Bike packing: Cycling backpackers discover they can go for an overnight camp across the river with what they carry on their backs

How do you make the most of the 15 hours, give or take, between work days?

For Cyclewerx owner John Dodd, his co-worker Aaron Arnzen and their fellow cyclist Dave Knapp, you sneak in a bike-packing trip to nearby Horseshoe Lake in Alexander County, Illinois.

"People think you need to buy this and that equipment and take a week off work and go out to the desert in Utah," Arnzen said. "And yeah there's a little bit of equipment you need, and yeah Utah is great, but you don't have to go through all that."

Instead, he explained, with a little extra legwork, a worthwhile expedition can be surprisingly attainable.

Step one: close up shop. Step two: wait for Knapp to arrive and rib him for being tardy. Step three: make sure you're back in time to open the shop in the morning.

KASSI JACKSON ~ kjackson@semissourian.com John Dodd adds kindling to the fire while at the Horseshoe Lake campground Thursday, Oct. 18, 2018, in Olive Branch, IL.

Other than that, it's all fresh autumn air, microbrews and bibimbap tacos.

Of course,the Mississippi River sometimes floods and you have to figure out a long cut, but it's all part of the adventure.

And for enthusiastic cyclists like Dodd and his friends, the two-hour bike ride from Cape Girardeau to Horseshoe Lake is a great way to end one day and begin the next.

"People talk about spending their time at a nine-to-five job," said Arnzen. "But you can flip that around and then it becomes, you know, what's your five-to-nine look like?"

For Dodd, Knapp, and Arnzen, it's the only reason needed to squeeze a camping trip into the work week: because they can.

KASSI JACKSON ~ kjackson@semissourian.com From left, John Dodd, Dave Knapp and Aaron Arnzen return to Cape Girardeau after an overnight camping trip to Horseshoe Lake in Illinois, Friday, Oct. 19, 2018.