Day 25 Chester - Illinois

I guess i should have realized it was a bad omen when i walked into the barber's shop, he had a bad haircut, a sort of comb over, with lots of volumizer. I suppose the timing could have been better, but i was desperate for a haircut. You see, I was just leaving Anna, we had spent an uncomfortable night together in a cheep hotel, and i didn't want to stay around, but the desire to thin out my thick mop of hair, was greater than that of leaving town, so i pulled in after only riding for a couple of minutes.

Perhaps i should explain about Anna, she was a detour, a distraction, a slip from the true path, a path that should have taken me along the Illinois 3 highway to the town of Grand Tower, and i would have made it, if i hadn't called into that grocery store for some information. I was following the route that Ed had printed out for me, to link up with the Association Maps at Chester from his home of Spring City, and they called for a stop at Grand Tower, the thing was that since i had entered Illinois earlier yesterday, the towns i had been passing through as i followed the Mississippi North, had been very small, with not much chance of finding a Motel, as we were well away from the interstates, and the prospects of finding a spot by the side of the road were not good, with the river to my left behind a shield of long grass, and flooded fields on my right. I was assuming that as my route called for a stop at Grand Tower,there must be a chance of somewhere to 'get my head down', but i wanted some reassurance, as i didn't want to be in a situation like i was in the night before in Wickliffe, so stopped at the store. The guys in there couldn't have been more helpful, well i suppose they could have been if they had told me the answer i wanted to hear, but the fact was that there were no Motels at Grand Tower, nor any along route 3 till Chester 35 miles away, not really n option at that stage in the day, their suggestion that i go back 12 miles and cross the river at Cape Girardeau, didn't really 'float my boat', so the only other option was to go and see if Anna could accommodate me, but it meant going 8 miles East. The lack of Motels was compensated by a number of Camp Sites in the area, but truth to tell, for a number of reasons, i am not really enjoying the camping out here, so for now will keep that in reserve, so off i headed for dear old Anna.

A Haircut and a Blessing

The ride there wasn't to bad, with some 'rollers', that got steeper as i got closer to town.I rounded a bend to find a Motel, but experience has taught me not to stop at the first seedy looking, run down Motel, but to keep going, in this case up a nasty climb into the town proper, where, sure enough,i found an even seedier, more run down establishment for the night, as this one was nuzzling up to the now familiar, and somewhat comforting fast food outlets, i went for it.

The Neon sign proclaiming that the rooms were '' electrically heated'', not that it was needed, might have been reassuring if it still had any Neon left in it,instead of just the faded outline of the lettering,and a few bare wires sticking out.

Just lost an hours work coz network crashed,not happy,will have to finish later sorry.