May 24, 2009
Day 7 - Destination: Clinton, Missouri
rode on Katy Trail
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Up at 5:45am.
Here's a picture of campsites #9 and #8 (where I ate supper last night).
Fortunately, the tent was dry, and so was the ground cloth. I decided to wait on breakfast until I found a place along the trail. I'd now figured out how far I'd gone since Monday, so stopped by site #8 at 7:45am to tell them as I left.
Saw these on the way to Boonville.
I was at the bridge over the Missouri River at 8:06am. From there you can see the no-longer-used bridge that used to carry Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railway (Katy) trains.
The bike lane on the bridge was narrow and fenced-off from the traffic, so I stopped several times to let bicyclists going the other way pass. At the bottom of the bridge was downtown Boonville. I saw a restaurant a block off the trail, but bicyclists were swarming outside, so figured it'd be a wait. Kept on going on downtown streets (the trail path through town) to the depot.
Before I knew it, I was out of town.
Got to Pilot Grove at 10:01am. The only restaurant I saw was closed. So I purchased snacks at the Casey's (orange juice, Gatorade, Pop-Tarts, peanut-butter crackers, and energy bars), and headed for Lions Park in town.
I didn't eat all that for breakfast, but half of it anyway. I was done at 10:45am.
It was a pretty quiet morning on the trail. At one point, however, I was somewhat surprised when I turned my head to the right to see what appeared to be an Amish teen-aged boy in Sunday clothes off the edge of the trail. He was holding his finger to his lips in a 'be quiet' gesture. He popped out onto the trail after I passed.
Here's a different tunnel than the one I passed through yesterday.
One of the few remaining signal posts on the trail.
The Lamine River.
At 12:40pm I stopped at the trailhead in Clifton City for a break. Shortly thereafter, a bicyclist showed up who was quite interested in my bike. He noticed the direction arrows I'd drawn on my rims, and showed me the ones he had on his. We talked a long while about older bikes, and bike baskets. His name is Al Neyhaut. He lives in Clifton City, and repairs old bikes. He took a picture of me with my bike and let me take one of him.
At 1:30pm I proceeded on to Sedalia, arriving at the city limits at 3:04pm. The trail leaves the tracks and follows streets through part of the city. I didn't realize that the tracks are actually still under the trail!
At 3:15pm, I arrived at the depot, which is now a museum. But it's closed on Sundays.
I talked briefly with some cyclists who had also met Al in Clifton City.
I kept an eye open for a place to have lunch in Sedalia. My PN-20 indicated places to eat not too far up a highway that the trail intersected with on the west side of town. However, when I arrived at the intersection, the trail went over on a bridge with no easy access to the highway below. Before long, I was out of town, so decided to eat some more Pop-Tarts and other snacks I had with me. While eating I called church friend Jim to give him an update on my progress.
Not much to take pictures of, except flowers along the trail.
At 5:45pm, I arrived at the highest point on the Katy Trail. A couple sitting on the bench there offered to take my picture. They'd been on Route 13 (the highway I planned to take the next day) and said it had a nice wide shoulder - and a few hills.
The terrain along this section is pretty open.
At 6:30pm I passed through Windsor.
At 7:15pm, Calhoun.
Finally, Clinton was in sight.
Arrived in Clinton - the end of the Katy Trail - at 8:30pm. Took a quick picture, and headed off to where my PN-20 said there was a motel (to the south). Though, I really wanted to continue on the rail path to see just how much farther it went. There's hope that someday it will extend to Kansas City.
There was a paved path into Clinton for a ways. At the location my GPS indicated there'd be a motel, was a church. It was getting dark, and I could see lights from businesses up the road on a highway. I found a Parkfield Inn, and saw a Hampton Inn farther down the road. Figuring nearer was better, I checked out the Parkfield Inn. They had a room, and I could keep my bike in the room with me. So there I settled, in room 112.
I'd passed an Arby's on the way. It was close to the motel, so I walked over arriving at 9:34pm. At the counter the order person asked how I was doing. I said, "Great! I just finished the Katy Trail in four days!" He said, "What's that?" So much for sharing my excitement. It turned out he was from an Arby's in Kansas - just here to help out with the Memorial Day weekend crowd. I really enjoyed, in the near-empty dining room, the Beef 'n Cheddar sandwich, Jamocha Shake, and Apple Turnover I'd ordered. It started raining just a little on my walk back. Then it was: check the Weather Channel, shower, and to-bed at 11:45pm.
Subject: Day seven - 76 miles on poptarts
Date: Sunday, 5-24-2009 10:25 PM
Up at 5:45am.
Tent was dry so packed and left at 7:45am.
No luck finding a place to eat, so bought juice and pop tarts and other food at casey's in pilot grove ($11.02).
8:30pm arrived at clinton, completing the katy trail!
Staying a parkview inn ($78).
9:30pm walked to arby's ($6).
76 miles
9:03 moving
8.0 mph average.
Jeff
Day Seven: 79 miles in 13 hours, 28 minutes = 5.9 mph.
Spent: $11.02 (Casey's breakfast) + $6.00 (Arby's supper) + $78.00 plus $15 tip (motel) = $110.02.
Today's ride: 79 miles (127 km)
Total: 444 miles (715 km)
| Rate this entry's writing | Heart | 3 |
| Comment on this entry | Comment | 2 |
I'm glad to to see you here. I always enjoyed your journals on CGoaB.
The Katy Trail finally does get closer to Kansas City, via the new-ish Rock Island Spur, which currently ends in Pleasant Hill.
Next week (March 14th - 17th) I'm going to attempt to ride from my home in Lebanon, IL to Kansas City, and meet my wife there, where she'll be attending a conference.
Most of that will be on the Katy Trail. It's pretty early in the season to be doing this, but I have some time next week, so I'm going to give it a shot.
If I can do it, I'll write up my account of the trip, and put it on CycleBlaze.
Jeff
6 years ago
Thanks for your kind note! I enjoyed your "Great Divide" journal and your more recent ones a while back, after I 'discovered' them at https://medium.com/@6502rules. Just the right amount of story to go with your wall-frame-quality photos.
I'm looking forward to reading your report for the trip you're planning this week – and hearing how the weather works out for you. Hope it's springtime pleasant.
Jeff
6 years ago