KATY Trail Wrapup

 Whenever I am West of the Mississippi, I buy all the Moose Drool before I return home. Moose Drool is my favorite beer. It's brewed by the Big Sky Brewing Co. of Missoula Montana. You can't get Moose Drool anywhere Moosehead beer is available because Moosehead sued them over the name, which means no Moose Drool in the Eastern US.

My quest for Moose Drool in St. Louis failed. I learned no distributor carries it anymore. 

But I did get my daily bike ride in while waiting for the beer store to open. It was supposed to rain all day, and I did my ride in a dry window.

I went down by the Anheuser-Busch plant. It's huge.

It's near the river, and there are a lot of railroad tracks down there. I slipped on a bit of wet rail, and wrecked my bike. I got some road rash on my elbow and I bruised my hip. 

Here are some statistics on the ride from Kansas City to St. Louis:

• 8 days of riding
• 360 miles
• 2500 feet of climb
  

Jim and I both think the KATY trail is one of the nicest rides we've ever done. We are now spoiled.

I had no issues with the bike whatsoever. I didn't even have to put air in the tires.

Here's the Strava track for the quick ride around St. Louis: 

https://www.strava.com/activities/16181493168

KATY Ride Day 8 - Defiance to Alton

 And we're done.

Here I am, right back where I started from, where I left my truck in the parking lot of the Amtrak parking lot in Alton, Illinois.

It's always sad on the last day of the bike ride. I always want to keep going. So today, I pedaled along fantasizing about how I would get to the end and my truck would be gone. Or it would be a charred husk. And I would have no choice but to ride the rest of the way home. It's only 850 miles. It would only take 2 1/2 weeks.

My truck was fine. It might as well have been sitting in my driveway.

The parking fee was $8/day, and I was gone 10 days, but it's $35 if you lost your ticket. Instead of "losing" my ticket, I decided to do a test and see if the maximum charge would be $35, so as not to create an incentive for people to dishonestly "lose" their ticket. Nope. They charged me $80.

Here's Jim and I at the end of the KATY Trail in Machens.

Machens is not actually a town anymore. The trail just goes for 3 miles from the last town into some corn fields and ends, right next to a railroad track that is still in use. There are many "NO TRESSPASSING" signs at the end of the trail, which is aggravating since you can see the road just on the other side of a corn field, and there is a lane that crosses the railroad track to get to the road. 

If only there were some way to get to the lane without going past a NO TRESSPASSING sign.

Success. This path is not posted. It's to the left, just past the bathrooms. No NO TRESSPASSING signs were observed and ignored from the Machens trail head to the public road. Note this would not be the case if you go the other direction from the public road to the trail head. There is a sign on the lane, Machens Road, facing the highway, at the start of the corn field after the houses.

We discussed the situation at Machens with other riders over the past few days. 

Other riders: "I hear it's all private property around the trail head, and you have to backtrack."
me: "If it's not posted, you can go through private property."
Jim, an actual lawyer: <rolls eyes> "True, but out here you may get shot at."
me: "No, it would be easier to sic dogs."

Keep in mind the old wisdom that you don't have to be able to outrun the dog, you just have to be faster than the guy you're riding with.

The KATY Bunkhouse in Defiance turned out to be really nice, given that it is a bunkhouse with no common areas and the bathroom and showers are in a different building.

It's spartan for sure, but it's super clean, newly renovated, and there is a Keurig machine out in the hallway.

The bunkhouse apparently was once a workers dorm for a vineyard. There are grape vines growing outside the window. This is Missouri wine country.

There are strawflowers planted in front of the bathrooms.

There are no services to speak of between Defiance and St. Charles. But instead of being a very rural area like it's been the past few days, this looks like a very affluent outer suburb of St. Louis. There are occasionally giant tract mansions near the trail. It's like the C&O Towpath between White's Ferry and Washington DC. Minimal services, because the very rich people who live there don't want the people on the trail leaving the trail.

There are lots of places to eat in St. Charles. We had BBQ at a trailside restaurant.

After St. Charles, the trail goes along the top of the levee, since the railroad track have washed away in floods. Then it's 20 miles of the trail going through corn and soybeans to Machens. Alton is 15 more miles, which starts with empty farm roads through the corn and soybeans, then the shoulder of the highway to the bridge over the Mississippi. 

We took a break at this forlorn playground in West Alton, Missouri.

The traffic is heavy on US 57 to get to the bridge, but the shoulder is huge so no big deal.

The bridge has a dedicated bike lane. Farewell, Missouri. 

For dinner, we investigated St. Louis pizza, which is supposed to be unique. 

This is from Peroni's, which is supposed to be the best St. Louis style pizza. It's really good, and it is unique. It uses yellow cheese. I forget what it's called, but it tastes like American. The crust is thin, crispy, and yeasty. The overall effect of the yellow cheese makes it taste kind of like a hamburger casserole or a hot dish.

I'm dropping Jim off at the airport momentarily. Since there are many motels in St. Louis, I didn't book one in advance, and I told Jim he gets to book the last motel, and he can choose. Which gives him an opportunity to escape my frugal ways, and impress his wife Suzanne with his good taste.

Jim chose the Motel 6.

Here is the Strava track: https://www.strava.com/activities/16173557154

KATY Ride Day 7 - Hermann to Defiance

 It turns out Hermann is a pretty cool town. 

This is not an old Radio Shack sign that they never got around to taking down. It's real.

Hermann has a historic district with many cool old buildings.

It was settled by Germans, and it still has a strong German heritage.

Like Kolaches!

After this fantastic breakfast at the Espresso Lane coffee shop.

Them it was back across the river to the KATY trail, where the scenery is beautiful and services are few and far between.

There are a lot of combines and tractors out harvesting the corn and soybeans planted in the floodplain.

There was a tavern open in Marthasville for lunch, Cori's Twin Gables. It's on the other side of the athletic fields towards the river.

The cheese curds were fantastic. As for the wings, we are pretty far from Buffalo.

We ate on the deck outside, because inside there were tons of people smoking. I was surprised by this, but then I remembered that they sell liquor in the drug stores here.

There are lots of people riding the trail end to end, and you see and talk with many of the same people when you stop for breaks at the trailhead shelters. Most of these people also had lunch yesterday had lunch where we did in Portland, and also saw the woman sitting at the bar chain smoking and drinking beer all afternoon with her toddler in the stroller. It seems that scene left quite an impression...

Art appears a bit after Marthasville.

The butterflies on the side of the quarry are gigantic. There are some teeny tiny people at the base of the wall if you look closely.

Tonight we are in Defiance, which is a very small town alongside the trail. We are close to St. Louis now, so Defiance has places to eat, and a craft brewery, and a distillery. The brewery is also an event space, and there was some running event today that ended there. So they had a big crowd and an all-you-can-eat pizza buffet. After that we visited the Circle 6, a dive bar. Here's the scene at the brewery:



The beer was quite good. We're still in an area of German influence, so they had some good German varieties, including a Schwarzbier, which was outstanding. 

Lodging was weird tonight. There are no nearby hotels. There are lots of expensive B&Bs. We are at a bunkhouse, which is an AirBnB. It's relatively affordable, and it's the cheapest option, but it is very basic. We have a small room with a bunk bed, in a building with 4 such rooms. There are no common spaces, but there is a Keurig machine and a water cooler in the hallway. Bathrooms and showers are in a shed next door. It's clean and nice, but I sure wish there was a place to sit down and drink my coffee. And it's a real pain in the neck to climb down from the bunk, put on clothes, go next door and figure out the key code to use the bathroom in the early morning. 

Here's the Strava track: https://www.strava.com/activities/16164320860

KATY Ride Day 6 - Jefferson City to Hermann

 Hermann is a small town on the bluff across the Missouri from the KATY Trail. We are at the Hermann Motel.

I thought this was going to be a typical cheap motel when I booked the reservation. Turns out it's newly renovated and works like an AirBnB. There is no staff on site. Each room has a keycode lock. The email you your room number and the key code, and you let yourself in. It's a very nice place. I'm surprised more motels don't do this. Perhaps because it doesn't work with long term guests?

Yesterday was very scenic. It was 48 miles along the bluffs at the edge of the floodplain. They purposefully built the railroad at the edge of the bluffs on the highest part of the floodplain so it would be flat but not flood so much.

The floodplain is about 3 or 4 miles wide. Here's a view across it with the bluffs on the other side.

The floodplain is planted with corn and soybeans. It's all unpopulated with no towns. Occasionally there is a farm house on higher ground. Check out these "Naked neck" chickens. Naked necks are a rare heritage breed.

There is lots of wildlife along the trail. This is a Three-toed Box Turtle, which is different than the Eastern Box Turtles we have at home.

Towns and services are few and far between in this part of the trail. The towns are very small, and are typically a few houses and a grain elevator.

There was only one option for lunch, which was Holzhauser's Bar and Grill in Portland, population 400. 

Holzhauser's is like going back in time. Back to the good old days, where you could put your toddler in the stroller, walk down to the bar, and sit there all afternoon chain smoking with your friends.

I just can't wait until the rest of America is great again.

There are lots of places to eat in Hermann. We had brats in a beer garden with a couple playing music at the 1837 grill. The weather is perfect, so this was great.

Here's the Strava track for today: https://www.strava.com/activities/16153600731

KATY Ride Day 5 - Boonville to Jefferson City

 It was super flat today, with beautiful weather. The trail goes along the Missouri River floodplain. The biggest hills are the 60 foot climbs going over the bridges to cross the Missouri. And then you get to Jefferson City, where there are steep climbs in and out of ravines! Surprise! 

We rode 54 miles today, which is the longest ride of the trip. 

Here I am in Jefferson City. You can see the dome on the state capitol in the background.

We started the day by riding over the Missouri RIver from Boonville. The gross casino hotel is on the left. 

The old MKT railroad bridge is in the background. When you are on the trail, it looks like the trail might cross the river on the railroad bridge, but Strava does not show that happening. And you can see why in this picture - the bridge has a center span that lifts up to allow ships to pass. Nobody is going to be raising and lowering that span for people on bikes.

Halfway across the bridge, we entered Howard County. 

This is at least the third time I've visited a Howard County on my bike. I've also been to Howard County, Indiana, and I live in Howard County, Maryland. 

One time some confused person who had just moved to Kokomo, Indiana (in Howard County) asked the Howard County, Maryland Facebook group for suggestions on fun things to do in Howard County. So I answered her, accurately, with fun things to do in Howard County, Indiana, based on my bike ride through it a year before, without mentioning that she was asking a group in Maryland. Sadly, the moderator deleted the thread because she has no sense of humor.

There's a campground called the KATY Roundhouse just across the river. There's no sign of a Roundhouse, but the ruins of the turntable are still there.

The KATY has periodic trailheads, every 15 or 20 miles, more or less, where people can park their car and access the trail. Each trailhead has water and bathrooms, and a shelter with maps and information about the town. Many of them have bike pumps and repair stations with tools. Here's the trailhead at Rochefort.

You can see the only tunnel on the KATY trail in the background.

There is not much in this section of the trail. In 40 miles there was only one, very small, town. The natural scenery is terrific, the trail runs along the edge of the flood plan up against bluffs. The Lewis and Clark expedition traveled along here, and there are markers where they stopped that tell what they did that day. (Broke one of the boars, caught some deer to eat, etc.) The displays at the trailheads mention that there were once Native American petroglyphs on the bluffs, but they were destroyed when the railroad was constructed. Apparently the quarried the stone on the bluffs to make the roadbed for the railroad. How aggravating. 

But basically, after a couple hours of riding on the beautiful trail with few towns, your threshold for what is fun and exciting gets pretty darn low, which brings us to "Boathenge".

I have no idea if there is some meaningful lunar or solar alignment on the solstice or anything like that. But I can see how some guy found a clever way to save himself a few trips to the landfill.

Nothing is open on Tuesday in Hartsburg, the one town that had potential as a lunch stop. We were expecting to survive 50 miles on a hearty breakfast and snacks from the handlebar bag, But just after Boathenge, there was food after all!

There is a marina, and they sell prepackaged sandwiches and drinks from a little shop run from a shipping container. Nothing is happening at the marina now in mid-October, but it could be that this is a big party spot in the summer. You can camp here.

The trail runs along the river for a few miles after the marina. 

Most of the time, though, you are riding along the floodplain and the river is far away. There are lots of horsetails.

Horsetails are living fossils that are older than flower plants and conifers. Dinosaurs ate horsetails. I like to imagine that this patch of horsetails has been right here since the era of the dinosaurs. (I checked the maps from ancient geologic eras - it is possible!)

Here's the trailhead at Hartsburg. There are lots of people riding the trail today. Most of them are with organized tours from distant places like Washington or Oregon. This trailhead was a popular place to stop and eat the food you brought with you. Hartsburg is so small, it doesn't even have a Casey's.

There is no lodging near the trail in this part. You have to ride three miles to Jefferson City and cross the river to find a hotel. There is this crazy bike and pedestrian structure to get up to the bridge.

It's a giant cube with ramps in the sides. You have to go around the square four times to get to the top, where there is a bike path next to the bridge.

Jefferson City, Paris, whatever.

Leaving locks to commemorate your romance is universal I guess.

Here's the Strava track: https://www.strava.com/activities/16142523976

KATY RIde Day 4 - Sedalia to Boonville

 All the rain forecast for this trip happened yesterday, and it wasn't much. Most of the rain happened before dawn. There were a few drops while we were riding. It felt nice.

We are now in the center of Missouri. This area historically had a lot of cattle ranches. Nowadays, there is plenty of corn and soybeans like everywhere, but I saw some cattle farms and some horses.

I hear Anheuser-Busch has a Clydesdale farm somewhere near Boonville.

This is a very remote area. Lunch was at Pilot Grove, it's very small.

And the only place where you could get anything to eat at all between the start and finish of today's 37 mile ride was this Casey's in Pilot Grove.

So it was gas station pizza slices for lunch. Part of the scarcity of services is it's Monday, and a holiday, but still. 

There are lots of other cyclists on the trail. Most of them eating food they brought with them. Most of them are doing a supported ride, so they are not carrying their stuff on their bikes. When we have arrived at our hotels the past couple days, there are piles of bags that have been dropped off by the charter service for the bikers still out on the trail.

We spent a lot of time chatting with the other cyclists, who were all complaining about how hilly this section of the KATY is. (It's still a rail trail, and it's still flat.) Jim has found kindred souls. 

Boonville is small, only 9000 population, and there's not much here, although it's very historic. There is one expensive historic hotel and some expensive B&Bs, and the Isle of Capri Casino and Hotel, which is very cheap, and very, very ugly. We are staying at the Casino.

It's so gross. The lobby and restaurant reeks of stale cigarette smoke that has wafted in from the casino floor, where aged zombies stagger from one slot machine to another.

Here the whole building.

It's a "riverboat". Get it? Do you feel festive yet? It's right next to the Missouri River, which is a barge canal these days.

There is no carpet uglier than casino carpet.

There are acres of this. There could be stains from hundreds of spilled drinks and you would never know. It's so gross.

We got there at 3, checkin doesn't start until 4, so we spent an hour at the casino bar and restaurant replenishing our electrolytes. The restaurant/bar is cavernous and empty at 3. Almost every table and spot at the bar had dirty dishes still sitting there from lunch. It's so gross. The bartender said they didn't hire anyone to bus the tables, so she gets to do it, and she's going to get right on that any minute now. It's so gross. My Bloody Marys were good, however, with plenty of celery and a pickled okra!

When 4:00 finally came, we were got in line to be checked in by the one person working the registration desk, who was a very sweet old lady who was also very, very slow. The only people checking in were bike tourists. Our room is spacious and nice, and the cigarette smoke from the casino has not made it up here.

Dinner was at a tavern called Maggie's, which had the unique features of being open and serving beer. (No way we are going back to that place in the casino). It was great. Tasty burgers, and interesting people to talk to while we were watching the baseball playoffs.

The guy sitting next to Jim drinking beer says he's pulling for the Mariners, because he moved here from Seattle. Jim and I were aghast.

me: "You moved here to Boonville?"
guy: "Yes"
me: "Why did you do that?"
guy: "I'm still not sure."
Jim: "What do you do here?"
guy: "I'm the pastor at the Presbyterian church."

ROFL. We were both pulling for a "Somebody's got to win it" World Series between the Brewers and the Mariners (neither of which have ever won a world series), which realizing that this is very unlikely to happen. I'm all in on the Brewers winning it for Bob Uecker, who died this year.

Here's the Strava track: https://www.strava.com/activities/16130854893