Katy Trail - observations, thoughts, ramblings

Great trip!!!  I would do it again but not sure I want to do the entire trail!  I hear there's a big incline on the western portion of the trip.

People we met....
     Cyndi - college friend we hadn't seen since college in 1972!
     The cat lady who owned the Globe
     The mayor of Hartsburg who owned the bistro
     The man possessed by a demon (self proclaimed) who told us that the end of the world was near.  Hewas headed to Colorado to get rid of the demon that was possessing him.  He said some pretty bad things about Penssylvania and Missouri .....they are very evil!  And he told us to read Isaiah.  When we headed back home we assumed we would see him.  His bike was broken and he was walking.  Somehow....he disappeared!  Weird...he had all his belongings packed on that bike.
     The women who pretty much believed the same thing just an hour later at Cooper's Landing, although she wasn't quite so irrational.  What was God trying to tell us?
     The family of 4 who were doing the whole trail.  Dad said he was going.  Mom and the kids decided if they wanted to see Dad they had to go.  They were having a really good time.  Dad pulled the 4 year old in a two wheeled cart.  The 10 year old rode her own bike.  We met them a couple of times.
     The 5 guys from Pennsylvania who were riding the whole trail.  They also had a van and took turns driving it.  One would drive the van to an appointed place, get out, and ride backwards to meet the group.  Then they would bike to the van and do it all over agian.
      A retired school teacher who talked to anyone!  I think the family of four were pretty glad when she started talking to us instead of them!  She was riding alone and having a great time!
     A retired couple who were riding the entire trail.  They were almost finished when we met them in St. Charles.  They were going to have their bikes shipped back to the beginning of the trail where they had parked their camper.  They took their time, stayed in hotels or bed and breakfasts and just enjoyed the trip!

Best things....
     Seeing the deer
     The leg between Hartsburg and Rocheport
     The views of the river, but especially at St. Charles
     The shady trails!
     The quiet!
     The bar and gril at Portland (well maybe not the best, but certainly very interesting!)
     Catching up with Cyndi and Miles
     Just being with Jan and actually doing this!!!!

Interesting side trips....
     Wish we had had time to explore Columbis
     The captiol at Jefferson City
     The sports bar in Ashland about 10 miles from Hartsburg.  The story...we just wanted a McDonalds tea and salad.  The lady at the Globe told us about this place, but we didn't really listen.  When we got to McDonalds, they didn't have french dressing and they didn't have any grilled chicken for the salad!  We walked out and asked the first teen-ager we saw where we could get a good burger and salad.  He gave us weird directions, but we followed them....to the middle of nowhere, in amongst storage sheds and metal buildings....turned out to be the same place our Globe lade told us about...and it really was a good place to eat!  We even got to watch a little of the Sox/Cardinals game and the Heat/OK game while we ate!
    Of course the ballgame with the kids.  It was Nate's first game!
Best idea we had....
     Bringing the bananas and the peanut butter and the bread.  It made great snacks!
     Reading and carrying with us the book on the Katy Trail.
     Driving into Jeff City instead of riding in!  but don't miss it.  Ride in if you don't have the car!

Best advice.....
     Be careful of riding on Monday or Tuesday.  There's not a lot of places to eat anyway and on those two days, the places there are may be closed!  And the book needs updating.  Don't believe everything you read!
     Take your own water

     Do not try to go to the McDonalds at St. Charles!  The traffic is bad, the road has a center curb so you can only go one way....maybe you could try it, but it was NOT a good way for us to end our trip.  Although the tea was REALLY good!

Katy Trail - Day 5...last day

Day 5 began again with breakfast at the hotel.  You were supposed to be able to ride to the trail from the hotel... and I think you could, but we had to check out anyway so we drove to a parking area and rode from there.  It was getting hot and the trail was pretty sunny, but it did follow the river at first so we enjoyed the views.  Below is a huge statue of Lewis and Clark and their dog.  We watched a movie about their trip up the Missouri, over the mountains and to the Pacific.  Amazing!!!

The trail did veer away from the river and we rode a ways, but we were getting tired, it was sunny and there was no river view so we turned aroundafter about 7 miles.  On the way back we found the boathouse/museum where we watched the movie and saw a life-size replica of the boat Lewis and Clark started out in.  Then we found the statue.  (The dog made the whole trip!!!)

That's about when Jan noticed a big knot on one of his tires.  It scared us.  WE hadn't had any bike trouble the whole trip and we didn't want any on this last day.  We only had about 2 miles left....would we make it?

One more stop in the riverside park.  It was a beautiful view of the river.  There was also a re-built train station.  The flowers were gorgeous!  We also saw a momma robin trying to teach her baby to fly.  She wasn't very happy with us being there! 

These little stations were all along the trail, telling us exactly where we were and what we would find in that area.  They gave a history, a map, a bulletin board for advertisers and just general information for bikers.  Usually there were restrooms (often no plumbing but nice concrete structures) and water if it was available.

We pushed on towards our parking lot and made it, with a sigh of relief.  No flat tires or work needed.  We found a bench facing the river and had our last bananas and peanut butter sandwiches then we packed the bikes up and headed home.  It was a good trip.  Something we have never done before.  And I think we would be willing to try something like it again! 133 miles in 5 days!

Katy Trail - Day 4

Day 4 we began with breakfast at the hotel in St. Charles.  Then we drove to Defiance to ride.  We got a little lostm but not too bad and the day was beautiful.  Most of the ride was not be the river, but it was through a very shady area.  Lots of birds singing and not too many people.  The pictures below are not the beautiful part.  I made them big so you could see the devastation of flood waters.  It was several years ago, but the damage is still there.  The trail is quite a bit higher than this area.

We took a little side trip through a water shed area. It was actually a paved route.  We thought the Katy Trail was a pretty easy ride on the limestone, but the pavement......so much easier!!!  and very pleasant shady ride with some pretty scenery. It is close to Weldon Springs which has an interesting story.  It used to be a bomb test site and the water was very polluted. They say it is ok now, but there is not spigot or fountain...and I don't think I would drink it!!!!

In Defiance we looked for the restaurant in the book.  I think we found it, but when we went in it really smelled like smokers so we didn't stay.  We went across the street where there were many more people.  We met up with the family we met at the Globe!  That's when they told us they rode their bikes into Jefferson City up a couple of really steep hills and made me feel like a wimp!  But they were young and strong and ......I think we made the better choice!!!

When we finished our lunch, we got back in the car and headed back to St. Charles to clean up and meet the kids at Busch Stadium for the ball game.  Great day all around!

Katy Trail - Day 3

On the third day of our journey, we left the Globe (with our muffins) and headed toward Jefferson City in the car.  Once we toured the capitol we took off for our next bike destination.  We decided to start in Mokane and ride to Bluffton.  This part of the trail doesn't have a lot of interesting things to see, but still, fairly shaded and pleasant. This big rock was pretty unusual.  It was huge (check out me sitting underneath it in my bright orange shirt).  The sign said it was probably left over from glacier movement.

We traveled east out of Mokane, through Steedman to the "town" of Portland where there was supposed to be this quaint little bar and grill with good vegetable soup.  I've told this story several times.  Guess it made an impression on us.  We walked in and it was a little scarey.  Not really, but just not very friendly.  No one said a word.  We didn't know whether to order at the bar, go sit down, wait to be seated or what.  There were some farmer/fisher type guys over in a corner but they didn't even glance in our direction.  There were two other bike groups so we all followed each other into the table area and waited.  FINALLY the waitress came to us!  She seemed friendly enough but when I asked about the vegetable soup 9mentioned in the book about the Katy Trail), she said they didn't have it any more because she sold the place to someone else and she wasn't allowed to make vegetable soup any more.  So...what did we want to drink.  All I wanted was a tall glass of water.....only bottle water...could I have a glass and some ice to pour it in....at first she said nope, then she said since the boss was gone, she would bring me some.  A lttle strange.  We ordered the catfish sandwich and it was very good, but....  When we got ready to go we saw the restrooms - both men's and women's...a good sign.  Inside a very little room was a stool, no sink, a sign that said put all paper in the trash so the stool doesn't stop up and a sign that said please wash your hands before going back to work....wonder where you were supposed to do that!!!  The men's only had a urinal.  So....evidently not a lot of plumbing or water in the place.  One family said they ordered pizza and were really glad to see it come out of a sealed plastic wrapper!

The view from the trail here was very relaxing, but now picnic tables or benches.  I should have taken a picture.  There's one in the book that looks exactly right, but no tables.  The sight seems to have changed a little since publication!!!!  We tried to ride on to Bluffton, but I was just beginning to get tired and we had to ride 10 miles back to the car so we did not get to see the tallest bluffs along the river.

I am not exactly sure which day we saw this.  Maybe the next day.  But somewhere along the trail was the back side of a circus farm.  I don't think they had much.  All we saw was the sign, a dog and several peacocks!  But it was a shady lookout so we stopped for a couple minutes!!!

Katy Trail - Day 2, part 2

Part 2 Second day.  We traveled from Hartsburg, east to North Jefferson and back.  It wasn't quite as great as the westward trail, but it was still pretty nice.  The wind picked up a bit and there was more sunny trail, but there were a couple of terrific highlights!  By the time we got back we had gone 50 miles that day...whew!  We were tired!

We are riding along not seeing anything, no people, no river, no farms, just birds singing and trees.   Then Jan suddenly says, "deer"  which is is way of saying look where I am pointing, there is a deer in the field.  I quickly jumped off my bike, got my camera out and started towards the field....The deer was gone! Then Jan motioned and pointed down the trail.  There was the deer having a stare-down with Jan.  This time the camera was ready....and here you go!  I know we have way too many deer and they destroy things like corn and flowers.  But they sure are beautiful and graceful and fun to suddenly see appear right in front of you!

When we got to North Jefferson City we really could see the capitol, just like the book said.  But it was very far away!  There was a trail into town, but we had heard it was pretty steep hills and lots of traffic over the bridge.  And we still had 8 miles to ride back to ghe Globe.

  This was one of the farms we passed. Very neat, set on the hillside. The next picture is of the bluff that was part of that farm. He sort of used the bluff as his implement shed, to keep the wind and weather away from his equipment! Or so it seemed. The walls of rock cliffs were amazing!

    The trail passes over many, many creeks and rivers that flow into the Missouri. This was one of the bigger ones where you could actually see where it emptied into the big river. Many were just cracked mud layers because it is so dry.

The next morning we DROVE into Jefferson City and toured the capitol.  Beautiful building as most of the capitol buildings we've seen.  We did get one perk as we were looking for the paintings by Thomas Hart Bently.  We were directed to a specific room and when we walked in a lady welcomed us and continued giving her presentation.  It was very interesting to hear her explanations of the paintings which covered all 4 walls!

 Statue of Thomas Jefferson

Katy Trail - Day 2, part 1

Day 2 - This time we rode from Hartsburg to McBaine - lots to see and a nice ride. We should have stopped with that. When we got back to our bed and breakfast we ate lunch, took a nap and then took off again in the other direction. Another great trip, but boy were we tired. That was the 50 mile day. We said we were going to do it. No one believed us....so of course we had to prove that we could. But we only went that far once. That was enought!



The Globe was an old hotel made into a bed and breakfast.  It was really very nice but not exactly what we expected.  I associated bed and breakfast with this wonderful cook and wonderful feast for breakfast....well....she did bake muffins, very good muffins, but small and unamazing.  Then we had juice, we each got one hard-boiled egg, there were muffins, and yogurt.  I think I could do a bed and breakfast if that's all that is expected!  It was actually a pretty good breakfast for

bikers, I think, not too heavy and not so much you got sick.  And....she let us take two muffins with us on the trail because nothing is open on Monday and Tuesday for food.

This bed and breakfast was filled with cats, both inside and out.  They weren't allowed in the rooms, but they were everywhere else...lucky we like cats, so it was OK!

We had only gone about 4 miles when we came upon a man with a packed cart and a broken bicycle, just sitting on the trail.  We asked if we could help, not unless we had a match.  And I have no idea how that would have helped him!  But we didn't get away fast enough.  He noticed our First Christian shirts and went off about how the world was coming to an end and it was a very evil place.  He had all sorts of philosophies about the Kennedy's, about politics in Missouri, about churches in Missouri....he had the gift of prophecy.  The problem was, he also had a demon possessing him and he was trying to get to Colorado where he knew a man who could help him get rid of it.  He told us to read a couple of chapters in Isaiah and we finally managed to pull away....weird!  We thought we would run into him on the way back....he just seemed to have disappeared!



Views and things to see from Hartsburg to McBaine

Boat cemetary

Bike cemetary!

  This is the old burr oak just west of McBaine. It was huge!!!! It didn't looks so big from the trail, but as you can see....really big! If you go....take the 5 minutes it takes to leave the trail and sit under it's shade for a few minutes!

  View from the burr oak, in the middle of no where!

We stopped for some peanut butter sandwiches and bananas (which we always carried with us) in McBaine.  When we got back to Hartsburg we were really hungry so we ate at this little pub/grill.  The sandwiches were delicious.  The mayor runs the place and has big dreams.  It actually has live entertainment 4 nights a week, but not on Monday or Tueday! 

After lunch we went back to the Globe for a nap before we began the 2nd half of the day's ride.

The Katy Trail - June 2012

The Katy Trail - what an experience.  This was our first bike vacation!  Every day we rode anywhere from 20 miles to 50 miles.  The 50 was a first and man, were we tired and sore by the time we finished (and we even took a break in the middle!  The other days were much shorter!

We thought we would stop and ride in Quincy on our way to the Katy.  There were a bunch of trails shown on the city map.  First...it rained.  Second, there really weren,t any trails that we found.  You could ride on the road, but that is often not the best idea!  We drove it for a little while and it wasn't long before even the bike lane on the road disappeared.  It was a nice "stop and rest your body" type of place, but not a place I would recommend for a bike ride!

a little wildlife in Quincy!

At lunch time, we stopped in Paris, Missouri and found a Subway....there was a covered bridge on the map not to far from town so we asked directions and wene there after lunch. Beautiful, quiet, place!

the inside of the bridge was pretty cool!

The Katy Trail is an old railroad path from St. Charles, Missouri to Clinton, Missouri.  It is ove 200 miles long if you ride the whole thing.  We didn't even come close, but we think we rode the best parts!  One of our problems was that we couldn't just begin at one end and finish at the other.  We had to ride one way and then ride back to the car.  We rode 133.5 miles total so we actually rode about 67 miles of the trail!  Ir's crushed limestone, but pretty smooth in most places.  No flat tires, although the book I read said to expect at least one and maybe as many as 3!

First leg - from McBaine to Rocheport and back. (18 mile ride). We met a college friend from Columbia and she rode with us. It was gorgeous out! Beautiful evening! Beautiful view! and we let Cyndi talk the whole way...just kidding, Cyndi, I know I did my share too!

lots of shade and many railroad bridges...all different styles.

Cliffs on one side, river on the other.

The Missouri River

   Very pretty trumpet flowers.  Jan says we have them here, but I've never seen them

Pretty cool train tunnel on the far side of Rocheport