Being a rest day, about all I did was wander around old town on my bike and ride thru some of the nearby neighborhoods. Lots of interesting architechture. The older homes are all brick with two chimneys on each end. Some of the "row" houses are of the same design, except they are quite narrow. St. Charles Old Town Main street is paved with bricks. The speed limit is 15 mph, but, on a bicycle, 7 mph is about the max you want to do, unless you want your gizzard rattled. Between the uneven surface and the dips , swells and the rattle of individual bricks, you could even get seasick on Main Street on a bicycle. Seems like I read somewhere during my wanderings around town today that the local clay has the correct ingredients to make excellent bricks. Some of the early German settlers recognized this, and soon, there were brick makers all over due to the demand for such bricks.
I am staying at the Comfort Inn here in St. Charles. Any time I wheel my bike out, I go thru the lobby, because it is wide, has automatic sliding doors and is just a few steps from my room. Yesterday evening when I came back from getting a late lunch/early supper, I was wheeling my bike thru the lobby and was quizzed about it by another guest who was walking thru at the same time. After providing the usual responses, I started to head towards my room, and a couple of boys who were doing something on the motel computer in the lobby commented something like: "That's a cool bike, mister". Same thing happened in town today, Iwas pedaling along and someone commented: "Cool Bike".
When I went for a late lunch today, one of the other diners at the bike stop restaurant asked a lot of questions, too. It really amazes me folks are so taken by surprise when I tell them I rode from home to Clinton, MO to ride the Katy Trail. After having done a 2400 mile tour in 2015, a 1200+ mile ride with an e-assisted bike does not seem like that big of a deal to me. What is a big deal to me is having e-assist. Makes the wind and hills such a snap to deal with. Downshift and select the next level of assist. Next!
There was a dredge anchored out in the river early on and I managed to get an image of it in operation. When I went back by the river this afternoon, it was gone.
I visited the Lewis & Clark Boathouse and Museum first thing this morning. There was a replica of their keelboat they used to sail up the Missouri River as far as possible. It had a folding mast, storage for bulk supplies under the main deck and had sleeping quarters for everyone at the front and rear. The storage covers were hinged on the outer edge, and could double as protection from hostile shots fired at them. When going upriver, they necessarily had to sail close in to shore where the current was weaker. It was a very well thought out design. The replica was made from original drawings found in the Smithsonian. An experienced woodworker made a model from the drawings to make sure he understood all aspects of the keelboat and then the project to make a full scale replica was undertaken.
It rained last night, and then again today at about noon time. Nontheless, there were lots of tourists in Old Town and out on the Katy Trail. At 10:00 am, there were lots of parking spaces all over Old Town, but this afternoon, empty parking spots were rare.
The twin chimneys on both ends of this building is seen in many other structures made during the same time period.
A "row" house with the same twin chimney construction. It just goes to show that "cookie cutter" homes are nothing new. In St. Charles, some of the homes were narrower than others.
The back porches on some of these old buildings are interesting. The bicycles seen to the right are for rent. There is a bicycle shop inside as well as a restaurant.
Holly WillengThis brick work is spectacular. I wish people would take this kind of time and effort now, we have better tools and less skill. Reply to this comment 5 years ago
I was not able to get very decent images of the keelboat replica, because the "walls" in the lower part of the building were "bars", designed to let water thru and keep trouble makers out. The bars also prevented getting any good perspectives of the boat. This part of the building was under water during the flood this past spring.
The dredge anchored in the river and in operation. The tugboat had just come up to the dredge just before I captured this image. Later that afternoon, both dredge and tugboat were gone.
Casinos are a big business in this town, both literally and figuratively. A couple of multi-level parking garages and a multi-level hotel building. I did not go over there.
