The silk road.

We weren't near Samarkand, we weren't anywhere in Asia, and we weren't surfing the dark web, but we were on the Katy trail, and the trail is covered in mulberry trees. Silkworms love mulberrries, so it kinda sorta qualifies as a silk road.

To get to the Katy trail we first had to cross the mighty Mississippi. To get to the Mississippi, we had to cross the city of Alton. That should have been a piece of cake, but our route planners neglected to account for the Alton Memorial day parade. It took a few tries to figure out how to get past the parade route.

The Clark bridge has an excellent bike lane. It's a good situation to be on a tandem. I'm afraid of heights, so I prefer to keep my eyes on that excellent bike lane while the stoker looks around and takes pictures.

Jeanna is trying to point out something, but I'm pretty sure Kerry also prefers to keep his eyes on the bike lane when we are on the bridge.

So glad I didn't look up and take in this view.

One last coal power plant before we leave the Mississippi River valley.

I have no idea if silkworms can survive the Missouri climate, but they would certainly find plenty of mulberry leaves to munch on here.

The trail is covered in mulberries in places.

For some reason, there is no place for cars to park at the Eastern end of the Katy trail. There is even a sign saying "no trail access". They certainly don't make it easy for tandems to enter the trail.

Does that say welcome to the Katy trail?

The Katy trail follows the Missouri River. We'll find out in the next few days if the Big Muddy is as industrial as the Mississippi.

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