Illinois is coming close to one of the Favorites

As written in the post before, we have had a good experience with Illinois.
We left Chester on our way towards Carbondale where we were to pick up the Bike centennial.
We left thinking instead of hwy 3, we would take the alt. route on the 150.
This route on a Saturday did not look all that much safer once we arrived at a huge hill where there wasn't any shoulder and the traffic was very busy.
We turned around and decided to ask some of the locals the best way to make it to Carbondale. We were given a BACK ROAD way.
We were OK with this because there wasn't hardly any traffic, but the hills were steep and long.
Once we made it to Carbondale where we had set up a warmshower for that night, it was dark.
Joe was a young man who lived by himself and worked in a bike shop there in Carbondale.
He had been riding since he was young and cycled across the USA twice.
We gathered as much information from him as possible as well as cycling maps for the rest of our trip. We are of coarse going to mail them back to him when we reach our destination.
Thanks Joe!!

Sunday we headed out trying to follow the maps. I of coarse mess it up and we ride to far down hwy 51. We ended up riding some back roads to reach our destination of Tunnel Hills where we had another warmshowers waiting for us.

We finally make it to the Tunnel Hill Rd. where it would be another 8-10miles to get to their home. They offered a support vehicle so I called and asked if they could come and pick us up. Ann was glad to do just that and in no time we were at her home having dinner with her family.
Her daughter and son in law were visiting them before they left on their own adventure around the world. Sounds like fun to us!!!
After playing a couple rounds of Rummy, we went to bed to wake up to a wonderful breakfast of Banana Pancakes, Bacon and coffee.
THANK YOU ANN AND AL!
We wish Dustin and Theresa good luck on their travels.

Moving on towards Cave in the Rock our next destination.
I was better at reading the maps now and we were on the right path.
We had been riding for several hours and were going to make a turn when a man had stopped and asked us if we needed directions.
We asked which way to the next town of Eddyville.
He directed us and then asked if we needed anything for our ride and that his home was just up the road. we accepted and followed him.
Rich and MaryAnn live in a beautiful log cabin here in Southern Illinois.
Rich invited us to stay the night and we accepted in order to give our knees and muscles a rest from all of the S. Illinois hills we have been climbing.
After meeting all of the Pets: 4 dogs, 6 cats and 2 horses, we knew we would have a great time.
We all ate BBQ chicken, sweet potatoes, salad and beer. Mint Chocolate chip Ice Cream for desert. we were able to shower and sleep well on a comfortable bed.

The next day, Rich went golfing and we were able to visit with MaryAnn.
I was able to go ridding with her around the property on Eddie. Please see photo.
I had so much fun!! Ridding a horse instead of my bike was a nice break.
Eddie and Lilly we MaryAnn's two horses.

We are looking forward now and should be in Kentucky tomorrow.
We will miss our new friends here in Illinois. We will miss Rich and MaryAnn as well. HA, HA!
Just kidding, Thank you so much for showing us so much love!!