Katy Trail D.7

Today held an uneventful 31mi ride. The ride from Jefferson City to Portland MO was rather featureless. The trail has moved away from the river and there weren't an abundance of markers for history or features. The ride was pleasant and I did manage to talk to a couple other through riders.

I woke at about 6am after a so-so night of rest in a hotel. I was hoping to be better rested when I got up today. I took another shower just because I could. Got my gear squared away and went to the hotel lobby for a Continental breakfast. The selections available were pretty sparse and mostly unappealing. I settled on a few miniature cinnamon rolls and a cup of coffee. The cinnamon rolls were pretty bad and hard enough that Ellie May Clampett may have baked them.

I finished my lack luster breakfast, collected my loaded bicycle and headed for the bridge across the river. It was good to see some of my previous route in reverse. I did enjoy riding across the bridge and wanted to stop and check out one of the sections of fence along the way. It seems that there is some sort of custom for hanging padlocks on about half the bridge fencing, but only on one side of the walk/bikeway. Later I discovered that these are probably "love-locks" let by romantic or lustful people.

After reaching the other end of the bridge I got to ride back down the corkscrew ramp I had ridden up yesterday. There weren't many people out this early on a Sunday morning and so I had a chance to take a picture of it. From where I took the image I was probably 60 off of the ground.

After reaching the bottom I had a couple mile ride to get back to the Katy Trail. Nice morning for a slow ride.

I talked with some locals at the North Jefferson Trailhead and thanked them and the people of Missouri for making the trail available. It's a great outdoor facility. Interestingly, there is no charge or pass required to ride the Katy. I'm not sure what the policy is for other Missouri parks, but for the Katy it's gratis.

After riding about 6 miles the cinnamon rolls were giving up on me. I needed something to eat or I would run out of gas soon. I pulled some GORP (good ole' raisins and peanuts) out of my snack stash and noshed on it until I felt like I might be able to make it until lunch. I pedaled on to Hartsburg where I stopped for a break and a couple tortillas with peanut butter. More fuel to keep me going. This stretch is a challenge because there are really no towns large enough to have any place to get any kind of food or drink.

Since there wasn't a lot of points of interest I began taking pics of flowers. They are always an interesting topic.

There was a significant number of bluffs on the left side of the trail. They were hidden by the thick woods along that side of the trail. I stumbled upon one spot where I was finally able to catch a shot of one of them, and it was a dandy.

There are also a good number of turtles to be found on sections of the trail that are close to the river. Turtles are a good indicator of the health of animal habit so it's a relief to see them.

I also passed an interesting rock. It's origin is unknown and scientist are unsure how it came to be exactly. There is a hypothesis that the sand it is made of was deposited within a deep hole that had formed in the limestone that is older in the area. Later, it is possible that erosion wore away the limestone that the sandstone rock was formed in. At any rate the 25 foot tall rock is impressive and has been used for centuries to mark flood stages of the Missouri.

Mid-Afternoon I reached my destination for the night, a private campground at Portland. It has maybe six RV campsites and about eight tent sites. The description on Google Maps indicated that there was water, a bathroom, shower and electricity. It did in fact have each of those available in some limited way. I checked out the shower and it was so grungy with mildew that I didn't risk taking a shower in it even wearing my Crocs.

If you recall I had dinner at a smoke house in Jefferson last night of rope sausage, brisket, baked beans and potato salad. While I was eating it I thought that the meal wasn't nearly hot enough to be safe. Sure enough, this morning my belly was gurgling and now by the end of the day, I'm glad to be near a bathroom. This could be a long night.

I didn't eat any dinner tonight. I sat at the picnic table, studied my map of the trail and put together a strategy to finish out the trail over the next few days. I love looking over maps, thinking about history, places and possibilities.

Not feeling on top of the world and low on energy I called it a night about 8:30 and went to bed.

Thanks for spending some time with me and check back for the next report.

Katy Trail.D6

Today's 24 mile destination is Jefferson City. It has been a couple days since I've been able to get a shower and I want to check out the capitol city of Missouri.

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.

Just as I reached the outskirts of Jefferson City I was treated to the acrobatics of old warbirds that must have been part of an airshow in town today. It was fun to watch them even from a distance for a while. Also right out of town was a old railroad bridge with the most character I had seen to this point. I think it may have a story to tell too.

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.

The capitol building is impressive as well. It looks much bigger than the Wisconsin State Capitol but is actually 20 feet shorter.

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.

Katy Trail.D5

I haven't mentioned weather at all over the course of the trip so far. The weather has been very pleasant for a cycling tourist. Temperatures from 75-82° most days and 50-55° at night. Winds have also been reasonable at about 5-7mph.

Today's ride is from Booneville to Cooper's Landing near Easley MO.

The day started with me being patient while waiting to get my bicycle out of the storage room at the hotel. With the number of bikes the supported tour had I was trapped until they left. To use up some time I went across the street to the Main Street Diner.

The diner is a nice home cookin' kinda place. I had the best breakfast I've had in a long time, anywhere. My order was; biscuits and sausage gravy, 2-eggs over easy, 2-sausage patties, coffee, 1-extra biscuit, and homemade apple pie. The biscuits were as good as mine, but a bit smaller, the eggs cooked perfectly, the sausage a bit spicy, the coffee good by diner standards, and the pie was outstanding. A couple of standouts were the sausage gravy and the pie. The gravy was nice and creamy and not the normal library paste most places serve. The pie was in a lard made crust and the apples fresh with just a bit of tartness.

After breakfast I got my bike, loaded it up and headed across the bike path on the half-mile long highway bridge crossing the Missouri River.

After crossing the bridge the trail leads SE toward New Franklin and Rocheport. This segment was pretty mundane. A highlight for me was finding several of the original telegraph poles from the late 1800s or early 1900s. The poles carried ten lines each relaying information back and forth between train depots.

I was looking forward to getting to Rocheport. Reports from other travelers were that the segment beginning there was maybe the most interesting and pretty along the 237mi trail.

Also in Rocheport there is Merriweather's cafe and bike shop. I had heard their coffee was good and I looked forward to a good cup. I ordered an Americano and it wasn't quite Leslie/Crossroads good but I really enjoyed it. Also while there I ran into the gal I helped with securing her bike pack the first day. She is still just thrilled with having learned a couple of knots and how well they work. Always fun to help a fellow traveler.

From Rocheport my main destination was Cooper's Landing. But before getting there I needed to make a side trip off trail. A little ways from the trail is what is thought to be the oldest burr oak tree in North America. It is over 400 years old! Given it's close proximity to the Missouri River it is likely that a corps of discovery's hunting party passed it in 1804.

The old gal is a wonderful thing to behold. Spending time with her might have been the highlight of the day.

From the tree, to the trail and onto Cooper's Landing for a night of music, food truck dinner and rest.

Along the way I stopped at Boathenge and thought about my buddy Warren.

I made it to Cooper's Landing about 3pm unsure if there would be a spot for me to camp on a Friday night. Fortunately there was, for a price. They charge $35 a night for a tent and one person and the facilities are rustic. So I paid the price, set up camp and sat down to the river view to write this blog report.

When I had it nearly completed, I lost the entire post. Frustrated, I thought it might be time for a couple local IPAs, some tunes, a burrito as big as my head, and a sunset on the Missouri.

That's all for today. Come back again.

Katy Trail.04

Today Thursday, was a very short day. I wanted to set myself up for shorter mileage days after the 48 mile slog on Wednesday. The last 10 miles were not as much fun as I want to have. I was riding past things I should have checked out but pushed on to get to the end. That's past me and I have a new plan.

Thursday was only a 12 mile ride from Pilot Grove to Booneville MO.

The relaxed pace was really nice after the pressed schedule yesterday.

The extra time allowed me to talk with local country folk, absorb more of the area, and to visit a couple museums.

With as nice as the trail system is I went out of my way to stop and thank the people of Missouri for making the Katy Trail a reality. I also wanted them to know how nice it was that they weren't charging out of staters to use the trail. That approach seems to be a valid one because I met dozens of riders that were from out of state riding the trail. In fact the hotel I'm in tonight has probably 30 out of state riders here. They are wandering downtown Booneville, eating out and visiting local businesses. Overall, it seems to me that Missouri invested well. They were lucky to get the trail done before turning red in 2016.

So as for the ride, it was mostly over decreasing elevation and typically a green cathedral of trees. The trail itself is probably 4 foot wider than Wisconsin's trails and even in the trees doesn't feel closed in.

I saw dozens of turtles, and several woodpeckers on this segment.

As you enter Booneville from the south, there is the typical information kiosk with all kinds of things to ponder. History, trail features, a business directory and so on.

Just past this one is the Booneville Visitor Center including a nice museum and swag store. They also provide tours for the Mitchell Car Museum which is just around to corner from the visitor center.

Mitchell cars were manufactured in Racine WI in the early 1900s and were highly regarded for their innovation and durability. The museum is owned by the great, great, great grandson of the companies founder. Originally the company was a wooden wagon builder with numerous patents that John Deere wanted, particularly those for their smooth riding suspension. John Deere bought the wagon business to get those patents and Mitchell went on to build cars, motorcycles, and wheels (bicycles).

I especially liked this one with the "mother in law" seat in back except for the handles along side of the seat. If it really was intended for in laws a lack of handles may have led to them being catapulted off the back of the car.

I am staying at the historic Frederick Hotel in Booneville. It is a beautiful, old, and quirky place to stay with a full restaurant, bar and indoor bicycle storage.

After getting checked in I started washing clothes. An issue for bike tourists is space and weight. So doing laundry in sinks is a necessity. One of the reasons I will stay in hotels when touring is specifically the need to wash clothes.

After getting clothes washed and hung on my makeshift clothesline I needed dinner. All I had eaten today was coffee, oatmeal, and GORP (good old raisins and peanuts) on the trail. The gals at the visitor center told me that Maggie's had the best hamburgers in town and the place was only two blocks from the motel. The burger was top notch and the fries reminded my of Belgian frites. They even came with Mayo for dipping! For me the size of the sandwich and portion of fries limited me to two beers. Damn!

So, tomorrow will find me riding about 28 miles to Cooper's Landing. It is a campground on the Missouri River that usually has live music on weekends. Should be noisy and fun.