Day 3 - Chicago to St. Louis

Early start in Chicago this morning. Took a little time to get out of the city but once out the route was quite easy to follow at least until after lunch when I had to do quite a lot of backtracking to keep to the plan. 316 miles today vs the 298 miles it says in the guide books. The road had long straight flat stages through cornfields (heartland of America) but at times diverted to pick up very old sections of the road which were little more than farm tracks - see picture above. I thought I would average 50 miles per hour but I was nearly 9 hours on the road today.

Highlight en route today was probably Pontiac which has very much put itself back on the map by playing up to the Route 66 experience but tastefully and not at all tacky.

Late afternoon I crossed the Missisipi river over from the state of Illinois to St.Louis in Missouri. Just had time to visit the Gateway Arch. Interesting a ascent in a number of pods which seem to ratchet their way to the top to get around the elevators going round bends problem. Great view from the top of the Cardinals baseball stadium. I was planning to go to a game tonight but they played this afternoon.

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