Day 19: Across the Mississippi

Today's news from rider Greg Ngo:
Day 19 saw the riders across yet another major landmark--the Mississippi River, at Hannibal, MO. The 7-rider Big Fix peloton enjoyed a police escort to the river, and about half the population of Palmyra turned out for the event. Two TV stations turned out--here is a link to KHQA-7's coverage
While in Hannibal, the riders stopped at the Mark Twain museum.
On the east side of the Mississippi, the riders entered Illinois, the seventh state so far for the Big Fix. Once there, they rode past 125 unbroken miles of tobacco and corn--an amazing sight. Today's lunch stop was marked by a simultaneous nap--the riders spent 45 minutes dozing, won en masse, and started riding again.
In Jacksonville, the Big Fix picked up three guest riders from the local bike club. All went well until two of the riders crashed--Mojo then ran over them. One of the local riders suffered a severely cut finger and was taken to the hospital. No Big Fix riders were seriously injured, although some old road rash was freshened up by the latest contact with the pavement.
Perfect weather today--78 degrees and no rain.
The end of today's stage was Springfield, IL, where the riders are now safely dozing in the local YMCA.
Today's photos include a Frank Lloyd Wright house that the riders passed by, and a section of washed-out road (see our earlier reports).