Day 3 - May 25, 2002 - Marthasville to Bluffton (Milepost 111)
Despite being awakened by crowing roosters at 3 am, we did not leave our B&B until after 10 am, chatting with the other guests and enjoying the company of our hosts. This also gave the rain clouds a chance to dissipate, though the weather remained stormy.
The Katy Trail parallels the mighty, muddy Missouri River.
We had been warned that flooding had washed out the trail at Milepost 93. The Missouri Dept. of Natural Resources recommended a 12 mile detour involving dangerous traffic. We took our chances walking over the 100 ft long sunken section anyway, and survived.
At McKittrick we decided to cross the Missouri River to visit Hermann, a town founded in 1836 by the German Settlement Society of Philadelphia with intent to preserve German heritage. To get there we had to ride across a high, narrow, and shoulderless bridge not recommended for bicycles. Many of the larger towns along the route are on the other side of the Missouri River from the Katy Trail, and do not have bikeable bridges. I was uneasy crossing the bridge, though drivers were courteous and followed slowly behind us as we pedaled as fast as we could. It was unnerving to look down at the river and contemplate what a strong gust of wind might do at that moment.
Tourism is one of Hermann's main industries. More than 40 B&Bs make use of the quaint brick buildings in town. Almost every weekend there is another German festival, which we missed. However, despite the Black Lettering identifying the "German" bakery, the choices were decidedly American and there was no crusty, dark German bread like that the Helms enjoy back home. It was our preference to have an American lunch, then pack Subway sandwiches and a six pack of beer to take with us down the trail for dinner later.
Hermann bait shop, on the banks of the Missouri River
The sun had come out by the time we reached the campground at Bluffton. We found a pleasant grassy site for our tents, chilled the beer, and made our dinner of the Subway sandwiches.
The Katy Trail provides a corridor of wildlife habitat. In the course of our trip, we had seen many bird species, deer, a red fox, 3 young badgers, woodchucks, turtles, and snakes, the latter being hard to avoid. Peter was unable to miss running over a very large black snake, and I followed behind him, punctuating the moment with a loud scream. Later I was quick to grab a few action wildlife photos.
Day 4 - May 26, 2002 - Bluffton to Jefferson City (Milepost 143)
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1) Breakfast at Bluffton campground: "Could it GET any more wet without actually raining?"
2) A flat tire, just as we are ready to leave, entertains our campground hosts
Nothing was open at the tiny town of Portland, down the trail, so we continued on to Steedman for our first rest stop. The bar, S.O.B, (Steedman's Only Bar), was also officially closed, but inside, they were serving breakfast to carnival workers who were setting up a Memorial Day carnival in nearby Mokane. The bar's host took pity on us and brought us coffee on the porch. In fact, he kept bringing refills, for a total of 12 cups coffee for which he refused payment. We sat in the sunshine with our coffee and finished off what was left of the donuts, fruit, and crackers we were packing.
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1) Rest break on the porch of S.O.B.
2) Choices reminiscent of my entry in last summer's journal
In the tiny town of Tebbetts, we hoped to meet Mrs. Turner, who had been operating her country store there since 1933. We were sad to hear she passed away last year at the age of 94. She had often shared her recollections of the history she had witnessed along the Katy with visitors to the store. She bequeathed the building next door to be used as a hostel, with bunk beds and shower facilities for the benefit of trail users. Dave Steinmyer, who maintains it, gave us a tour of the building .
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3) Rolling through Mokane - the weather heats up
4) The Missouri Capitol building from the Trail
We were looking forward to reaching our destination, the Ramada Inn in Missouri's state capital, Jefferson City. The Ramada offers a special Katy Trail discount and shuttles bicycles from the Trail, across another of the Missouri's unbikeable bridges, into town. Our afternoon chant became, "Ramada, Ramada!" in anticipation of the creature comforts at the hotel.
By the time we reached the North Jeff. City trailhead, we had polished off all of the food we were carrying, as well as the 2 remaining beers, and were glad to see the Ramada shuttle already there, running cyclists back and forth across the river. After dinner at Pizza Hut, we did laundry and relaxed by the pool with no interest in exploring the state capital. I was particularly disinterested in spending my bicycle tourist dollars in a legislative city that had just built a major bridge across the Missouri River to the Katy side without any provision for pedestrian or bicycle use.
