Day 18, Cave in Rock to Murphysboro, 100 miles (!)

Our biggest mileage in one day today. We set out from Cave in Rock at 7:30, still sprightly after our recovery day and eager to make up some mileage. After this long on the road, our morning departure has developed into a military-like routine. Pretty much wordlessly, we pack up the tent, repack the bags, refill our water bottles and throw down some breakfast while reviewing the maps.

It seems that wherever we set out from, the morning greets us with a hill, and today was no exception. The first 30 miles of the ride were up down and up hills, yet these ones seem pretty reasonable after the climbs in the Appalachians and the traffic of Kentucky.

At the town of Eddysboro (where we were welcomed by an unnerving road sign reading 'Population 101')- a gas station provided much needed caffeine and sugar (we'd happily accept nutrients but these don't feature at roadhouses).

Given our early start and swift cycling time, we reached our ball-park camping destination of Goresville (horror film setting deluxe)-by 2pm. So we decided to cycle on, as Murphysboro promised wi-fi and non-gas station food. The afternoons' cycle passed fairly uneventfully; featuring the usual farms, space-ship like tractors, comedy letterboxes (one shaped like a plane, another like a fish)-and signs denoting county lines.

We must have bypassed the town of Carbondale which is 10 miles before Murphysboro; it came and went in the shape of suburban houses, a school and a few farm equipment stores. When we finally reached Murphysboro it was 4pm and the bike computers were at 97 miles. We were both sweaty, covered in road dust and didn't give a tinkers' cuss about wi-fi or food; we just wanted to find the campsite and be done for the day. Matt did some impressive navigating through the outer suburbs, which were properly urban compared to the sleepy towns we've been through. Youths played basketball in fenced off courts, and a school we passed had a 'Gun and Drug Free School' sign. Good to know!

The campsite was a few miles out of town, on the highway; all downhill. We knew we didn't fancy cycling 3 miles back uphill for food, so set our hopes on the campsite warden knowing a pizza delivery number. Being a State park, the campsite was sprawling and it took us some time to find the warden. Warden being the operative word; this guy, Mike had a lot of Military authority about him. We later learned that one of the countrys' most notorious prisons (the one that housed Wayne Gacey)- is a big local employer. So I'm guessing that we campers are Mike-the-Screw's new inmates in his golden years. At this point I should mention that all State campsites are 'hosted' by a retired couple, living on-site in an RV the size of AC/DC's Tour bus.

After a drilling from Mike (and pizza delivery flyer from his lovely wife)-we obediently chose a camp site by the lake. We ordered pizza before we set up, then the curious Park ranger, Chris, wandered over to shoot the breeze. Chris's wife worked in Drug Rehab at the prison, so he had some interesting stories about its' drug-dealing in-mates, mostly from Chicago. Aside from park-rangering, he runs a few farms in Illinois and Missouri, and employs Amish kids 'they're not all that cheap but all work hard'. Soon a very confused Pizza delivery guy called, perplexed about where to find us. When I tried to explain, he flatly replied 'I'm sa-ry I jist kent understan' you'. Weary and hungry, I passed the phone to Chris; who could not only make himself understood but did so in a cop-like tone that got us our pizzas double-quick! Chris even drove Matt over to the guards' station to collect it. Great guy!

Before the pizzas arrived, a lovely English couple, Kevin and Nadia, cycled over to our camp to introduce themselves. The campsite warden had told them we were English and in a tent; so Kevin and Nadia wanted to invite us to the comfort of their new RV for a visit. Sixteen years ago, they had spent a year driving the US in a Range Rover and staying in a tent. Kevin said they remember well the tent-life and how they sometimes envied their campsite neighbours in luxuriously air conditioned caravans; now they were happy to extend their own cool hospitality to us. I was touched by this kind offer, so once we were fed and showered, we cycled over to their deluxe RV. For the next few hours, the four of us sat comfortably chatting and laughing about some of the differences between the Americans and the English. Kevin and Nadia were both fellow-adventurers and very easy to talk to; it was lovely to enjoy an evening of 'home' while in a campsite in Illinois! We left their RV (which features 2 flat screen tv's in the same sitting space; a design feature which bewildered all four of us)-feeling very lucky. We have exchanged blog sites, and hope to catch them for a victory beer or two in San Francisco. Westward-Ho!