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Wednesday 7th July 2004

Popeye People in ChesterChester HI3 Motel to Farmington, Missouri. About 50 miles. Briefly explored the Popeye bits of Chester, partly by posing in a silly montage (that's a vegetable marrow playing the role of Sweetpea, with Steve as Popeye and Guy as Olive Oil). Popeye was created by a resident of Chester and he's left a legacy of curious artwork (see photo), a Popeye shop and various other touristic features. Crossed the Missisippi (spelling? sorry I've forgotten my primary school lesson where we did that river) - very wide (c. 1/4 mile) and very muddy looking. Along the floodplain a bit then through moderate hills, very pretty with lots of deciduous woods and small-ish fields. All very nice in the cooler weather - the wind has gone northerly - there's not the same intense humid heat that there was before. We were amused by the fact that letters were now used for road naming. We were on the Z, were we nearly zzzz'd, it was so warm.We meant to go on to Pilot Knob, but the commuting traffic and the low sun in the eyes of the drivers looked like a bit of a dicey combination. So we stayed for the night in the Park - where we noticed stuff from other cyclists already, so we knew "there's going to be a few of us". We were hoping for an early start the next day before the traffic got to heavy and a good store for food immediately - or a restaurant - so many stores are sooooo predictable - Hershey bars, doughnuts, fizzy pop in many different varieties, but all basically the same. America is a land of choice - so long as you want the same as everyone else and it's sweety, sticky and full of fat! Obesity here we come. See the film Belleville Rendez-Vouz - what a true picture of America so far - there's an awful lot of oversized people in oversized vehicles, 'doing it large' (Bellville-RendezVouz but remove the emphasis on red wine...). The cyclists turned out to be just Larry Holt, an inhabitant of Denver doing the transAm, but heading eventually towards North Carolina and family. A wonderful person - not least for the fact that he brewed me my first cup of tea in a few days - Earl Grey! He's got a campervan (Americans would say 'RV' for Recreational Vehicle) full of stuff in one bike trailer, so not surprisingly it weighs a huge amount. He even had a waffle iron and a tent with a large awning. He's working out what he can abandon (not the tea bags please!). Larry headed off with, I guess, a bit too much stuff, which was fine when the going was flat, but now it is getting hilly. He looks very strong, and very healthy. But a bike cannot be an RV, that we can see (or else it's the end of one or the other knee).

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