A nice lady named Wilma checked us out at the counter. It was obvious that she was trying to work quickly to get through the long line of customers and didn't have a lot of time to chat but she did ask about our ride and Ride for Reading. She seemed to appreciate what we were doing but still stayed very focused on what she was doing. Then as I was packing up my things she said to hold on for a second she had something for me. She ran in the back then came back with a donation for our ride. Once again we are amazed at the people we have encountered along our trip. We have seen very little greed and lots of very giving strangers. We are still blown away everyday.
Outside it was cool and raining. We sat on the sidewalk underneath the overhang, snacking on our new deals and trying to figure out where we could camp. We asked several people going in or out of the store about the best places.We had a lot of good suggestions but honestly, biking across town and setting up camp in the rain did not sound like a very fun time. That is when we met Nita. She originally gave us some camping suggestions, then after walking to her car, came back to tell us that she would like to put us up in a hotel. She did long motorcycle trips and said she understood what it was like to get caught in the rain. As we sat in the hotel and listened to the rain fall harder we became more and more thankful for Nita's kind deed. And it is especially nice to not have to pack up a wet tent in the morning.
By the morning the rain was clearing out and it was mostly just overcast all day with a light shower here and there. It turned out to be a day of pretty much perfect riding conditions. Even better, this is where we started on the Katy Trail so we had no cars to worry about until nearly St. Louis. The trail is one of the most successful Rails-Trails projects and we could see why. The very mild terrain allowed us to cruise along easily under a tunnel of lush trees and other vegetation. There are stops every so often with history about the area of the trail and quite a few neat towns along the way as well. It was a nice change of pace. We enjoyed riding the trail so much on Tuesday that we didn't decide to settle down in a campsite until it was nearly dark.
We were all thrilled with the trail so far which had us excited to get back at it the next morning. We hopped on the trail and crunched out several miles before stopping for lunch in Jefferson City. It was getting hotter for sure and the humidity was leaving us constantly drenched, welcoming us back like we had missed it. Jefferson City had a neat little downtown area where we grabbed some lunch and took it easy in the air conditioning for a while. The rest of the day continued to be pleasant. The trail makes the miles go by really quickly since it is split up into short segments and you cannot see miles and miles in front of you like we could in Kansas. Our day stretched on and on and before we knew it we had done one of our biggest days at 80 miles. We rolled in late again to the city park in Hermann, a little town with a big German influence. We met a fun group of cyclists who were camping out there as well. It was the first bike tour for a company called Cycledellic out of Fort Worth, TX. They were doing the trail from end to end. As tired as we were, we chatted with them for quite a while before hitting the sack. The 80 miler left us with just one more day on the trail before heading into St. Louis. St. Louis is another mile marker for our trip. We will be in the biggest city of the trip and get to see a few friends but also loose a vagabond due to time constraints. However, we will have to update you guys about it later!
Wow. You guys have gone a LONG way! I was with the Fort Worth group. It was cool to see Cycledellic got a shout out. I'm wishing you guys the best of luck and fun on your adventure. I'll be checking in.
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