Trans-Canada - Day 13

Start Location: Owensboro, KY
Ending Location: Boonville, MO
Miles Today: 377
Trip Miles: 3828
States Visited: 6
Provinces Visited: 5
Low Temp: 82° F
High Temp: 102° F
Min Elevation: 380'
Max Elevation: 905'

Route Map:

Well we finally had to do it - remove our leather jackets. We don't like to do this but didn't really have much choice. The temperature was already 82 when we left Owensboro at 8:45 this morning and we knew it wouldn't get any cooler. This kind of weather you have to keep cool and drink lots of liquids, we learned the hard way on a ride through Death Valley a few years back. It eventually reached 102 as we rode through St. Louis and stayed above 99 until we finally called it quits at about 4:30 in the afternoon.

We left Owensboro via a route we had driven many times while living there and it still looked very familiar. Early on we crossed over into Indiana and then, a little while later, crossed into Illinois. The drive through Illinois was fairly nice - it wasn't too hot yet and the traffic was fairly light. Things changed after we got to St. Louis. The traffic on I-70 was pretty heavy with lots of trucks and not much scenery.

Not much in the way of pictures but, if nothing else, take a look at #5. If you can't figure it out, it's a reflection of us against the side of a shiny metal truck we were passing. Linda was being creative and probably just a little bored.

We didn't see very many bikes out on the road although we did get passed several times by a very nice, fully loaded BMW - unfortunately it was on a trailer. Not very hard core.

We added Missouri to our list of states today and hope to get three more tomorrow. We stopped in Boonville and found a motel with a pool where we could bring our body temperatures back down to normal. We will ride to Kansas City tomorrow - both Missouri and Kansas - and then will turn north and head for Iowa. It looks like the weather may be much better tomorrow. The high for Kansas City is only predicted to be 84 and the high in Sioux City is only supposed to be in the high 70s. We will welcome the relief.