Katy Trail Day 3 — Sedalia to Rocheport

We awoke to find a heavy fog with only a 1/4 mile visibility. But, after a breakfast at the hotel, we set out. It was 1.5 miles back to the trail where we would only have cars to watch for at crossings.

A Senior Cycling tour group was at the same hotel. Most set out a bit earlier than we did, and we played leap frog with them all day. Met a couple of nice riders from Virginia who gave us sage counsel about riding in the Virginia/Maryland area. On their recommendation, we plan to ride the Virginia Capital Trail from Williamsburg to Richmond on our way east. Sally has also ridden this trail and gives another stamp approval for it.

On this foggy Missouri morning, Paula and I were glad we had both our built-in Scorpion lighting systems and our helmet-mounted head and tail lights to maximize our visibility. That, along with my safety orange rain jacket and the neon green jackets that Sally and Paula are sporting make us quite the parade. Sedalia train depot offered several photo opportunities that we took advantage of.

 

 

Then it was off to find the trail. This area had a short detour of 3.5 miles because the Sedalia/Pettis County Community Association terminated their lease with the Missouri State Parks, closing 3.5 miles of trail and sending riders on surface streets to reconnect with the trail. Thankfully, on this foggy morning traffic was light and when it did occur, people gave us lots of room. We’ve been surprised by the lack of shoulder on the country roads and state highways. Traffic usually is speeding along at 60 mph. But made it to the trail we did. Road markings getting there were top notch.

The weather is trying to clear, but it remains cool. I have opted for no rain pants today, but am appreciating my windproof jacket and buff for my neck.

We arrived in Clinton City and Pilot Grove where we chatted some more with the Senior Cycling folks. There are two Bike Friday riders in this group and unfortunately both of them have been plagued by flats today. May tomorrow be better for them.

 

Along the trail the trees are beginning to turn to their fall splendor. Sycamore, walnut and sumac all are in evidence for pretty yellows and reds. They are probably a week or 10 days from their height of color. Here’s Paula beside a walnut tree. The trail is littered with the fruit.

As you can tell the weather is improving. And as we approach town, Halloween decorations are in evidence. We thought this display was top notch!

And on into Booneville we rode. On this day, I had some battery issues for the first time that caused my electric assist to quit. Thankfully, Paula towed while I pedaled up the last couple of grades, and a bike shop was open at the depot. After he went to the effort to find me a replacement rear wheel (without the motor) I deduced the battery had just had a failure condition that the reset would fix. So bike shop owner graciously reassembled my trike, and the inn keeper of The Yates House loaded our trikes and Sally’s bike into his pickup for the last few miles to the inn.

As frustrating as the GoSwiss Drive e-assist failure was, there was a silver lining. By shuttling the last 13 miles from Booneville to Rocheport, we got a first class guided tour and history lesson of the area from our B&B host, Conrad, and we avoided some unpleasant highway miles necessitated by the recent flooding that wiped a bridge and tunnel on the trail between the two towns.

This is a photo coming into Booneville that we know our friends Kim and Nicki will appreciate. They have over 30 chickens in residence on their land...

And in Rocheport there is lots of restoration activity on some of the homes. Here you’ll see one of the workmen. A town of approximately 250, it has been rated one of the top 10 best small towns in America. It’s a delightful oasis that, unlike many of the small towns we’ve been through, is actually thriving. Its historic flavor is well-preserved and it feels a bit like a small New England village.

We had a lovely dinner at Abigail’s Cafe where I had seared Ahi Tuna with a garlic-feta cream sauce (asparagus and roasted red potatoes for sides),  Paula had panko-crusted Barramundi (same sides), and Sally had portobello mushroom ravioli with brussels sprouts petals flavored with garlic and Parmesan. Between the homemade soups beforehand and the decadently rich salted caramel chocolate almond pie for dessert, we all walked back to the inn fully sated and ready for sleeping.

Katy Trail Day 2 — Clinton to Sedalia

The day started out with a heavy drizzle. We had on all our rain gear, and tried to put on a happy faces, as we knew with the weather the 40 miles would feel much longer.

 

We got going down the Katy Trail. The surface is hard-packed crushed limestone, and for the most part well crowned. This helps to shed the water thankfully. This time of year, the leaves and small branches from the trees are also present. We found that on the trikes we often had to stop to pull the small twigs out of our spokes.

Every 10 miles or so there is another depot. These were used during the rail days for the farmers to get their wares to market. Now they provide a pleasant resting spot for us tourists and a great place to give us more info about the town and what’s coming up.

Most unusual sign along the way is shown below. This is Amish country. At lunch we chatted with an Amish gentleman who was curious about where we had traveled from to do this ride. We had seen a horse and buggy already this morning.

This fellow came out to greet us. Thankfully he just provided a vocal greeting as we rode past him.

This was a very welcomed sign! We were tired from enduring the weather all day. And the bikes showed their trials too. The rain had turned the fine limestone dust into a perfect slurry that coated everything!

Amazingly, the Best Western State Fair in Sedalia gave us a suite (think double room) that was large enough for all the bikes and our gear. After a quick dinner we all tumbled into bed, dreaming of better weather tomorrow.

Katy Trail — Day 1

We arrived in St. Charles, Missouri yesterday afternoon. We leave on the tour tomorrow when they drive us to Clinton, Missouri. Then we’ll cycle back to St. Charles over the next six days.

 

Sally arrived from Southern California to join us on the ride. We’re super excited, as the three of us did our first bicycle trip together 21 years ago in Vermont.

We walked around St Charles this morning prior to the drive to Clinton. I adored the age and architecture of the buildings in the center of town. See what you think...

 

 

Nathanael Greene Memorial Park

Based on a recommendation from two trike riders we spotted yesterday, we decided to try riding inside Springfield itself. We drove to Nathanael Green Memorial Park and tootled through it on lovely paved, treed paths. While there we meandered past the Hosta Garden, Blue Star Memorial Garden, English Garden, Japanese Garden, and Dwarf Conifer Garden.

The trails had a very interesting plant specimen along the trail’s edge.

These are grown on a tree called Osage Orange, also known as Horse Apple, Hedge Apple, or Monkey Ball. The ball is as large as a softball, and the inside is quite fibrous. Named by Merriwether Lewis, and first discovered by the Osage people. Interestingly, it actually is a distant relative to the actual orange. Paula used an iPhone app called “Picture This, Botanist in Your Pocket” to identify it. Pretty strange...

Next we continued onto the S. Creek Greenway Trail. Once we arrived abruptly at its end, we crossed Battlefield Road to ride on the Wilson’s Creek Greenway Trail. It too was relatively short, but since we had had luck not getting rained on, we decide to try to get service for the van. Unfortunately, with it being a day after a holiday, the wait was too long, so we’ll try that tomorrow.

It turns out that Springfield, MO is headquarters for Bass Pro Shops. Normal Bass Pro Shops are huge, but this one was  nothing short of gargantuan. It included multiple huge aquariums, an alligator pond and three museums. Great spot for a cold and gloomy afternoon.

We were also able to get our woodworking and metalworking hardware fix in at a store called Gorilla Woodworking and Metalworking Equipment. The largest collection of lathes, table saws, router bits,  bandsaws and a LOT of grizzly bear statues.

We got back to our campground before too much rain. We were able to get dinner prepared, but now it’s raining pretty constantly, so I suspect we’re in for the night. Oh and we had a bit of hail too. The joys of camping. We really like our van.  :-)

Cute campground. Here are a couple pictures...