Day 24: Mt Sterling, IL to Ewing, MO Total Distance: 64 mi Moving Avg: 9.2 mpg Moving Time: 6:56 Climbing: 1700 ft Elev: -40 ft Route Summary: US 24 W to MO 6 W They said the midwest would be flat and full of hospitality. It's not flat. I'm staying the night at the house of a family I met at the gas station in Ewing. I was in asking about motels in the area and getting pretty bleak news (the only possibility was about 12 miles away, and they weren't sure if it existed). I was on my way out and fell to chatting with a man, Paul, who ended up offering to let me stay at his place for the night. I accepted, and followed him about 2 miles to a short strech of gravel road, which wasn't so bad really although my rear wheel did slip a couple times. The farm is really nice, set in a beutiful countryside, and the family is even nicer. They have been nothing but kind, polite, and just generally cool people. It is really refreshing to meet such people, it gives me just a warm fuzzy feeling about humanity as a whole. There are three kids, two in high school and one age 5, all of whom impressed me. I didn't meet the wife, as she was sleeping before her work (night shift). Paul is a born again Christian, and we chatted for a while about politics and values. Of course, we don't agree on everything, but it was good to actually hear a coherent presentation of the values I typically only encounter via stereotype. I supposed I should also mention how I came to be in Ewing. I was intending to go south after crossing the river, but the shoulder on US 61 S was so so bad, I decided to try my luck going along MO 6 W instead. I tend to spend a fair bit of time looking at the map every night when I'm planning the next day, checking out the area I'll be going, learning where the towns are, etc, etc. It's days like this that show the payoff, if my route just isn't working out somehow, I can usually remember an alternate route I had considered that might be better. The river crossing itself wasn't so fun. The bridge was a narrow two lane bridge with piles of crap on the shoulder. And there was a giant traffic jam going the other way, so cars passing me didn't have a huge amount of room. But I'm across the Mississippi now, and that feels like it should be important at least symbolically. Tomorrow looks to be a bit hilly, but I suspect it will be fine. I'm gonna cut back south towards US 36 rather than head north through Kirksville.