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...

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.