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.
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.
Bet you’ll be glad to hit St Louis!
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