I woke up just before 6am and checked the weather app on my phone for the weather forecast. Radar indicated that it was raining the opposite side of the river from where I was camped. I hadn't heard any rain drops on the tent yet and made a mad scramble to get dressed, and packed before the rain began. I hate packing up a wet camp! I finished packing just as the first drops started to break through the tree canopy above my camp. What a relief!
Last night another bike tourists showed up in camp and he also finished breaking his camp in the nick of time. We visited and discussed strategy for the day because it seemed the rain might be part of most of it. His name was Jeff and he is a retired science teacher from Ann Arbor, MI. He just recently began touring again since retirement too. Jeff has more experience touring than I do though. Around 1985 while working in western Canada oil fields as a geologist he decided he had had enough of the negative people he was working with and thought a bike tour was the way to change that. He and his girlfriend each bought new Miyata 1000 touring bikes (one of the finest touring bikes ever built) and left Canada. She quit the ride in California, but Jeff continued down to Mexico City and then back up through the United States. What a great guy to meet along the way. I left camp as Jeff planned to think about leaving for a while.
Riding in the rain is not especially fun. You have slop getting all over everything and there's a choice to make; get wet from the rain, or get wet from the sweat under your rain gear. Unless it is very warm, I opt for getting wet under the coat. The goal is to stay warm because getting cold and wet is quite dangerous. My outfit for this mornings rain was; Crocs on my feet, and a Gortex jacket. I prefer some sort of sandals riding in the rain because shoes take forever to dry out once they get wet. The Gortex works well, is lightweight and my Helly Hansen jacket has nice big pit zips for good ventilation. I generally don't bring or wear rain pants unless it expected to be cold while I'm traveling.
I didn't eat anything before leaving Cooper's and was getting hungry about 6 miles in on the ride. My plan was to stop at the first trailhead kiosk along the way, sit on the bench under its roof and have oatmeal and coffee for breakfast. I really needed to eat something soon though as my energy was getting quite low. Trail magic happens just when you least expect it and mine came within a mile of realizing I needed food.
There was a fairly large hand painted sign on the trail with an arrow pointing up to this shack. It promised, ice cream, cold drinks, snacks, homemade jams & jellies, and farm fresh eggs. It also indicated that there were "garage sale items" in the building. Perfect! Out of the rain and ice cream to start my day.
A sign on the refrigerator listed cash prices for all of the snack items and instructions to put money in the cash box on the wall. I selected the Drumstick ice cream cone and put my money in the box. I was just finishing my ice cream when I noticed a blue and red rain suit under a yellow helmet outside. Jeff had just caught up. He came inside and we admired the selection of merchandise together for a few minutes and then I told him what my plan was. I left and he stayed to keep out of the rain.
The first trailhead was another six miles down the trail. But with a boost of sugar and cream I was set to make the distance OK. The country along this stretch of trail is agricultural river bottom land and quite beautiful this time of year. The rain was beginning to break and it is harvest season here. The contrast in color made for some wonderful views along the way.
My breakfast stop would be at Harrisburg where I would make my coffee and oatmeal breakfast. I guess I was too worried about my belly to take pictures of my kitchen on a bench but it was a nice break.
This trailhead was really busy. This morning there were two different groups that stopped or started there doing bicycle centuries (100 mile rides). One was a group of boy scouts the other a group of 40-45 year old women. With breakfast done it was time to make Jefferson.
Trail riding the past two days has been dusty and with today's rain my bike, Karmyn Sutra is living up to her name as a poorly treated hooker. What a mess. She's going to need some TLC tomorrow before I leave.
I wonder what's the story is here -
The next fun thing I would experience today was a ride up to the bridge I would cross the Missouri on to get into Jefferson City. It would take what is probably a 5 story ride up a corkscrew ramp to the cycle lane on the truss bridge.
Here's a view of the bridge from downtown Jefferson City.
I use a routing app called Komoot to create routes and navigate while riding. The route Komoot suggested to my hotel was easy to follow. It also followed marked bicycle routes through town and avoided heavy traffic. Since Jefferson City is on a ridge above the river, there were several steep climbs to make though. I found my hotel for the night and checked in. I thought when they saw the dirty condition of my bicycle they would say I couldn't take it to my room. No problem the desk clerk said. Sweet!
I was booked on the 3rd floor and needed to use the elevator to get me, the bike and my gear to the room. Elevators are tight fits with a fully loaded bike. With a bit of lifting and shifting my rig fit in fine.
After getting settled in my room the plan was to visit the state capitol and get some dinner.
Off I went. When, I was getting off the elevator with my now empty bike another bicycle tourist was bringing his stuff into the hotel. He was pulling a BoB single wheel trailer and after watching his process for getting to his room I'm more convinced than ever that trailers suck for bike travel. First he got a bellman's cart and took his duffel and gear in it up the elevator. Next he brought in his bike and took that to his room and after that he brought up the trailer. What a hassle. I'm sure that the situation was similar going up the corkscrew ramp I mentioned earlier for the bridge.
I rode to the capitol grounds and walked around the facility stopping along the way to look at sculptures and memorials.
For dinner I found a local smokehouse. The food was good but probably not as hot as it should be. Or as good as reviews would indicate or the Jeff City "Top Ten" listing promised.
After dinner I went back to my room and began writing this Travelog.
Hope you enjoyed the report. More to follow.
