Monday Oct 7 - Anna IL to Mexico MO (via Iowa)

Last night I found a hole in the heavy rain and walked down the street to the Mexican restaurant. Taco salad which was so-so, but the beer tasted good.
Iowa is out of the way but I have plenty of time until I need to be in Tucson, so a direct bee-line north to Iowa. It was 50-55 this morning and the bike sat in the rain all night so I had to warm it up and towel off all the water. The sky was clear so the rain is gone and the sun came out and dried and warmed everything up. No extra layers and the lighter weight gloves. I had toast and coffee before leaving and set the gps to Keokuk Iowa which is the closest point in Iowa. Very relaxing day in the saddle. This bike is so smooth and it fits me really well. I can easily stand on the pegs so I get to stretch dozens of times a day. The after market windshield is set just right and those goofy orange duct tape mirror wings drop the noise quite a bit. I wear safety glasses (with reading glass inserts) and no shield

so I get a face full of air all day. I followed the Mississippi river to St Louis and then got lost because google maps stopped talking to me. The dashboard compass is my backup and once I got the GPS reset and got out of the 5-6 lane traffic through St Louis, it was clear sailing to Keokuk. Northern Missouri starts picking up the big corn and soy crops I usually associate with Iowa, and the combines were working here and there. I stopped for gas in Crystal City and an older woman talked my ear off about the history of the area, and I did not mind it a bit. She said they mined lead and for a while made lead shot by dropping it off towers into the river. Weird. Gotta look it up. Every little town seems to have some business that put it on the map. I have noticed that more and more of the small town are looking harder up. Not sure the answer..
My original plan was to stay in Keokuk, but I was running early so I found a motel a couple hours south west and decide to ride right into the sunset. Those last two hours were beautiful and I saw a few combines working. You can tell where they are because there is a cloud of dust wherever they are running. Google wound me through some nice skinny two lane roads which bobbed and weaved through small gullies and little knobs.
Nice hotel in Mexico MO with a diner across the street. Good day and another sunny day tomorrow.
Odometer beginning of day = 37722
Odometer end of day = 38165
Miles today = 443