The Hills of Missouri are Behind Us and the Katy Trail in Front of Us

June 20, 2010 - Sedalia, MO - odometer reads around 840 miles - the bike is in the hotel basement so I am not sure.

Saturday was a day of about 50 miles of roller coaster hills.  We have to feel good about what we did, but it was really draining.  Going downhill was fun and kept our mileage rate up a little, but after every downhill was another uphill.  It was a pretty uneventful morning.  We made it to Chilhowee, MO for lunch.  A small cafe with nice people and a good lunch.  Two farmers were very interested in our story and then four biker guys (the motorcycle type) stopped for lunch.  Actually they were all our age or older and were out for a Saturday ride.  They too were interested and interesting.  One of them had ridden across several state on his bicycle, but said he traded it in for the motorcycle a few years earlier. 

It had been a very hot morning.  As we left the cafe we put on more sunscreen and our protective sleeves heading out for another 22 miles to get to our destination - Windsor, MO and the Katy Trail.  About an hour an a half into the afternoon the sky changed dramatically.  The winds picked up and it was a little scary.  We stopped at a house and luckily there was a lady in her yard, she told us we could stay in their barn until the storm blew over.    It was a good place for us.  After a short while we thought the worst was over and got back on our bikes.  We did that a little too early, as shortly after starting out it began to rain.  We made it to the next town and a very nice lady who had passed us on the road stopped along the road and waited for us.  She offered to let us come to her house and dry off.  Another biking angel to our rescue.  We were able to dry off, get a bite to eat, and drink then only had about 12 miles to go.  The rest of the afternoon was better than the morning, but still some hills that we thought were behind us.  We pulled into the Windsor Katy Trail head around 4:30 and saw the start of the next part of our adventure. 

We looked for a campground and found the city park had some nice sites.  We paid our $5 and set up our tent.  As usual we did our laundry at the laundromat and found a place for supper.  The bad part was that we had no cell phone contact or Internet.  So people had to trust that we were safe.  Around 3:00 am it began to lightning and thunder.  We hadn't brought all of our bags off our bikes, so we thought we should get them in the tent.  As we were doing that a local sheriff deputy stopped by and said they were expecting high winds and rain.  He asked, "How fast can you pack up?"  He said we could go over to one of the park shelters and stay until the storm was over.  We decided to leave the tent up and take our sleeping bags over to the shelter - about a 1/2 mile away.  When we got to it we found an open sided shelter, similar to those in Plymouth with picnic tables.  After about 30 minutes laying on the picnic table we decide our tent was just a safe.  So back to the tent.  We must have been exhausted because that was the last we remember until morning - no storm.

Today we actually slept in because we planned to go just a short distance (about 22 miles).  We did that for two reasons.  We really felt like the last three days had taxed our bodies and it was a little Father's Day gift.  We had a nice ride on the Katy Trail.  There was lots of shade (a good thing since the heat index was 102 today).  We passed a few other riders, but I think most people decided it was too hot to do a joy ride today. We did get cell phone service again and it was nice getting phone calls, videos, and text messages wishing me a Happy Father's Day.  Those were really nice to get.  When we were on the Internet later I even got a skype call from Ben - our AFS son from Chile.  It was also good to hear from him and that he is excited to be coming  back to Plymouth's for Kyle and Sarrah's wedding in December. 

One of the things we were anticipating was a little more support close to the trail.  When we got to Sedalia the Katy Trail Visitor Center was closed.  In fact it is not open on Sunday.  I would think that Sunday could be a big day for them.  So once again we were left to our own resources to find a place to stay.  No campgrounds close, we weren't sure about the city park, so we found a nice old hotel in downtown just a short ride from the trail.  It is really nice, another Father's Day gift.  After our shower and cleanup we started doing our normal routine - where can we get something to eat?  Sedalia has a nice downtown, but nothing open on Sunday.  There were a few delivery possibilities - Mexican and Chinese - no thanks we have had enough of those for a few days.  There was an Italian Restaurants that was supposed to deliver.  Now that sounded good.  We looked at their menu and our mouth was watering.  No luck - they were closed.  We found another Italian, but they didn't deliver.  I walked around downtown just to make sure there wasn't anything close.  There was a bar, but no food - lots of smoke and beer available.  I asked the young lady at the front desk if she had any friends who might want to make a few dollars by picking up a supper for us and bringing it to us at the hotel.  She actually called her husband and he picked up a wonderful Italian supper. So we got what we were hoping for and again someone did something for us. 

Sculptures at the Katy Trail head in Sedalia, MO

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