Day 15: Bonne Terre to St. Claire, MO 50 miles; total miles 781 Wednesday, May 4, 2016

Today's route was the most difficult of the trip. Unending steep hills and a direct headwind of 10 mph, increasing to 25 mph by late morning. I switched to a wind vest instead of a light jacket, which proved ideal given the workload. I made 5 or 6 stops, perhaps 5-10 minutes each, to rest sore muscles. Riding every day for 15 days is beginning to take a toll. On a longer ride, I would normally aim for a rest day every 7-to-10 days.

Upon arriving in St. Claire about 12:30, I stopped for lunch at a Chinese restaurant—no dine-in customers were present but came in for take-out orders. My portion was huge, so it doubled as dinner, the upside of riding with a trailer. Always room to stuff another item in the trailer.

The downside of a trailer is that most states, including Missouri, place rumble strips designed to wake drunks, otherwise impaired drivers, and cell phone users, too near the edge of the road. With no room for the trailer, I have to ride in the traffic lane. However, most drivers give a trailer more passing room than a bike with panniers.

Given arrival at my St. Claire lodging by 1:30 pm, I briefly considered proceeding to Union, about 9 miles further north. Given the increasing head wind, stopping was the right choice.

When riding alone, I have a lot of time to ponder various aspects of bike touring:

• Dogs: I previously discussed dog strategies. The worst instance we encountered was watching a family drive off leaving their 5-month old puppy loose in the yard. Their puppy followed the van down the driveway and out on the highway, barking and chasing for several 100 yards as the van slowly pulled away. They probably thought their devoted, barking puppy was cute. Then the puppy followed us, first as a chase game and then it become increasingly desperate. It finally gave up the chase nearly a mile from home, standing exhausted in the middle of the road. Simply irresponsible. John's method of moving to the other side of the road is often effective, but not for all dogs. For the meaner ones, I occasionally hope a car would come along. Tough love.
• Hillbilly homesteads: The upwardly mobile are the first in their neighborhood to get a double-wide, install skirting, and remove the wheels. 
• 3 our of 4 vehicles parked by the mobile home are non-functional except as lawn ornaments.
• In the southern architectural style, the open front porch extends the full length of the mobile home.
• The best way to flaunt your success is to stack the porch with acquired items, leaving a small passage to access the front door.
• The newest item on display is an oversized smoker. 
• Multiple Confederate flags make a clear political statement, that and a Trump sign.
• Drivers: Most drivers have been incredibly courteous, especially in Alabama. The closer to a larger town or city, the less courteous the drivers. Objectionable drivers are: * Drivers that hang back several hundred yards and make no effort to pass under any conditions, nearly as unnerving as those that  * Pass too fast and too close. * Drivers with the right-of-way but they stop and wave cyclists across multiple lanes of oncoming traffic — well meaning but inept. I appreciate drivers that promptly proceed when urged by a cyclist. Most of the time we are just trying to avoid restarting a heavy bicycle from a dead stop.

Creative Mail Boxes. I love seeing creative mail boxes, and this was one of the best. Many feature a barn or replica of the nearby home. I regret not stopping to photograph the saddle mail box (saddle with stirrups). Tractor mail boxes are pretty common in farm country; trucks less so.

 Critters of the Day:  We spied numerous fire ant mounds along the road. Given their reputation, I did not stir the mound for action shots.

Typical Road. Narrow shoulder, ruble strip on the side. The photo does not reflect the steepness of the slope.

Roadside Churches. I previously noted that religion seemed to be the healthiest economic sector in much of the South. Alabama featured more roadside churches than business of all types combined. As we traveled north, more of the churches seemed to be further from the road, but all were well signed. As I understand it, anyone can start their own church and anyone can affiliate with the Southern Baptist Convention, so Baptist churches seemed to be most common. As Dale, our Warm Showers host in Gainesville noted, much of a preacher's time is devoted to fund raising. With just a roof, pews, and pulpit, perhaps this particular preacher failed fund raising 101. (If was a snake-handling preacher, I endorse the absence of walls.)