The owners Jody and Tony have a splendid operation in a renovated building across the street from the Lewis & Clark memorial in Clinton's Frontier Park. An absolutely beautiful spot right on the Missouri River.
Bike Stop Cafe is a combination cafe, bike shop and shuttle service. The coffee is very good as are the sandwiches I had gotten from them, one for breakfast and one for lunch. Jody runs the cafe and shuttle while Tony operates the bike shop portion of the business.
The shuttle was scheduled to leave at 8am and the shop opens at 7am. Since I needed to get my bike out of the car and remount the front wheel, I got there plenty early and got my stuff sorted out.
Jody made me an excellent Americano and a ham with cheese sandwich. Both were fantastic.
While I was eating my breakfast a couple from Austin TX arrived to use the shuttle as well. Since I'm horrible with names I've already forgotten theirs. I can tell you that he is a retired aircraft inspector and that made for some interesting conversation.
Our shuttle was loaded and ready at 7:45am so we got a bit of an early start. The driver (Jody) headed out of St. Charles on I70 west and a couple hours into our ride we made a potty, snack, stretch break at a fireworks shop in Sweet Springs. It was the cleanest, nicest fireworks shop I've ever been in! From there we rode south about an hour and a half to finally arrive in Clinton a bit before noon.
I got my bike sorted out and then ate my second sandwich. It was as good as the first and gave me the fuel I'd need for what should be the shortest ride of my trip.
Every trailhead along the Katy has really nice amenities including a covered information center with benches, water, and flush toilets. The state of Wisconsin could learn something about recreational trails from the "Show Me State".
A tradition for people riding the Katy is to ring a bell that is at the Clinton trailhead and one at the other end of the trail in Machens. Of course I had to follow the custom. Hopefully I'll remember to ring again when I get to the end.
Today after riding a bit over 17 miles, I arrived in Windsor, MO and my home for the night.
