Introduction
This report of our bicycle trip on Missouri's Katy Trail is a sequel to the 2001 TransAmerica bike trip that we (Marilyn Hedges and Mike Sorensen) took last summer. In the introduction to last summer's online journal, I commented that we "inevitably made new friends on our bicycle tours". At the time I wrote those words, we didn't know who these friends would be, but shortly into our trip, we had met two of them, Peter and Maren Helm, of Hamburg, Germany. They were also bicycling across America east to west.
When the Helms returned to America this year to complete the western half of their TransAmerica bicycle trip, we were happy to join them for the first part of their journey, starting in Missouri on the Katy Trail.
Mike and Marilyn Peter and Maren
(click on thumbnails for larger images)
Missouri's Katy Trail State Park is the longest (264 miles) rails to trails recreational trail in the U.S. The eastern terminus of the Katy Trail, St. Charles, has long served as a gateway to
the American West. It was here in 1804 that Lewis and Clark and their Corps of Discovery began their historical expedition west to the Pacific Ocean. The Katy Trail follows their route up the Missouri River for 150 miles, using the abandoned Missouri-Kansas-Texas railroad grade from which the "K-T" Trail got its name. Starting in the mid-1890s, the Katy railroad was an important link between the West and St. Louis, but by 1986, the Katy had stopped running between Sedalia and St. Charles. Ten years later, after much effort to convert the old railroad grade into a recreational trail, the Katy opened to hikers and bikers.
The Katy Trail is traffic-free, and the relatively flat grade provides ideal bicycling conditions. The trail takes the cyclist across the rich agricultural land of the Missouri River floodplain, through riparian woodlands, and past vineyards and wineries. Small towns along the trail still reflect their German immigrant heritage, as well as the once powerful influence of the railroad on America's heartland.
You can learn more about the Katy Trail at:
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Starting Out
After we completed our trip in 2001, we maintained email contact with our German friends and agreed to meet in St. Louis, Missouri, May 2002, to tour with them again. Little had changed since our TransAm trip the previous year. We still tour with the same bicycles, travel with approximately the same equipment (with a few new items), and shamelessly try to hook readers into looking at our grandkid pictures. However, this year, there are now two grandkids to look at. Peter and Maren have also had a second grandchild since our last trip.
This year we also decided to do something about the threat of damage to our bicycles suffered in airline baggage handling. We purchased sturdier transport boxes from Crateworks and sent the bikes on ahead by UPS to the Touring Cyclist in St. Charles, our starting destination. With our minds at ease, we were free to relax and contemplate lesser concerns, such as terrorist hijackings.
Day 0 - May 22, 2002. Wenatchee, WA to St. Charles, MO (Katy Trail milepost 40)
On the day of travel, we packed up our bags and panniers with the familiar gear from last summer, and flew to St. Louis, Missouri. We could see the results of recent Missouri and Mississippi River flooding from the air as we flew into St. Louis. There were many acres of agricultural land under water, as well as a few homes. We met Peter and Maren in the baggage claim area of the airport an hour after our arrival. They had had a long trip from Germany, and it was a joyous reunion!
Our friends' bicycles survived the trip intact, though one of their boxes became stuck in the conveyor tunnel on the way to Oversized Baggage pickup. When Mike crawled into the tunnel to retrieve it, a metal door began closing behind him, and, in a scene reminiscent of an Indiana Jones movie, he was just able to squeeze out of the tunnel in time. A security guard threatened Mike with a stiff penalty for entering a "sterile area", but decided to let him off with just a warning.
Arranging transportation to St. Charles for the four of us, our gear, and two oversized bicycle boxes provided a challenge for 9 taxi drivers and a dispatcher. All stood around offering conflicting advice in heavy International accents until the scene reached comedic proportion. Finally we summoned 2 taxis (including a station wagon), and, after a wild ride through rush hour traffic, we were deposited at our hotel.
On
the eve of their departure from St. Charles, May 20, 1804, Lewis and Clark and
their men "passed the evening with a great deal of satisfaction all
cheerful and in good spirits". We did the same, enjoying our dinner at
the Trailhead Brewery in
anticipation of our bicycle adventure ahead. But unlike a few of Lewis and Clark's
men, who apparently had too much microbrew and required disciplinary action the
next day for "unbecoming behavior", we behaved well and headed to bed
early.
Click here to continue the journal
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