Day 3, July 6: Murphysboro Lake State Park (Murphysboro, IL) to Ferne Clyffe State Park (Goreville, IL N 37.32 X W 88.58

45.69 miles.

Late start this morning. We are not in the “packing up and getting out” mode yet. We packed and left the campgrounds around 8:45. We biked the short distance into town and had breakfast at Tippey’s. Consequently, we didn’t really get on the road until almost 10:00. It was already pretty warm. We had a good breakfast, though and good thing because we didn’t eat again until 6:00 p.m. As we left Murphysboro, we mistakenly followed the signs to Carbondale rather than follow the Adventure Cycling maps. Turns out it was a shorter way to Carbondale, but a busier route. We would have been fine, had we know which way to get downtown to the bicycle shops. We ended up going 3 miles out of our way. We finally figured out where to go after questioning a bus driver and a UPS driver. We visited the 3 shops looking for high-pressure trailer tires, but to no avail. We headed on down to our route and managed to stay on route until our arrival at Goreville. We biked to the main district and had “all you can eat” fish at Delaneys. Delaneys keeps a record of bikers coming through. They take a picture and asked us to write something in their biker log book. Then they give us a free piece of pie to go with our meal. I left very full. We biked on out to the Ferne Clyffe State Park and set up camp in a very beautiful campground with a friendly host. It was late so without too much ado, we showered and hit the sack.

Question of the day: Carbondale is the home of what university?