Day 3. To Columbia. 34 miles.

May 31, 2021

Well today is Memorial Day, and we have much to be thankful about for the men and women that have gone before us to provide for our freedom, and even the ones now that continue to ensure our freedom. Thank you all.

Our day started out at 59 degrees and cloudy while we are crossing the Missouri River.

Here's a good look of Jeff on his bike. I know it is weird, right?

Here is Debi coming up the rear and doing a great job at it. Yes it is chilly for us Floridians, but at least that is better than rain. We are supposed to get some rain on June 1st. Fingers crossed that we don't see much of it.

There was a time on the trail, before we got to Rocheport, where we had to take a detour and get out on the highway. Oh my. Remember that definition about an adventure, which included "typically hazardous"? Well we got it while on the highway. We had to use our e-assist a little more than normal to get up some of the hills.

And we have these really cool, connected helmets (Sena) that allow us to talk with each other. On this ride on Hwy 40, it was awesome to be able to converse back and forth with each other about cars coming and such.

The Sena helmets give us the ability to talk with each other, but also to switch to listening to music on our phones. We typically do that at least halfway through ride, but this day we kept them on and spoke on and off the whole day. Usually Jeff is the one doing all the talking, and Debi says that it is very entertaining to listen to him. :) After 33 years of marriage, we still enjoy talking with each other, pointing out things on the trail, just living in the moment. Definitely a better way to live.

We hit over 27 mph going down some of these hills. Adventurous is typically hazardous. Oh my! :)

Then we finally got into Rocheport where we went through the only tunnel along the old MKT railway.

Going through the MKT (Katy) railway tunnel.

Then we started to ride along cliffs that were hundreds of feet high with signs of "Falling Rocks". That always a comforting sign. :)

In order to support the MKT (Katy) trail there are a bunch of bridges that were really cool along the way.

As we approached Columbia MO, we saw two deer just off trail eating or just watching people. We were like, "these deer are definitely used to people".

There were so much tree canopy that we eventually got to some open spaces that we enjoyed having the sun to warm us up. Definitely different than Florida.

About the halfway point, Jeff told Debi, "I really want to go to a coffee shop in Columbia, have an iced coffee, and read my Bible!" Oh boy, Jeff and his declarations. :) Jackie, his daughter, is just like him. :) She makes the same statements, and has the same warm feelings about coffee shops, and chilling out.

At the end of day and in Columbia, which is a college town, Jeff wanted to get some ice coffee and chill out. Mission accomplished for the day.

Jeff's heart rate average was 99 and his max was 120, so much less than the first day, and it seemed that there were no elevated heart rate at the end of the day.

Tomorrow - Cycling around 40 miles to Jefferson City.

Today's ride: 34 miles (55 km)
Total: 109 miles (175 km)

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Brenda KuczynskiThis looks like such a great trip. Thank you for sharing. I cannot wait to hear about today's "adventure. "
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3 years ago

Jeff SabotinYes! Day 4 is today, and looking forward to what "adventure" God will reveal to us today.
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3 years ago