GRAFTON, IL TO PLEASANT HILL,IL

May 19, Tuesday
53 miles

Upon breaking camp we rode to the Visitor's Center office and paid for our campsite. We didn't want you to think we were sneaky "slip in- slip out" campers. Double checked our route with the ranger there and headed out. The ride today turned out to be as hilly as yesterdays ride was flat! (Oh, there's that opposition rule again!) and just when we thought Illinois was "biker friendly."
We rode out of the campground to Brussells Ferry and crossed the Illinois River. We've now crossed the Mississippi, the Ohio, and the Illinois rivers. This is the land of the Great Rivers!
We stopped at Brussells County Store for a cold drink. Picture an old country store with a wrap around porch and jars of candy, pickled beans, homemade soaps etc. Also on the scene was a cowboy who is the on-site entertainment who plays the guitar and does lasso tricks. He has a reputation for playing cowboys roles in the movies in Hollywood in his younger years. We didn't get his name but he certainly looked the part. The owner of the country store is a very congenial entrepreneur young man who made us feel welcome even though we arrived before opening hours. He felt a kinship with us as he used to cycle and even race. He gave us a fat bag of the best kettle corn I've ever tasted asking us if we had room on our bike for it. I made room by strapping it on the back on top of the sleeping bags but it meant I had to "high kick" this 65 year old leg even higher to get it over the seat. I think that reached my limit. It was very tasty to snack on along the way and then, of course, the bag got smaller.
Not only was the ride hilly but very BUGGY! We were riding deep into flying gnat country! They were so pesky that it was better to keep riding than stop to rest.
Water! Water everywhere! Lapping up to the edge of the road in some places. The river has been over it's banks all along the ride. Main Street of the town of Hamburg was under water and took a little detouring to get on route.
We rode in to Pleasant Hill and voted to stay in a motel for the night but the one listed in our ride book was not renting! As we were standing on the street corner, Rusty talking on his cell phone and me frantically defending myself from the gnats by batting and waving my red neckerchief around my head, a pickup truck stopped and handed me a spray bottle of his homemade elixir of 1/3 vanilla and 2/3 cheap Listerine, guaranteed to put up a shield which the gnats could not penetrate. I was so grateful! He said the gnats are called "BULL GNATS" or Buffalo Gnats. I think I can take hills, heat, headwind and snarling dogs but the Bull Gnats had broken me down.
Two women were walking by and stopped to visit. Realizing that we were looking for a place to stay the night, one said that her Aunt had rooms to rent. The other woman volunteered to have us follow her in the car. After dropping us off she gave me her bottle of Bull Gnat spray. I'm certain she felt sorry for me.
She had escorted us to a former nursing home that had been converted to a motel. Instantly we contrasted this nursing home makeover with Davey School Inn in Anna, IL being on the opposite end of the scale. Of course the fact that it still had a hint of nursing home fragrance, a community shower room, no locks on the "guest" doors ("Oh, no one will bother you"), adjoining bathrooms, and emergency pull cords in strategic places added to the ambiance. This too will be one of those memorable stops along our ride.