Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Katy Trail Day 4 — Rocheport to Jefferson City with a Columbia Side Trip

Day 4 on the Katy Trail finds us in Rocheport having breakfast at The Yates House B&B. What a lovely place with Conrad and Dixie as our hosts. What a character Conrad is — a great storyteller, and a visionary for being one of the primary catalysts in saving this small Midwest town of 240 and setting it on a path to survive.

Our breakfast consisted of a baked stuffed croissant French toast for the first course and a lovely frittata with goat cheese for the second course. The second course included a peppered bacon, and a sweet potato mango hash with fresh oregano. Dixie is a master in the kitchen. We left this lovely inn well-sated and ready to start our ride.


Turns out Paula and I have been to Rocheport last year as we were scoping out the Katy Trail. We never went into the center of town. As we returned to the trail this morning, we recognized the depot and the coffee shop/bike shop building that we stopped at last year.

 

Once on the trail we resumed our eastward setting. Along most of this area is a tall set of cliffs on the left hand side of the trail. At times there are falling rocks signs, at other times we see fairly good sized trees growing out of the rock cracks. On the right is the Missouri River, sometimes large, sometimes small tributaries but ever present.


 


 

 

 

To get to Columbia, we had to take a spur off the Katy Trail. This trail was well maintained and easy to ride on. It was still the crushed limestone surface, but slightly better maintained than the Katy Trail. Columbia is home to the University of Missouri, Stephens College, and Columbia College. 

After a very abbreviated exploration of downtown Columbia, Conrad picked us up and drove us to the Capitol Plaza Hotel in Jefferson City, capital of Missouri. There is an extensive trail washout between Rocheport and Jefferson City from the floods of spring 2019, hence the shuttle ride.



We had a good ride into Jefferson City and got set up in the Capitol Plaza Hotel. This took us a bit, as our trikes wouldn’t fit in the elevator. Thankfully they were able to spend the night in an unused ballroom. 

For dinner we went to the Theo’s Mid-Town Greek Pizza Parlor where they had Dragon’s Milk on draft. As this is one of my favorites, I had to partake. After getting way too full, we walked over to The Red Wheel Bicycle shop to check them out. Paula was able to get a set of replacement pedals that have pins on them. These don’t require a shoe cleat, so Paula is hoping they will be kinder to her feet. The Red Wheel staff was super helpful, and as an added treat, they serve $3 beer. Sally & Paula each had one.


Back at the hotel we relaxed for a bit, but unfortunately sleep was hard to come by. The rooms were too warm, and the AC had been shut off in rooms for the winter. Crazy! Ah well, we’re in another B&B tomorrow...


No comments:

Post a Comment

Sacramento River Trail out of Redding, Ca.

Today Paula and I rode our Tern Vektron S10 bicycles on the Sacramento River Trail. We started at the Sundial Bridge, and road up towards th...