community of St. Louis, but in 1804 it was a largely French  community of about 100 homes that both Lewis and Clark described as impoverished (my word, not theirs). Lewis described the people of St. Charles as "excessively lazy" when they are at home. (Perhaps the same could be said of me, but not when I'm on a bicycle tour.)

On May 16, 1804, the good people of St. Charles hosted a send off ball for Captain Clark and the crew of the expedition discovery. Lewis missed all of the fun.  He had gone to St. Louis to take care of a few things before joining Clark and the crew at St. Charles. By all accounts it was a festive affair at which great quantities of alcohol were consumed.   Perhaps the condition in which Lewis found his crew and the locals when he arrived in St. Charles in the aftermath of the celebration contributed to his views!  

The 1804 send off ball is commemorated today by a city plaque in a park near the banks of the Missouri River.  As I was riding through the park, a rock band was playing and the present day inhabitants of St. Charles were having a pretty good time!  Unfortunately, it was not a send off party in my honor. I had to negotiate a deal with a heavily inebriated gentleman who lived on the outskirts of town to camp in his yard.  As I climbed into my tent I began to wonder  whether I might get attacked in the night with a baseball bat!

Oh, in case you're wondering about that dog in the statue of Lewis and Clark in the park in St. Charles, that's Lewis's dog Seaman, who made the journey with them.  Clark brought along his slave, York.