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
1 comment:
I read with great interest your story about the Portland Bar and grill.
The problem with running a business on the KATY Trail is that if you rely on business from the trail you won't last long.
I live in Mokane. People buy a business along the trail with the best of intentions. They will have great food and offer services to trail users.
A year or two go by and they either go bankrupt or the amount of money they make is not worth the work they put in it.
Some trail users are outright rude. They expect free ice then spend no money at the place they got their ice from. That's why you run into rude business owners.
There is still resentment about how the trail came to be. The St. Louis Post Dispatch was calling people opposed to the trail " Land Grabbers ". The right of way was actually owned by locals. It was to go back to them if a train did not run. In other words the people wanted their own land back. They don't easily forgive or forget when they have been wronged.
Post a Comment