I suppose I got used to it because my hands don’t bother me anymore.

My butt, on the other hand is not yet up to the 1000 mile task.

Route planning right now… I’ll likely do a one-day loop through 6 states as follows:

St Louis to Memphis (MO, AR, TN; I-55; 284 mi)
Memphis to Nashville (TN; I-40; 212 mi)
Nashville to Indianapolis (TN, KY, IN; I-65; 288 mi)
Indianapolis to St Louis (IN, IL, MO; I-70; 242 mi)

Should take around 16 hours all told.