77.6 miles today – 579.9 total miles

We planned to leave camp by 7:30 this morning.  When I went to load my bike I discovered that I had our first flat tire of the trip.  I must hit something late in the day yesterday and it went flat overnight.  We were glad we had it there where we could fix it at the campsite in the cool morning, not at the side of the road in the heat.  I patched the tire then forgot to pump up the tube partially and then deflate it again to set the tub and pinched tube by the valve stem, ruining the tube.  That’s why you always carry a spare tube.  We put the new tube and did it right this time and finally got out of camp about 8:30.

The first 6 miles were rollers getting to the main highway.  Then we had a great downhill with tailwinds.  Hit a maximum speed of about 36 mph.  We had a tailwind of 5-10 mph growing to 10-20 mph in the afternoon.  The wind was from the south and we were heading north.  After the first fifteen miles we left the hills behind and traveled north on the flat Missouri River bottomlands.

We looked for a place to get a second breakfast but there weren’t many options.  We stopped for water in the town of Watson.  No stores in Watson, but a neighborhood dog suck up on us and tried to make is mark on my bike.  Fortunately, he didn’t have good aim.

We made it to Hamburg, Iowa about noon and found a Pizza Hut.  Filled up and headed out.  We originally planned on staying at Waubonsie State Park about 5 miles out of Hamburg, but with the tail wind and our good time in the morning we decided to push on to Pacific Junction and spend the night in a motel.  This would give us a jump that should get us to the far side of Sioux City by Friday evening and let us stop by a bicycle shop for need parts and repairs tomorrow morning.

24 miles today – 502.3 total miles

We slept in. Finally got packed up and left the motel at about 11 am and headed to the One Stop Cafe, just one block off of US 73 (I think it was on 21st Street) to get breakfast. It’s a small cafe without much of a sign, but was recommended to us at the motel. They kindly served us breakfast even though it was past into their lunch menu time. The waitress told us that people rarely finished two of their pancakes. Keith didn’t believe her. I got two banana-nut pancakes and he got one buttermilk and one chocolate chip pancake. We got one of their home make cinnamon rolls to share. The cinnamon roll was real great and so were the pancakes. Keith ate his buttermilk pancake and about 5 bites of this chocolate chip pancake and was stuffed. I didn’t finish both of mine either. If you are going though Falls City be sure to at this cafe. Your taste buds will thank you! We rated this as the best meal we have had so far on the trip.

After breakfast we went by the library to update the web site and then got some groceries. We finally headed out of town about 1:30. Our goal was Indian Cave State Park just 25 miles north of town. We wanted an easy day after our exhausting day yesterday. With took our time and got to the park before 5. We have had a relaxing evening. We will get up early tomorrow and try to beat the heat, but with a shorter day than last time.

We called Uncle Wes this evening to get information on the church in Sioux City where we hope to have a rest day on Sabbath. Sioux City is on the South Dakota border so if we make this, we will be very pleased with our progress.

90 miles today – 478.3 total miles

We went completely across Kansas today.  Well across the part of Kansas that the Lewis and Clark Trail crosses.

We decided to get an early start to beat the heat.  In the morning Keith had second thoughts about the early start . . .   We left camp by 7:15 and made good time.  The roads were mostly flat and we picked up southerly tailwind early in the day.  We stopped by the Lewis and Clark State Park and decided we were glad we had our rest day where at Watkins Bend.  By 9ish we were in Atchison, Kansas.  We got our first real “second breakfast” there and headed out.  On the outskirts of town a kind lady agreed to fill our water bottles.  We left Atchison to large wide valleys with great down hills and long but not super steep climbs.  We hit a top speed of 35 mph on one descent.  The tailwind picked up to about 15 miles an hour, which really made things easier.  At one rest stop a horse came by to check us out.

In Troy, we went by the Indian Monument there, filled our water bottles from a spigot at the courthouse and then went to their grocery store to get some basic supplies for Breakfast.  Town we were planning on staying at, White Cloud, was said to have groceries, but we didn’t know how much.  Troy’s selection was sparse but adequate.

By the time we made White Cloud, we were getting tired.  We had gone about 67 miles.  The map said that camping was permitted at the marina.  Well the Marina consisted of a boat ramp, a fish cleaning sink, and a pit toilet.  We went up the hill to see what stores were open.  Most buildings had a For Sale sign in the window and nothing was open.  We met Wolf River Bob who is the self-proclaimed historian and Lewis and Clark Trail guide.  He told us that there really wasn’t any commerce there or in the next town, Rulo.  We signed his guest book, that he got out of his van, and declined his offers further guiding assistance.

With the less than adequate camping facilities we decided to push on another 20 miles to Falls City.  We stopped in Rulo.  About the entire town had was a saloon.  I went in to get our water bottles filled and discovered they had a restaurant of sorts as well.  I ordered some fries to go and we at them outside and pushed on to Falls City.  Once we got there, we got Subway for supper, we were both too tired to cook, and went to the park to camp.  While sitting in the park we talked to a gentleman who told us that there was a 60% chance of rain tonight with some of it severe.  After thinking we about it a bit we decide that we had earned a night in a motel and headed for the nearest one . . .

We really overdid it today.  Tomorrow we will sleep in . . .  and then not push it.

We are enjoying a quiet day here at the park.Resting our tired muscles.

43.4 hot miles today – 388.3 total miles

Last night when going to bed, I put our food up where I thought the critters couldn’t get to it.  We were wrong.  In the morning, the food bag was gone.  We found it in the woods a few feet, empty.  We did find our peanut butter and a broken into box of macaroni.  By the teeth marks on the peanut butter jar, they obviously really wanted to get into it, but without success.  We still had some oatmeal in a pannier, that I didn’t put up, so we had food for breakfast.

We got out of the camp site at abou 9:30-10 this morning.  It was a nice park and nice to see Bill again.  We decided to vary from the AC route again and see if we could cut some miles off the trip.  Since we were on the South side of the park we dropped down to Higway 92 (or 92 Highway as they call it around these parts).  We figured if we were going to have rollers, we might as well have fewer of them.

We got fewer of them but the road was busier than we liked.  It seemed that the closer we got to the Kansas City area, the ruder the drivers were.  It’s amazing how many people can get mad for being inconvenienced for 30 seconds.

In Smithville we stopped for pizza at Pizza Hut, then went by the library to upload blog reports.  Their internet was down for about 30 minutes so we went on to the bike shop to look for a fender bolt that fell off Keith’s bike.  The person there was just filling in for the day and wasn’t a mechanic.  She couldn’t find the bolt.  We asked her about the road ahead, and she told us that it would get busier at about 4:30 or 5:00.  We decided not to go back to the library but to go on down the road so we could get off this busier highway.

A few miles out of town we were climbing a hill when my chain came off.  I had almost no momentum and went down hard.  Got a cut on my heal, but otherwise I was OK, picked up the bike and kept going.  I was thankful that there was no traffic at the time.

It was a hot day.. We had stop a number of times just to cool down.  We have been drinking a lot of water to keep up, and stopping for Gatorade very often.

In Platte City we stopped at the Dairy Queen to cool down and gather information.  We found that the library was just down the road in town and we headed that way.  It was a great down hill stretch into town that was a lot of fun.  The library was just about to close but we had enough time to get the daily blogs uploaded. When I opened the computer I discovered that my fall  earlier had cracked the display.  So far it’s still useable, but there are black spots I have to work around.  I hope that it will last the whole trip.

After we left the Library we started down the hill again to the river.  I pull into a gas station. We still needed groceries for Sabbath, but it looked like we were headed out of town. We asked a gentleman on a motorcycle and he told us what were afraid of.  The only grocery store was at the top of the big hill we just came down.  So up the hill we climbed, got our groceries and headed for Weston Bend State Park about 6 miles down the road.

The park itself has some of the steepest hills we have climbed.  We both ended up pushing up the last part of one of them.  We checked in with the campground host and he told us what sites were empty.  We found one of the sites and started to unload.  He then came by and told us the site was occupied and explained to us how stupid we were for not knowing that.  He may be a campground host, but hospitality is not one of his gifts.

We reloaded the bikes and found another campsite, setup camp, had supper, and showered.

63.3 miles today – 344.9 total miles
After our great day yesterday, we thought that 65 miles to the next camping place shouldn’t be a problem for today. Unfortunately, when cycle touring not all days are equal.

We left our campsite by about 8:45 and stopped by the Higginsville Post Office to jettison some items we decided we didn’t really need. They were mailed to Wes Peterson who will be meeting us at the end of the trip.

On the way out of town we stopped by McDonalds for an Egg Biscuit. We decided to go through their drive though window. Unfortunately our bikes were not big enough to set off their sensor, se we just rode up to the first window, opened it, and asked if they could take our order. I don’t know how many bicycles they have at their drive up. It’s fun to watch peoples reactions.

By 9:30 we could already tell that it was going to be a warm day. Lexington was just 17 miles away and we thought we could make it there easily. What we discovered was that our route was mainly rollers. We would tear down one steep hill at 20-35 miles an hour and grind to the top of the next one at 4-8 miles per hour. This went on all the way to Lexington. When we finally rolled into Lexington, we were pretty tired. We grabbed a lunch at Subway and then stopped by the Lexington Battlefield for a brief visit. While in Lexington, Keith, fell and scraped his knee and elbow. Not a big thing, but still pretty discouraging for him.

On our way into Lexington we noticed that Route 13 went a different direction than what our directions indicated. I figured that it was now routed around town and that the preferred bike route would still be the old route. Lexington is on the bluff overlooking the Missouri River. Just before heading down to the bridge we could see below, we decided we had better check our information to be sure we were going in the right direction. We found out from a local citizen that the bridge was closed to all traffic and that there was a new bridge a few miles East of town. We asked a policeman if we could ride our bikes across the old bridge and he made it very clear that absolutely noone was to cross that bridge. So we headed for the new bridge, which was part of a new controlled access highway. Fortunately there were no signs preventing bicycles, so we headed off. It was a nice road but probably added at least 5 miles to our already tiring day.

We reached Henrietta back on route on the other side and stopped at a diner for a root beer float. While consuming our float we poured over the Adventure Cycling and highway maps to see what our options were. There was a “camping” place a mile back that we passed, but it was basically and open lot where camper could park and hook up to power. That didn’t look appealing. We considered an alternate route that would save some time. The challenge with routing on a bicycle is that if you make a mistake and have to go back, it can be a looong way. We asked to waitress about that road, and she referred us to a family eating there. We told them that we wanted a direct route that would also be as free from hills as possible. They told us that the route we were considering was too dangerous and that the AC route was very hilly. They recommended a different route. Taking directions from someone who doesn’t ride is scary, but we decided to give it a try. This time it was just a predicted.

When we entered Excelsior Springs we took a wrong turn and headed down a VERY steep hill that we had ride be brakes to keep us from going out of control. Once we got to the bottom, we realized we were in the wrong place. Since we definitely didn’t want to go back up that hill we asked for directions and were sent up a hill that was not quite a steep, but still very steep.

We made it to the campground at about 8:00pm and met up with Bill again and we are sharing a camp. Bill went the AC route and had a total mileage for the day of 77 miles. The route that we bypassed was also all rollers and he was given a citation for riding his bike on Main Street in one small town. We could never have made that many miles in that terrain.

Tomorrow will need to be a shorter day.

67.2 miles today – 281.6 total miles
Today was our first day on all roads instead of trails. Well, almost. We were on the Katy trail for just over a mile this morning before we said a final farewell and head down the road. Up to this point we had spent most of the days on bike paths.

We got a late start, almost 11 am, after a good breakfast. The first part of the day we took our time. Keith was not used to the hills and things took longer. We got to Arrow Rock (15 miles) close to 2 pm. Arrow Rock is a nice little historic town. We got a sandwich and ice cream after looking around the town a bit. We left about 2:30 and headed for Marshall, another 15 miles down the road. By the time we got to Marshall, Keith was ready to stop for the day, but the only campgrounds were 30 miles on down the road in Higginsville with only 3 hours before sunset. After a planning session, it was decided that we would try for Higginsville, but if we couldn’t make it there we would stealth camp* somewhere.

The first few miles where a challenge, but then slowly we began working together. I would lead down the hills and Keith would ride in my draft behind me, then we would pull most of the way up the hill this way. If I dropped Keith on the way up I would ride slowly at the top until he caught up and got in position in my draft again and then we would be off! We watched the sun set about a mile outside of Higginsville. Riding into town we where both really excited, not only to have gotten there, but to have had a great ride the last 30 miles!

We found the fairgrounds and began looking for the camping area. We didn’t see anything really marked but we did spot another touring cyclist with his camp and headed that way. Bill is from Sarasota Springs, Florida and also traveling the Lewis and Clark Trail. We had played leapfrog a bit yesterday an the Katy Trail and he had gone on to Arrow Rock and spent the night. It was fun chatting with Bill and sharing experiences as we setup camp.

Just as we were finishing things up neighborhood cat came for a visit. Cats are nice, but this one was very friendly. It sniffed for food, wanted in the tent, and began to climb on the tent to get inside – quickly making itself very unpopular. We put it over a 6 foot fence and that worked for a little while, until it figured out it could climb the fence. We tried water, that didn’t work. Finally I trotted the cat over to a playground the other side of the park, put the cat at the top of the playground slide (about 5 feet up) and made a hasty retreat while it figured out how to get down, hoping it would be distracted with other things by the time I was gone. So far, we haven’t seen the cat again.

It was a long day, but a very good one.

*Stealth Camp: Camping unobtrusively in an area not intended for camping.

43.5 miles – Total: 214.4 miles

Today was a bit more adventuresome that than we expected.

We woke up at about 6:30 ate breakfast and broke camp.  It began to drizzle as we started packing up.  We were thankful for the gazebo to do it under.  It made the job much more pleasant.  We suited up in our rain jackets and started out.  Within an hour, we were out of the rain and eventually the sun came out and the day warmed up.

We saw a lot of animals today.  Possums, squirrels, wood chucks, turtles, deer, rabbits, Baltimore orioles, cliff swallows, hawks, lizards, and the occasional human.

Since reading the “Hey Mom, Can I Ride My Bike Across America?” book, Keith has been looking forward to having a “second breakfast.”  So we started looking for a place to get one.  The first place we stopped said they had groceries.  Snickers, granola bars, chips, and gum was about the extent of their “groceries” so we each got a granola bar.  We stopped again in McBaine at a small country restaurant at about 11:00. About all they had that was vegetarian was a grilled cheese sandwich, so we each had one of those.

We hadn’t gotten more than a quarter mile down the trail when Keith stopped to read a sign.  When started again, his ankle turned inward on the power stroke and caught a chain ring sprocket leaving a gash about 1.5 inches long in his ankle.  At the initial look, I was afraid this would be a trip ending injury.  As we evaluated the wound, we found that it wasn’t real deep, just ugly looking.  Of course we pulled out our first aide kit and tended the wound, cleaning it out and putting a large band aid over it.  Then we wrapped it in gauze so that the bandage would stay in place and also to apply a bit of pressure to the wound (you will see this in some of today’s pictures in the photo gallery).  We took some trial steps on it he discovered that he could manage without much pain.  So we then tried having him ride his bike unloaded to see how that worked.  He felt pretty good so we decided to give it a try. The next trailhead was only 9 miles away and we could always bail out at that point if things were too bad.  So we reloaded our bikes and went back to the McBaine trailhead and got some water and then headed out again at about 1:30.  We made the Rocheport (the next trailhead) in good shape so we decided keep going.

Traveling a bit slower, but without any problems, we got into Booneville at about 5.  In Booneville we leave the Katy trail and head out on regular roads.  We had been planning on getting to Arrow Rock today, but with all our extra adventure we were not going to make that goal.

We have been hearing pizza calling our name for several days and figured that Booneville was where we where hearing it calling from.  The lady in the library told us it was just down the road a mile and a half.  It’s amazing what people who don’t ride bikes take for granted!  What she didn’t tell us was that within that mail and a half was a hill with an uphill grade that as amazingly steep—and yes she knew we were riding bikes and were fully loaded.  With one glance at he hill we turned into a gas station to revaluate how we were going to get pizza.  We remember one really neat fact about most pizza places—they deliver!  We’d make them come over that hill.

So the next task was to decide where to have it delivered.  We needed get some groceries and with the time it was getting we knew there was no way we were going to make it to Arrow Rock tonight so we decided to call it a day.  There was a grocery store across the street and we learned that there was a Comfort Inn just up another road about 2 miles.  The lady in the gas station assured us that it wasn’t as bad the hill right there, it was a gentle grade (remember what I said about people who don’t ride bikes).  We checked to be sure that the Comfort Inn had rooms and then went across the street to do our shopping.  On the way in, Keith reminded me that we had to carry everything we bought.  That was a good thing.  I was pretty hungry and might have bought more.  We made our purchases and then took them out to the bikes and successfully found space for everything in our panniers.

Then we headed down the road to the motel.  That gentle grade was steady, but it was also pretty steep.  But there was a motel not too far beyond the top so that was worthwhile.  On checking in to the motel, we were talking about our bikes and that all we had with us were on those bikes.  Then the lady gave us the obligatory paper to sign and asked us to write down our license plate number!  Keith and I had quite a few laughs this evening on that one.  They charged us an extra $5 to bring our bikes to our rooms, even after we washed them off.  If they had only thought about it – we and our gear were much dirtier than the bikes . . .

So here we are in the motel.  Keith is cleaned up.  The pizza is consumed.  We’ve redressed Keith’s wound and will evaluate it again in the morning, but I think we wil be able to continue.

Day 4 GPS Track

Note:  I’m not sure how accurate the GPS Profiles are from the last few days.  When traveling right next to a bluff the GPS can track just a few feet off and then the Topo software can place you on top of the bluff for just a moment and then back down below!  But you get the overall view.  From here on the profiles should be much more accurate.

55.1 miles – Total: 170.9 miles

We woke up today to find our tent covered with ants—lots of little ants and some giant black ants. It took some time breaking camp on our first camping morning. We got going about 10:00am. We had to stop to readjust my load after a few miles to get rid of some front wheel wobble. Too much stuff on the back can set up a front wheel wobble that can make life interesting.

We started the day riding a number of miles on a road the parallels the Katy Trail. We made much better time here and it was fun to cruise. We continued following the bluffs of on the north side of the Missouri River. We even passed though a “town” called Bluffton. We came within view of the Capitol building in Jefferson City and stopped at Hartsburg (pop 107). Hartsburg was formed when a man with the last name of Hart donated a strip of his farmland to the railroad and they put a station here.

All day we have been trying to outrun Hurricane Dennis. What is left of Dennis is now centered over St. Louis and dumping rain there, but we have only had sprinkles. Rain is predicted tonight, but so far it appears that we have missed most of it. It was overcast with welcome high temperatures in the lower 80’s today. That also made it pleasant day. When we asked about campsites we were directed to the town park, which consists of a few picnic tables and a large gazebo. We were told we cold pitch our tent under the gazebo, so we willingly complied! This is a great way to camp with a threat of rain. Depending on what Denis does, we may be riding in the rain tomorrow.

Keith informed me as it began to sprinkle that he doesn’t have his rain jacket. We picked up a poncho at the Hartsburg bike shop. This is the best bike shop we have seen since leaving St. Charles. Many along the Katy have only the bare necessities, but this one is well equipped.

Hartsburg also has a post office, restaurant (that is not open today), a B&B and a bar. The bar has a menu that is on a 3×5 card in a stand on the table. Pretty much basic stuff you can get out of the freezer and heat. They couldn’t make a cheese only pizza (only pepperoni) so we opted for cooking the mash potatoes we brought with us. Other than that, this is very friendly little town. We inquired with a local citizen sitting on his front porch about a store. He said that there wasn’t one, but offered us a ride to a neighboring town where there was one. We took in the scene with him sitting on his front porch, drinking a beer with two empties beside him and politely declined.

Hartsburg is a peaceful little town and we have enjoyed our evening here.

Day 3 GPS Track

Another hot day. Traveled 65.8 miles today for a total of 115.8 miles

We ate breakfast at the B&B and got started at about 9:30. Beautiful Sunday morning and there were a lot of bikers out on the Katy Trail. It was fun to watch the faces of other bikers as they looked at our bikes. Some were admiration, but most were wide eyed disbelief. We traveled the Katy Trail from St. Charles to Herman today. The Katy Trail is one of the longest, but narrowest state parks. It is an old railroad that has been converted to a biking and hiking trail. The surface is crushed limestone. It is touted for its beauty and history. I’m not sure I like the trail. The crushed limestone takes more energy to ride and the uneven surface makes handling a loaded bike more of a challenge. You always have to have a good grip on the handlebars. Also, the bicycle tires make the dust from the crushed limestone fly in the air, coating everything from our knees down with a fine white dust. We went a number of miles on roads the paralleled the Katy. It was a good diversion.

We met some nice people. Some asked us about where we were going. We met one gentleman in a way we would rather not. He had just hit an unexpected surface anomaly at a high rate of speed and ended up off his bike in a less than graceful fashion. He scraped up his elbow pretty good, but otherwise he and his bike were in good shape. We helped him wash his woods and made good use of the baby wipes we have in our first aid kit. His elbow will hurt for a few days, but other then that he should be OK.

At different times, we would ride separately, in a paceline or side by side as traffic on the trail allowed. After we had gone over 50 miles we were both feeling pretty tired. Keith was riding beside me and we were talking when something momentarily distracted him and he briefly lost his balance and had to swerve to regain it. The only problem was that he had to swerve in my direction. I tried to hold the course but soon was off the edge of the crown of the gravel surface and couldn’t correct back. We both bit the dust (literally). After picking ourselves up and evaluating the damage, we discovered that, except for Keith having one minor scratch and one minor abrasion, we and our bikes were just fine.

A few miles further we discovered a large oak tree with a 2.5 foot truck and about a day earlier decided it was tired of standing on the hill by the trail and decided to lay down – across the trail. We stopped, took all the panniers and gear off our bikes, passed them over the tree and it’s branches, and then put then reassembled everything on the other side. Ah, the unexpected adventures of Bicycle touring!

The weather forecast is saying that most of the remnants of hurricane Dennis will miss us. We may get some rain but we shouldn’t get the full deluge.

Tonight we are staying in a city park that has campsites, in the town of Hermann, Missouri. The town is about 3 miles off the Katy Trail. The cricket and chirping and a light, cool breeze is blowing.

GPS Track Day 1 & 2