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