Chester’s earliest commodity was castor oil, used as a lubricant until it was overtaken by the petroleum industry. The construction of a mill by the Cole Mining Company in 1837 allowed the town to be one of the first to have electric street lighting. Charles Dickens and Mark Twain visited Chester in the 1800’s and the creator of Popeye came from here.
Breakfast at The Ol’ farmhouse consisted of pancakes, a ham and cheese omelet and coffee was payed for by a very kind engineer who I bumped into on the way in. He didn’t hang around for me thank him, which is a shame… so thanks stranger, you made my day!
Crossing the Missippi River into Missouri was almost like crossing the river Severn; there was I think two bridges, one to an island half way and the other into Missouri.
Missouri was a flat as the eye could see and probably the flattest section so far, but it did not last long and the hills started to roll again.
Further down the road I meet a couple from Belgium who looked like they had been fried by the sun. On visiting the service station across the road I found out from the attendant that they had a mechanical problem with their recumbent, no wonder they were not in a mood to talk – all I got was a brief explanation of their trip, a six month tour from Guadeloupe, so it made mine appear tame in comparison!
The sun continued to bake me (even with factor 40 I feel like I’ve been burnt), and the hills rolled endlessly until I reached Farmington where I pulled into Spokes for dinner as my stove was out of fuel and I hadn’t come across a Wal Mart in days. So I ordered a chicken pasta dish with salad and made the funny mistake of ordering a deep fried onion thinking that it was going to be a couple of onion rings on the side. Then a huge plate with an enormous splayed deep fried onion turned up. How on earth am I going to eat that, was my reaction. I’m sorry to report back that I could only manage a quarter of it, so I have failed.
After hearing a couple of reports and accounts from people along the way I have decided not to visit the east side of St Louis, it sounds too dangerous for a lone person. A pair of motorcyclist I met told me that the safest time of the day would be before 7am – before anyone wakes up!
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