Bike Katy Trail Day 6

Woke up feeling a bit better but still groggy. Ate 1/2 a bagel, had decided at that time I would catch a ride w Bill to St. Charles and then bike back to meet everyone. Kinda bummed, but it would be for the better, cuz I was not feeling 100%.
Went back to bed & thought about things. Since the bagel didn't have any negative affects on me, I got back up & decided to give the ride a try, worse thing that could happen was I crapped in my pants & Bill had to come pick me up. So I ate the remainder of the bagel and got dressed to ride.

Today was definitely the most crowded we have seen the trail. Near Matson we came across a bunch of middle schoolers out for a walk and when I say a bunch, I mean at least 2 bus loads.

Then in the next town (Defiance) we came across another bus load but these kids were on bikes.

The leaves continued to change & cover the trail.
This way view for most of the day, notice the 2 specs up ahead, that's Kristen & Victor. Thank you Amanda for letting me draft off you, especially when we hit the windy areas.

When we arrived in St. Charles, the trail took us thru the industrial section. looked like they were getting dirt from the river.

Met up w Kristen, Victor & Bill, decided to go into the old town & eat. It was then we decided we were finished, no need to go the additional 11 miles to Machens, time to order beer & food, then check out St. Charles.

Cheers! Great job Everyone!

St. Charles was cute!

My trusty bike getting a much needed rest.

It was just a little bit dirty and some leaves hitched a ride w me.

Time to head back to Clinton. Amanda & I get to ride in the back of the truck! Fun!

What a great trip! Sad to see it end, will definitely be doing something like this again!

Love this map of the Katy Trail, shows that we really did almost ride all the way across Missouri. BTW, google map says that from Kansas City to St. Louis it is 248 miles, so had we gone to Machens we would have gone all the way across.

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Augusta to St. Charles
Towns we passed by: Matson, Defiance, Weldon Spring
Time in saddle: 4 hours 41 mins
Miles for today's ride: 28.51
Total miles for the Katy Trail: 239.05
Total miles for 2012: 2632.15
Miles to go:  -620.15  miles til 2012!!

Odometer
Cross:1239.05

Bike Katy Trail Day 5

Kristen cooked an amazing breakfast--breakfast tacos w hash browns. Very tasty!

With Bill (Kristen's dad) following us, we could travel light, for me that meant the front camera bag & the 'flat' bag w tubes & CO2.

We rode down the hill to hit the trail & find a coffee shop or something. Unfortunately the breakfast or something else didn't agree w my head & stomach. Took 3 ibuprofen and hopped back on the bike.

Stopped at the statue to take some "cheers" pics.

Over the bridge and through the woods on our bikes to Augusta we must go.

The trees were still changing, definitely more leaves on the trail. Janice & Bob said they saw 19 snakes the other day, we've only seen 2 live snakes.

More farm country today. Always makes me wonder about GMO crops & what the farmer really thinks about them, does he feel duped? Is he making more $?Less? More  or less frustrated? Or how many of these fields are owned by big food giants who are sleeping w/ Monsanto?

This town looked cute, but according to other bikers, they were out of food, also.

Once in Augusta, the couple we met in Hartsburg that wouldn't shut up, were right-- it was uphill to our cabin, but everything in Augusta was up hill in one way or another.

Finally saw some sort of boat, wonder if the river was too low?

Cabin was cute, but cold, Kristen & I searched for several minutes for the heater/thermostat, only to have Amanda walk in and go right up to the thermostat & turn on the heat! Kristen & I definitely were good lookers, poor finders.

We went out to eat at some restaurant, I didn't make it through dinner, ate 1 chicken tender then went back to the cabin & crawled into bed, 3 blankets, a space heater and about 2 hours later I was finally warm.

I heard they had a great fire outside, so bummed I missed out on that. There also was some local wine. Seriously, I can go all year without getting sick, but I go on vacation and I get sick. Not fair.

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Hermann to Augusta
Towns we passed by: Treloar, Marthasville, Dutzow
Time in saddle: 4 hours 41 mins
Miles for today's ride: 37.39
Total miles for the Katy Trail:210.54
Total miles for 2012: 2589.35
Miles to go:  -577.35  miles til 2012!!

Odometer
Cross:1210.8

Bike Katy Trail Day 4

Woke up and the right eye was pretty swollen and crusted shut. Nice. Now to figure out how to get medicine, but first, breakfast at Dotty's. Oh yum! Now this was a breakfast...veggie omelet with hash browns and a pancake!

While waiting for food, I figured out how to get medicine for my eye. I found a pharmacy in Hermann the next town we were staying in, so I emailed the info to Llama, then gave her a call & we decided Dr. Amy would be the best doctor to call and she called in the Rx to Hermann, now to ride 'blind' to Hermann and find the pharmacy.

Decided it was mustache day. With the humidity & sweat, they didn't last very long, but made a great group photo in front of the caboose.

We were making good time, stopping to take a few pics of the fall color.

The canopy was definitely changing, too, more greens & yellows today.

Then Victor flatted, it was a good one, too, had to use the Leatherman to pull out the thorn, probably a goat head. Guess he'll be buying the drinks tonight in Hermann.

We arrived Mokane around 1 o'clock, decided it was wise to see if we could find a place to eat. We located the 'Mokane Bar & Grill Open'.  See the sign does say "Mokane Bar & Grill Open"

Walked through the doors an hit a small wall of smoke.  While looking at the menu, Kristen asked if the salad consisted of Iceberg lettuce, the response from the food server was priceless. "No, its just lettuce." When the salad arrived imagine how shocked  Kristen was to see a bowl of iceberg lettuce. The food was actually really good for bar food, or at least my cheeseburger was tasty, or maybe I was just starving for meat?

At one point, Amanda & I were chasing Kristen & Victor, when we disturbed something and it flew at us. We decided it was a grouse.

Then there was this big rock, I had been looking for a rock to take home for my yard, but decided this one was too big for Victor to carry, it wouldn't fit on the bike.

Found this info about the rock from a geocache (which I forgot was there until I got home)

Standing Rock is actually a part of the bluff that has been separated from the rest of bluff by the erosion of the surrounding material.
Over the years the rock has been marked to show the levels reached by various floods of the Missouri River. It is not known who has been making the markings. However the markings have been checked and are accurate. Some of these markings are quite readable and but others are no longer readable.

It was hard to see the markings, too bad. I never did see the flood markings on some of the bridges, either. Missouri needs to make those stand out more like they do in Texas, or maybe Texas just likes to brag about things like floods.

 We came to Steamboat Junction, a campground w a snack bar on the honor system and a geocache hidden nearby. Found the cache, took pics then back on the bikes, had to get to Hermann before the pharmacy closed.

When  we rode through Rhineland, they took us across the highway and into the entertainment district, we rode past 2 ball fields and grand stands set up for some event (drag racing, horse racing, tractor pulls?).

Time to cross the bridge into Hermann. Was nice they had a bicycle lane, rumor has it crossing into Hermann used to be dangerous, for someone who sometimes likes to take chances I'd like to see what it used to look like. The bridge was the first hill we've had in a few days.

And then the search for our B&B started, only to find out it was on top of a hill. Victor made it all the way up it, I made it 3/4 of the way, Kristen & Amanda were smart & walked up it.

Bill, Kristen's dad was there already, he let Kristen borrow the truck & drive me to the pharmacy. The pharmacy was about 2 miles out of town, so it was nice to have a ride. I had called the pharmacy to verify its location, when I mentioned I was from out of town the pharmacist asked, "are you Kim?" Yep, def in a small town.

For dinner we ate at a nice restaurant that served dark greens in its salad! Then went to find a grocery store to purchase breakfast foods.

The B&B was an old stone house with several additions. Three stories, narrow, uneven steps, the kitchen was downstairs, needless to say lots of character including the vent in the upstairs room that looked into the living room, perfect for spying as a child.

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Hartsburg to Hermann
Towns we passed by: Jefferson City (off the trail, but we never saw a sign pointing the way), Tebbetts, Mokane, Portland, Bluffton & Rhineland
Time in saddle: 4 hours 26 mins
Miles for today's ride:55.97
Total miles for the Katy Trail: 173.15
Total miles for 2012: 2551.96
Miles to go:  -539.96  miles til 2012!!

Odometer
Cross:1173

Bike Katy Trail Day 3

A decent night's sleep, followed by a decent breakfast (farm fresh eggs--they were tiny compared to the ones my girls lay) and it was time to bid our boxcar goodbye.  What a cute place & I'm serious about being able to live in one...how big are the ocean containers?

Today's ride would be short...only 25 miles, I hope we can find some good food once in Hartsburg. We started off and after maybe 6 mins on the trail we were already stopping to investigate something-- a secret hide-a-way for escaping criminals. Amanda decided and I agreed that the Katy Trail would be a good place to hide if you are on the run...Lots of brush & no one is around. Of course we didn't discuss being tracked by hounds.

A quick investigation proved there were no criminals, not even signs of one., too bad. Back on the bikes.

We are finally getting glimpses of the Big Muddy, never did see barges or the Coast Guard or any small fishing boats.

There was only 1 geocache to hunt for today and it was at an overlook called Eagle's Bluff. Of course we must go find it.

Our next stop would be Boat Henge.  After stumbling across car henge 28 years ago, I was excited to see Boat Henge. We almost rode past it, but were greeted by 2 dogs, one of which decided to mark my front left pannier. Not a very nice dog in my opinion.

And that was it for boat henge,  they either ran out of boats or didn't realize Stone Henge went in a circle. I was just slightly disappointed, but more mad at the dog!

We passed thru McBaine which had a Thai restaurant but it was closed on Tuesdays, darn it, looked like an interesting place.

We did get in a grocery shopping game, well part of one:

Alkaseltzer, bagels, cinnamon, diapers, Epson salt, frankfurters, grape nuts, hot dogs, icee, jalepenis, knives, lemons, meat, NyQuil, olives, peanuts, quilt, roast, sugar, tums

Before we knew it we were in Hartsburg, first stop FOOD! While riding thru downtown, we saw the Big Muddy Tavern & it was closed along w the restaurant next door. Great. Then a man told us that the Bistro was open, we turned the corner and found the Hart Creek Bistro. Went inside & they told us the food that they were out of, already. I say already because we went back later that night & they were completely out of food. I bought a round of beer for everyone, we place our order for our $9 sub sandwiches, and we ate.

Lots of cyclists at the Bistro  and there was Duck, the man of local color--he went to the caboose to find Bill for us. I totally enjoyed sitting in the sun on the patio talking & listening to everyone else.

I went & paid Bill for access to the caboose. Wasn't as fancy as the box car (the bathroom was in a separate building) but it was warm & kept us dry when it rained that night, plus it was cheap!

I explored Hartsburg. It must have been mowing day because several people were riding lawn mowers, at first I thought they were lazy, but they did pull into a yard & mow it. I also kept forgetting that the upcoming weekend was Pumpkinfest and the locals kept saying 65,000 would invade Hartsburg. We had a hard time believing 65,000 people would come to such a small town! Where would they park? Where would they use the bathroom? And more importantly, what would they eat?

For dinner we headed to the Hitching Post a local bar where they serve frozen pizza, so good that the food server from the Bistro eats there nightly. Amanda & I open the door to a wall of smoke, thankfully there was a back patio with fresh air. You never realize how spoiled you are living in a smoke free city until you travel to smaller towns. Beer was cold, pizza was tolerable, company was great. I went to go shower and tend to the pink eye forming in my right eye (what is it about pink eye & vacations?), while the others went back to the Bistro. Yes, they ran into the couple we saw in Rocheport (Janice & Bob?) and the Bistro was OUT of food! What would the 65,000 people eat at Pumpkinfest?



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Rocheport to Hartsburg
Towns we passed by: Huntsdale, Easley (off the trail) McBaine
Time in saddle: 2 hours 12 mins
Miles for today's ride: 25.49
Total miles for the Katy Trail: 117.18
Total miles for 2012: 2334.51
Miles to go:  -322.51  miles til 2012!!

Odometer
Cross:1117