Day 29 - Saturday, June 9th - Chillicothe to Kirksville, MO

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Distance: 75.1 miles

Elevation Gain: 3120 ft. or 41.5 ft./mile
Net elevation change: +204 ft.
A bit shorter today and the climbing about the same as the past few days. Lots of rollers...well except for those climbs starting at the 56 mile mark. The day started well enough but I may have found heat and humidity that rivals Florida.  Actually, it found me and with three miles to go, I looked up and there was a SAG wagon, which I readily jumped in. I'm not sure I'll be re-hydrated enough to ride tomorrow. It was a light picture day today as stopping or slowing wasn't a good strategy and frankly there really wasn't all that much of note. Let's just say that I will not miss Missouri when we cross into Illinois tomorrow.

We started out the day heading east on US-36 for about 26 miles passing through the village of Wheeling with a population of 270 at mile 9. Laid out in 1865 it is named after Wheeling West Virginia, the original home of an early settler.

At mile 14 we passed just south of Meadville, a small town of about 460 people named after the superintendent of the St Joseph Railroad, Charles Mead and at mile 21 we reached Laclede, a small town of about 345 people. The town was laid out in 1853 and is named after Pierre Laclède. He was a French fur trader who founded St Louis in 1764 in what was then Spanish Upper Louisiana. The town is also the boyhood home of General John J. Pershing who led the American Expeditionary Forces in World War I.

At mile 24 we reached the outskirts of Brookfield and 2 miles later we turned north on Main Street, East on Park St and northeast on Monroe (MO-11) before leaving the city of 4500 behind at about mile 27. The city was surveyed in 1859 by John Wood Brooks, a Boston native. Not only is the city named after him there are four different streets that honor his memory: John, Wood, Brooks and Boston. Quite a tribute.

At mile 31 the road turned north for 11 miles when it turned east once again until we reached mile 48 where it turned north. At mile 54 the road turned northeast and then east at mile 64, north again at mile 69 and after 40 miles of the up and down rollers through farm after farm we reach the outskirts of Kirksville.  

Like I said, a light picture day. Here are a few.




This is the second or third Sinclair station I've seen on the trip.  Thought they were out of business.


Downtown Brookfield.



Our only SAG stop of the day at mile 50


One of the support staff who has made this trip 19 times said that he had counted these hills. His count...149.

Sneak Peek at Tomorrow

75 miles into Quincy, IL. We cross the border at mile 71. Temps in the high 80's in the afternoon in Quincy and climbing that is half of what had today as we head southeast.

Quincy, a city of close to 41,000 and the county seat of Adams County. Known as Illinois’s “Gem City” the first known inhabitants of the area were members of the Illiniwek tribe. The French were the first European settlers looking to establish a fur trade and the Mississippi River made for easy transportation. Great Britain took control of the area after the Seven Years War ended in 1763 and then changed hands during the Revolutionary War. When England failed to regain control in the War of 1812. The American government granted tracts of land to veterans as a way to help populate the area. John Wood acquired a parcel from one of the veterans for $60 and founded Quincy, which was known as Bluff, Illinois and renamed Quincy in 1825 and incorporated as a city in 1840. As steamboats and railroads linked Quincy to points west it underwent enormous growth with the population increasing from 7,000 to over 24,000 in the twenty years ending in 1870. Early immigrant came from New England looking for better land, bringing progressive values such as public education and abolitionism. Starting around 1840, the are received an influx of German migrants looking to escape the revolutions in the German Provinces and other European conflicts.

Location: Kirksville, MO 63501, USA

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