We're thinking a deviation from the TransAM up to the Katy Trail is a possibility. We're looking at possible routes. We could stay on the Illinois side from Chester to Grafton through Alton. Then taking the free ferry across the big muddy and simply working our way to the Katy Trail in St. Charles.

Or, we could cross the Mississippi from East St. Louis via the McKinley Bridge or Chain of Rocks route. Either of these options we'll have a choice of riding around St. Louis to the North, or a shorter route by making our way through the city pretty much directly west.

I read somewhere that we might be able to cross the Mississippi across the I-255 bridge just south of St. Louis. Is this true?