We loaded up the bikes & drove from Sedalia to Clinton. Since we spent Saturday night in the Bothwell Hotel in Sedalia & will be staying there again, on Sunday, no need to haul everything. The Bothwell Hotel is an old hotel in downtown Sedalia, across from the courthouse and close to a church that likes to let you know the time every hour. Yes, the rooms were kinda small (everyone online complained about that), but nice. We fit 4 people in a room w 2 double beds & 4 bikes, it can be done, there was even had a special dressing room which helped out more than we thought it would.
It was 37 degrees when we woke in Sedalia, so we weren't in much of a hurry to hit the trail. The day before it was rainy & cold and the few bikers we saw didn't look too happy, but they did look cold. Thankfully the sun was out!
We parked the cars at the Clinton Community Center Parking lot. Funny how we had a hard time finding it--the smart phones weren't very helpful, yet Amanda & her lazer eyes were able to read the words on the side of the building. At that point I hoped I had everything I needed for the next 6 days, not many Walmarts around..amazing but true!
First stop was at the caboose to take the group photo.
Then restroom stops, take a photo of another group starting out, then we pedaled. The scenery had more trees than I thought. Trees on both sides of the trail, creating a canopy covering the trail. Lots of shadows that normally would drive me nuts because you can't see cracks & holes, but I trusted the Missouri Parks to keep the trail pretty flat, plus I was on the cross bike which can handle bumps better than the road bike. The trail was pretty much flat since it was an old railroad bed, no ups and downs like in Austin. Interesting enough, you would find yourself breathing harder and realize you were going up an incline, then you could breathe better and you were going downhill.
We stopped in Windsor to get something to eat. Found a convenience store for some snacks in Windsor, too bad the tiniest Dairy Queen ever was closed. I can tell already the food would be interesting for this trip, not necessary worried about calories, more about nutrition.
Between Clinton & Sedalia, we hit the highest elevation for the trail at 955 ft above sea level, so from there technically it was all downhill.
When we finished in Sedalia, there were lots of photo ops. It felt good to get the first 40 out of the way, now to shower eat & sleep.
For dinner, my Missouri cousins came in & took us out to eat Mexican food at El Tapatio, pretty good food (maybe I'm a sucker for melted cheese), great margaritas and excellent company, we were soon all laughing!
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Clinton to Sedalia
Towns we passed by: Calhoun, Windsor, and Green Ridge
Time in saddle: 3 hours 1 min 55 secs
Miles for today's ride: 39.92
Total miles for the Katy Trail: 39.92
Total miles for 2012: 2257.25
Miles to go: -245.25 miles til 2012!!
Odometer
Cross:1040.00
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