June 3, 2003 Tuesday, June 3 Today we rode from Chester, Il to St. Louis, MO. We made our final crossing of the Mississippi River, and entered the "Gateway to the West". This is important to us from many perspectives, but what stands out is that we have come so far, and that we are still along way from home. However, we have completed the "Eastern Legacy" of the journey of the Corps of Discovery, and are now in position to begin the Lewis and Clark Trail. We had no mechanical problems today, and the Team is not suffering from anything new. We are happy to be in St. Louis, and happier still that tomorrow is a rest day. The ride to St. Louis was hillier than we expected, so it took us longer. We climber over 4000 feet in the 78 miles we rode to get here. It was a fun ride, however, because the scenery was great, and we only just got sprinkled on. Rain threatened all day, but never really materialized. We did have our friend, the wind, along for the ride, and, of course, he didn't help us much. At one point in the ride today, we came across a road sign that startled us. It read, "Zell, 1 Mile". Apparently there is a namesake town not far off the route we took and that was exciting. We didn't see any "Linn's", but maybe that will happen in the future. Earlier in our travels, we had seen a sign for a town called, "LaVal", so the Stoker got something out of the deal. Today we passed 1500 miles on our journey, and we have climbed over 57,000 feet. We are stoked! Ron