GMRR Day 18 - Hannibal, MO to Keokuk, IA

The link to today's route and ride statistics can be found here.

Today started out in a slight drizzle.  It had rained a fair amount overnight, and was still coming down a little when the riding started.  It did not last long, so no big deal.  The other interesting point about today's ride was that while we started in Missouri and finished in Iowa, 99% of the ride was in Illinois.  We left the motel in Hannibal, and immediately crossed the river on I-72 in to Illinois.  Then after a lovely day of riding (we had a very nice tailwind for most of the ride, which we richly deserved), we crossed a bridge in to Iowa and were at our motel.
We started doing some riding along the river, which is always a treat.  Here is a shot of how this looked.

We also spent a fair amount of time riding in fairly newly planted cornfields.  Here is a shot Ken took of me in farm country.

We had one substantial hill on the ride.  It was about 0.3 miles long, and topped out in the 12-14% grade area.  This is enough to make me work hard to get over the top, and Ken captured me doing just that.  It also has the river in the background.

A highlight of the day came after we got in.  The staff offered to take us up to Nauvoo to see the sights there.  Lots of Mormon history was to be had.  We visited the Joseph Smith Visitor Center, took a wagon ride, saw the temple, and had custard downtown.  There was also a band of high school age kids playing dressed in period outfits behind the visitor center.


The Nauvoo Mormon temple.

Joseph and Hyrum Smith statue across from the temple with a fabulous view of the river.

Mormon band at the visitor's center.

Downtown Nauvoo from the custard shop.

To wrap up the day, after dinner, we took a side trip of Grand Ave in Keokuk.  I had read in a brochure that this was where the upper crust in town took residence.  We saw some great houses, and were flabbergasted to look up the listing prices for some of them.  Here are a couple of them.


The second one lists for $275,000.  This is a huge home on a bluff overlooking the Mississippi River. Not quite what we would expect to pay back home.
The town also was having an event where bands were playing outside at different locations around town.  We came by three of them.  Most were rock bands, but the one I got a shot of was a big band.

Midwestern living in a smaller community looked pretty good.  At any rate, it was a good day all around.  We have a little longer ride tomorrow.  See you then.