July 28 and 29

 July 28 - 65 miles to St. Charles.

Another hot, humid day.  94 degrees, heat index 103, humidity 85%.  But it didn't matter.  It was our last full day of riding and the KATY Trail was essentially flat the entire way.  As usual, the first 20 miles disappears easily.  Then we start attacking smaller goals - lets get to mile 30 without a break;  lets get to miles 42;  lets get to mile 55;...  After a while we eventually make it to our destination.  Of course today was a big day.  We were going to meet Sue and Patrick for dinner.  A chance to return to normalcy.

After getting to our hotel and showering we met Sue and Patrick and went into the charming town of St. Charles for dinner and ice cream.  It was great to see them in person and talk about our trip and hear all the news from home.  A terrific evening.

July 29 - 28 miles to Patrick's house in St. Louis.

An easy ride today with just a few early hills sprinkled in as a fond farewell to the trip.  After about 18-19 miles of riding we were passing through the beautiful campus of Washington 
University.  Stately buildings and beautiful grounds.  Students here pay a huge price tag to attend this school.  Directly after the University we entered Forest Park.  The Park is huge - over 500 acres larger than Central Park in NYC.  Inside the park is a golf course, tennis center, history museum, zoo, art museum, skating rink, science center, Shakespeare festival amphitheater, multiple restaurants, and more.  A really wonderful resource for the residents of St. Louis.

Another interesting ride has come to an end.  Thank you all for following along.  See you soon.

PS: Forgot to mention - we got weighed at Patrick's house.  Brian lost 7 lbs during the trip and I lost 10.

The Art Museum at the top of the hill in Forest Park.

If you enlarge the picture you will see the St. Louis arch in the middle of the picture off in the distance.

July 27

 45 miles to Hermann

Back on the KATY Trail today.  Most of the trail today was in good shape although we hit a few patches that were being repaired from recent storm damage.  No big hills today - Yay!!!

Tomorrow is our last full day of riding - 65 miles to St. Charles where we will meet Sue and Patrick for dinner and ice cream (of course).  The following day will be an easy ride of 28 miles to Patrick's house in St. Louis.

Brian on the KATY Trail.

We stopped at this trail side campground where they had a pavilion set up with refrigerators with cold drinks and snacks.  Payment was completely on the honor system.

To give you some idea of our speed, this little guy raced past us only stopping briefly to get his picture taken!

 

July 25 and 26

 July 25 - 63 miles to Pilot Grove

Finally we begin the last stage of this trip - the KATY Trail.  We hit the trail early hoping to beat some of the afternoon heat.  Unfortunately, the morning began with 98% humidity!!  It wasn't long before we were soaked.  I had planned camping in the Pilot Grove City Park but after having all our clothes soaked in such a short time I decided to schedule a B&B.  Changing out of wet clothes in our tents means we wake up with a pile of wet clothes in the morning.  So we got a B&B and the gentleman running the place allowed us to use the washer/dryer.  Also, the only 2 places to eat in Pilot Grove were closed on Sunday so we had dinner with our host along with a wonderful breakfast.  At the B&B was another couple riding the KATY Trail and they told us about parts of the trail ahead of us that were washed out by recent storms.  They said there was a 12 mile detour around the damaged trail.  That changed our plans for the next day because we already had 68 miles planned - and with my two sore ankles I was not interested in pushing that to 80 miles.  So I changed the route and we avoided the trail altogether on July 26th.

The beginning of the KATY Trail in Clinton, MO.

Map of the Trail almost covering the entire state of Missouri from West to East.

July 26 - 61 Miles to Jefferson City

No KATY Trail today since I changed our route to avoid the trail detour.  We had a pretty good ride today.  Again, Hot and humid. A lot of rolling hills but nothing too severe.  That is - until we got close to Jefferson City.  Just before Jefferson City we encountered 3 hills that hit 12% grade.  I had to get off the bike and push it up the hills.  Once we got into Jefferson City we picked up a bike path.  The path was a nice way to avoid the heavily traveled roads of the city.  However, at one point the bike path went up at a 19% grade for 3/4 of a mile.  Again I was off the bike pushing it up the hill until Brian (who already reached the top) came running down the hill and pushed it up for me.  That was a big help. An exhausting day.

Jefferson City.  The capitol building in the capital of Missouri.

July 24

 38 miles to Clinton, Missouri.

We only had 38 miles today because we added miles the previous few days.  Lucky that we did that because my ankle is still pretty sore.  We arrived in Clinton at 11am and the heat index was already 103 degrees.  The weather report is talking about a "heat dome" that is going to dominate the weather for the next week bringing high temps and record high temps to the entire region from Montana to St. Louis.  Luckily we will be on the Katy Trail crossing Missouri and there is supposed to be a good amount of tree cover and shade on the trail.

We hit the trail tomorrow morning.  Again, it looks like we will be doing some camping along the trail so blog posts might have to wait a few days.

July 23

 67 miles to Adrian, Missouri.

The ride today started at 6:45am.  It was 71 degrees with 93% humidity.  Needless to say I was completely soaked within the first hour of riding.  High temp today was 98 degrees.

We have changed our schedule the last few days by adding more miles to each day so that we could have a short ride into Clinton, Missouri.  Today we were supposed to stop in Drexel, Missouri.  We had no place to stay there - we were just going to stop at the local police department and ask where to pitch our tents.  But we decided to push past Drexel by 20 miles and stop for the night at Adrian, Missouri.  Our reasons to pick Adrian were that they had a library that was listed as open on Google, and they had a small motel.

Well, as we've learned on this ride through rural America, these small towns are all dying and things they once had are no longer.  Our first stop was the motel.  There was a lady outside cooking on the sidewalk.  We asked if there were any rooms available.  Her reply - "Well, the rooms don't have any electricity or running water but you're welcome to look at a room if you'd like".  We didn't look.

Next stop was the library which is always a nice place to get out of the heat and grab some WIFI.  The library was listed on Google as being open but the sign on the door said "Closed for Renovations".

Next stop, the police station.  We explained our situation and they made some phone calls to find out where to put us.  They finally said we could camp next to an Antique Tractor Store.  That didn't sound too appealing but when we got there it turned out they opened up a place called "Frontier Village" for us.  This village is a collection of authentic structures, most from the early 1800's, that have been moved to this one location.  Structures like and old school house, a saloon, a blacksmith shop, a bank, and a bunch of old machinery.  The grounds had water pumps that worked and electric sockets that were operational.  After dinner in town (sandwiches) we set up our tents and took a "shower" at the water spigot and climbed in the tents for the night.

Notable things that happened today:

1. Got chased by a dog.  He got pretty close to us but we didn't get bitten.  Finally he gave up and went home.

2. We crossed the state line into Missouri.  Yay!!  Kansas really wore us down physically and mentally.  We are happy to be done with Kansas.

3.  My anterior right ankle was sore to start the day.  I figured it was just tightness and would work itself out.  But it got worse as the day progressed.  Finally around mile 48 I could hardly put any weight on the right pedal and had to stop.  I took off my shoe and sock to see that the tendons of the anterior ankle were all red and swollen.  I took a  few Motrin, wrapped the foot and ankle tightly with an ACE wrap, and we made it the final 20 miles to our destination.   I expect I'll stay on the anti inflammatories for the next few days until we finish the trip.  Don't really know why this happened.  Just wearing out!!

Yay!!  Goodbye Kansas.

Our camping spot for the night.

July 19

 44 miles to Salina, Kansas.

A thankfully shorter ride today but still tiring.  There were no places to stop between Lincoln and Salina so we bought some things for the ride at the Dollar General the night before.  Kind of a boring ride today.  We didn't pass through any towns or even see anything worth stopping to take a picture.  Just bright sunshine and long, straight roads of rolling hills.

We're taking a rest day in Salina on the 20th before our final 8 days of riding.  Following the rest day we have 83 miles to get to Council Grove; then 54 miles to get to Pomona State Park; and then 64 miles to Drexel, Missouri.  All 3 nights will be camping so I'm not sure we will have any WIFI and, therefore, probably no blog posts.

There is no rain in the forecast for the next 10 days and temperatures are expected to hit 100 by Friday so we are anxious to be getting out of Kansas soon!

We hope you all are well and look forward to getting home soon.

July 18

 68 miles to Lincoln, Kansas.

Wash, rinse, repeat.  Another 68 mile day.  Another day with the wind blowing west/northwest while we're headed east/southeast.

We hit the road today at 6:40am riding in heavy fog.  The sun tried valiantly to break through but the clouds kept thickening through the day.  That was OK with us as it helped to keep the temperatures down.  We had a planned stop at mile 36 at a convenience store but when we got there the store was closed.  So we headed down the road to mile 46 where another gas station/convenience store was listed on Google Maps.  The skies were getting darker and started to rain lightly.  Then the wind picked up and it was clear we were in for a storm.  We made it to the store just as the heavy rain started.  Inside the store several people stopped us and asked about our trip.  One guy said if we wanted to ride to his house he would cook us a nice hot lunch.  Another lady said we were welcome to stay the night in some sheds she had across the street if we wanted to wait out the storm.  Super nice people.  We had some pizza and drinks, put on our rain gear and hit the road.

We made it to our motel at 3:15pm.  Another long day.  After checking in to the motel I asked the lady at the desk about a place to eat dinner.  She said nothing is open in town but she would cook for us if we would like!!  Again, super nice people.  We didn't want to inconvenience her so we ended up getting some sandwiches and snacks at the gas station next door.

Main Street, Natoma, Kansas.  

The old Theater sign harkens back to better times long ago.

Where's Waldo?  In Kansas.  (population 53)

Main Street Luray, Kansas.

Quiet as a mouse.