Well We Did Not Make It To St. Louis

Great place to eat and it's cheap too

Ohio River we crossed today right before the downpour

Well, what can I say about today; everything that could go wrong did! It started out with us trying to get our alarm system off our bikes, which proved to be like performing surgery. It took us at least one hour to get the security systems off and, of course they continued to scream in the underground parking garage that had to be 95 degrees. So that was the start of our day. It just got better. Mark's pack continued to slide back and forth on his bike, causing us to have to pull over and fix it about every 50 miles or so. Well that was just the beginning. Mark and I got separated and I was under a freeway overpass just past the Ohio River trying to stay dry and away from the torrential downpour and thunderstorm. Mark and I finally connected via cellphone and he was in a town looking for me that we later found out had tornado warnings. Mark finally found me, having to ride in the downpour in which lighting struck very close to him. We had to stay under the overpass for at least one hour allowing the weather to pass. After that, we made excellent time, but due to our late start and all of the trials we faced, we only made it Mt. Vernon, Illinois. We are approximately 70 miles away from St. Louis. So, we missed the fireworks, which is kind of a bummer, but, I guess it's all part of the adventure. Tomorrow we hope to make it to Kansas City, which will be a big ride. If the weather holds, we should be able to do it. The good news is that we are really getting use to out bikes.