Across the Mississippi

Today I crossed the Mississippi into Hannibal Missouri. Hannibal is a tourist town showing off some association with Mark Twain. Coming into town there is a (rough) likeness of him in colored gravel on the side of a hill. I'm sure he would be very proud. :)

The bridge over the river was on an interstate, so the shoulder was wide and smooth. I was impressed at the sign which carefully listed all the kinds of vehicles and pedestrians not allowed on the interstate and then at the end said "except bicycles". Yay!

After leaving Hannibal my route took me South through the hills to the West of the river. There was a lot of nice scenery, including two very pretty blonde horses. I didn't realize horses could have cleavage!

For lunch I stopped at an idyllic roadside park and ate my raw zucchini and dinner rolls. Gourmet, I know.

I stayed at a great little motel on the edge of Louisiana, Missouri (hereafter called LoMo) that night. "River's Edge Motel" I think. There's a bridge over the Mississippi there too, which I took a photo of at sunset. That's the view from my room too, pretty cool. I talked with the guy who ran the motel for a while. Pretty interesting. Originally from India, spent a bunch of time as an Electrical Engineer in Africa, then came to the US and bought that motel. He said he liked the quiet small-town life out there. He told me about a bunch of interesting people who'd spent the night there, including one guy who was walking backwards across the US. Wow.

I also saw a sign advertising dead cow flesh. Welcome to Missouri!