Fall, 2003

Clinton to St. Charles, Missouri and Back to Clinton

 map link  to the Katy Trail

                                                                                                         Story by Laurie Allshouse

     We have a long history with the Katy Trail, starting from a stay at a Bed & Breakfast in Augusta, Missouri in the fall of 1997.  The H. S. Clay House had two old bicycles they let us use to explore the Katy Trail with a ride to Defiance, just seven miles away.  We fell in love with biking and bought our first two from Jerry at the Bicycle Store in Oklahoma City. 
     The following April, my mom, Virginia Capron, and family friend, John Reasoner, rode with us from Columbia, Missouri to St. Charles, staying at B & B’s along the way.  We had a vehicle parked at each end of our route but that really was a hassle to set up and get regrouped again.
     In the fall of 1999, Jim and Arletta Webster, Steve and Cynthia Wade, Susan Walker and my mom rode from Sedalia to St. Charles and then back to Washington to catch the train to Sedalia.  We noticed something funny.  The ride from St. Charles back to Washington looked different or at least, we noticed different things.  An idea was born to ride the Katy again but take two weeks and start in Clinton.  We would ride to St. Charles and spend two nights before turning around and riding back to Clinton.
     In September of 2003, we were ready to put those plans into motion.  Jim and I started riding from Clinton, Missouri on a cloudy, overcast Sunday morning.  It had rained during the night but the weather forecast predicted a warm week ahead of us.  We were able to park our van long term just one block south of the trailhead at the Clinton Community Center.   We checked in with the receptionist, who told us that not only was the large lot lighted but also patrolled several times a night.  There was no charge for this service, just wishes for a safe and wonderful journey.
     It felt good to be back on the Katy trail, our old friend.  With two front and two rear panniers (saddlebags), we were prepared for anything.  Jim was carrying 44 pounds and I carried 43.  Our Bianchi touring bikes each weighed 33 pounds before they were loaded down with our belongings for a two-week credit card trip (we weren’t camping).  The terrain felt a little hillier than I remembered.  Visually you didn’t notice any hills but it definitely wasn’t flat as a pancake either.  There wasn’t much traffic on the trail.  We saw ten turtles, one squirrel and one jogger.  Right out of Windsor we ran into two backpackers who had spent the night in Windsor and returning to Clinton.  They were training for a much longer hike in the coming weeks.  After we left these two, it started sprinkling on us for all of five minutes.  Our next excitement came when we saw six horseback riders near Green Ridge.  We stopped as they went by so we wouldn’t scare their horses.  They had ridden from Sedalia for a little Sunday jaunt.
     Six hours later at a blistering speed of ten mph, we arrived at the historic Hotel Bothwell in Sedalia.  http://www.hotelbothwell.com  As we came back out to collect our bikes after registering, it really started raining.  We timed our arrival just right!  We were told we could keep our bikes in our room so we didn’t even need to unload our panniers.  As we settled in, it began to lightening and rain in bucket loads.  Unfortunately the dining room at the Bothwell wasn’t open on Sunday night but they did have menus from area restaurants that would deliver.  We decided to eat Chinese in our nice, dry, warm room.
 

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     The next morning as we were enjoying our continental breakfast in the adjoining coffee shop, we met six people from Ohio and two from Washington DC.  This group was also heading to Rocheport for the next night’s stay.   The weather was bright and sunny.  The trail made of crushed limestone soaked up all the rain and was in great shape.  Lots of vegetation sheltered the trail.  Being the first riders out in the morning, I kept running into cobwebs.  It felt like hair across my face.  When we stopped, cobwebs were clinging to my bike.  Jim had a flat rear tire.  As he stopped to fix it, dinner call went out to every mosquito in the county.  Jim pulled on a jacket to protect his arms from attack while I frantically searched for my bug spray.  Success at last after three had already feasted on my blood.  Unfortunately, I unknowingly sprayed my bite valve.  Ugh.  Not only did it taste awful but also my lips went numb.  I was hoping I didn’t go into convulsions and wondering if Jim would even notice if I did.  While Jim was busy changing his tire, another rider stopped to see if we needed help.  His name was Gene Getty.  He was taking only two days to ride from St. Charles to Clinton (250 miles).  He had spent the night in Hartsburg with Jeanette at the Globe Hotel.  His wife and another couple were meeting him with food and water every so often.  He was joining them for lunch in Pilot Grove at 1 o’clock.  He still had 60 miles to go after that.
     Before reaching Boonville, we could hear the whine of traffic that only continued to get louder.  Miles would pass before we crossed over I-70.  As those sounds began to fade, the air was filled with cattle bellowing . . . .and the customary smell that accompanies a feedlot.  Smells like money to me, as Johnnie Lerma would say. 
     At the New Franklin trail head we met Bob Rogers from the Phred touring list.  He knew or had been in contact with Jim Foreman and was planning to join the Geezers on their next adventure.
     After 51 miles we finally arrived in Rocheport at the Katy O’Neil B & B.   Rodney showed us the boxcar we would be staying in.  We had a bathroom, kitchen and loft with extra sleeping areas.  Rodney and Sherry asked us if we’d like to drive up to the Les Bourgeois vineyard.  http://www.missouriwine.com  It was several miles away with a lot of hills.  After our long ride, sitting in a car seemed like heaven.  We ran into two of our Ohio women, who were staying at the School House B & B.  We bought a bottle of wine to take back to our room.  Since none of the three restaurants in Rocheport saw the need to be open on Monday nights, Rodney heated a DiGiorno pizza for us.  Where were all the good meals I’d envisioned eating?  We had Chinese takeout for dinner one night and frozen pizza the next.  Seems like someone in Rocheport could have coordinated their services a little better.  But as Brett Dufur later told me, that would have made sense.

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Tuesday morning dawned bright and sunny. As we rode along the bluffs, we met another rider who seemed to be hunting for something.  We stopped to chat and he said there was a MKT train symbol embedded in the rock somewhere.  I looked for a while but there was so much vegetation, I didn’t think I would see it.  But all of a sudden there was a clearing and there it was.  Jim snapped a picture for posterity.

     We spotted a new gravel trail that went up a little canyon in the bluffs.  Leaving our bikes on the trail, we hiked up in anticipation of seeing a waterfall.  The trail meandered and then crossed the ravine.  We decided maybe we should go back to our bikes and give up this wild goose chase.  At the trailhead, there now was a man putting more fresh gravel down.  We asked him where the trail went to and he replied the winery.  It was Les Bourgeois winery that we had visited the night before.

     We had made plans to ride the MKT trail (8.9 miles) to Columbia and have lunch at the Flat Branch Micro Brewery.  http://www.flatbranch.com.  The MKT is a beautiful wooded trail with lots of small ponds and a lot more variety of terrain than the Katy.  It is very popular with runners, walkers and other cyclists from the Columbia area.  It was a beautiful day and lots of people were out enjoying the fine weather.

    The Flat Branch has great sandwiches and I never can resist one of their handcrafted beers.  But I will never learn.  The rest of the afternoon was spent fighting sleepiness and  all I wanted to do was find a nice bench on which to take a nap.  We stopped at Coopers Landing for ice cream treats in hopes it would revive me.

     We pulled into Hartsburg about 3:30.  Jeanette greeted us with a big hug and “Welcome Home!”  She offered homemade lemonade.  It really hit the spot.  I would have hurried more if I’d known that cool treat was waiting for me.

     All along the trail, people told us how nice Jeanette and the Globe Hotel is.  We would chuckle and tell them we knew.  The Globe was our first stay on our first trip back in 1998.  We can’t make a trip to the area without staying with her.  She’s just like family.  Her hotel has six rooms now.  Three have a double bed and three have two twin beds. 
     The little town of Hartsburg has it’s own winery.  From a past trip, we also knew that they served great food.  As we were leaving the Globe Hotel, we met Sean (See Ann), another guest coming in the front door.  After getting checked in, she joined us on the patio of the Thornhill Vineyards Winery for fruit and sandwiches.  We learned that she was from Kansas City but she used to live in Tulsa and had ridden FreeWheel as a teenager.  Recently she became interested in cycling again and had started training for this Katy Trail ride.  She started in Sedalia and was riding to her uncle’s in St. Louis, arriving on Friday night.  He would take her to the train on Sunday for the trip back to Sedalia.

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     We shared the Globe Hotel with Sean, and another couple who were headed east.  The next morning, Jim and I were the last to leave.  We were busy taking pictures of Jeanette and the hotel.

     Riding past soybean fields, we caught up with Sean at the North Jefferson trailhead. We rode to Tebbetts together.  Mrs. Turner had died and her store is now Jim’s Kountry Bar but at least it is open seven days a week.  We purchased sandwiches and took them out to the picnic tables to enjoy.  Jim noticed his front tire losing air.  At least he had a nice shady spot to change it.

     Wednesday must be the day that recumbent riders come out of the woodwork.  We saw ten recumbents, five snakes and only one turtle.

     I was a little apprehensive when we made our reservations at The Rendleman Home B & B.  On our previous trip when Jim and Arletta Webster had stayed there, a fence encircled the house with large barking dogs announcing their arrival.  I wasn’t looking forward to that experience.  But when we rode up, there was no fence.  There was one large dog sleeping on the porch, who raised his sleepy head to greet us.  He slowly got up and ambled our way in a friendly greeting.  Doug Rendleman welcomed us to his home.  What a character!  With his aging hippy hairstyle and laid-back hospitality, we felt right at home.  It was like staying with a bachelor uncle.  He introduced us to Melanie Rodgers, a friend from Ohio who raises Rocky Mountain Gaited horses.  It was Melanie’s dog that had greeted us.  Sean stopped by to visit with us before heading on to Hermann for the night.    

   Doug’s door had a chalkboard where he could leave a message by checking the appropriate box.

 I’m at:

1. Grocery store – be right back
2. Visiting friends
3. In Jail – bring bail money

     We laughed and had a great time as we watched Doug prepare dinner.  Melanie had told us that he was a great cook and he didn’t disappoint us.  Not only did we enjoy Beer Butt Chicken, but he also showed Jim how to make it.

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    Thursday morning dawned bright and cool.  After feeding us oatmeal, Doug sent us on our way.  Treloar was the anticipated lunch stop for the day but when we arrived, we found that it didn’t open until 4:00 p.m.  What a disappointment!  We had eaten there in the past and really wanted to visit again.  We pulled emergency provisions from our packs and headed to Marthasville, our destination for the day.  We arrived at 1:00 and saw Sean’s bike outside Scenic Cycles, http://www.scenic-cycles.com one of my favorite bike stores.  They have the neatest items and this year was no different.  After finding a small handlebar bag and some new gloves, Sean joined us for lunch at Loretta’s Place.  Sean headed for the H. S. Clay House in Augusta and we went to the Little House B & B.

     After giving Rita a call, she showed us our own little house for the night.  We had two bedrooms, a full size kitchen and living room AND a washer and dryer.  Apples and oranges, crackers and cheese were waiting for us.  Rita also had blueberry muffins, a variety of cold cereals with milk and juice for the next morning.  Cute decorations adorned every room.  After spending several nights chatting with hosts, it was nice to have a house all to ourselves.  Now what goes with apples, cheese and crackers?  Wine, of course.  We took our showers and then went on a hiking quest for wine.  Our first stop was Loretta’s Place that also included a bar.  But alas, there was no white wine.  We were sent down the street to a bar but they didn’t have any white wine either.  We were pointed across the highway to a convenience store.  A convenience store?  Yes, in Missouri they sell liquor at the convenience stores.  Success!  We found a bottle of Missouri Chardonnay and went back to enjoy our night’s repast while watching Survivor.  I was so excited to see Survivor while on vacation and to enjoy apples, cheese, crackers and wine.  It just doesn’t get any better than that.
     Thunder and lightening storms awakened us about 2:00.  The weather report had said they would be scattered and moving on through.  After a leisurely breakfast, we waited for the latest rain to move on out.

 

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    We finally left about 9 a.m.  It was hard to leave such a cute little house.  I could easily envision living there.

     Right before we got to Augusta, sprinkles started hitting us.  We humped it up to get the last two miles to the trailhead.  By the time we made it, the storms had moved north of us.  At 11 o’clock, the sun came out in spurts.  We stopped in Defiance for a light lunch and as we were finishing, who should walk in but Sean. What a pleasant surprise!  We had assumed she was in front of us but she hadn’t left until 11:00 when the storms had passed.  We leap frogged into St. Charles.  We ride faster but we stop for pictures more often.  The trail had become mushy with all of the rain and riding became hard work as the earth tried to grab on to our bike wheels.

     As we passed the Events Center facility shortly before entering St. Charles, the smell of fresh cut wood caught our attention.  A host of cars and trailers were parked around the buildings.  Woodcutting chainsaw sculptures adorned the parking lot.  It was amazing to see the intricate handiwork done to a piece of wood to produce such life forms.

     At the mile marker post in St. Charles, we took pictures of each other.  Our next stop was the Trailhead Brewery http://www.trailheadbrewing.com for a victory beer to celebrate Sean’s completion of her journey and our halfway point.  Her uncle joined us and our kind waitress took our picture together. It came time to part ways but we exchanged e-mail addresses.  We hope to see Sean again.  FreeWheel, maybe?

     We still had a mile and a half to ride to Sundermeier RV Park http://www.sundermeierrvpark.com/cottages_event.html towards the end of the trail.  Small cabins are available along with the RV sites.  The woman who checked us in was a full time RV dweller.  She and her husband travel all over and get jobs through Workamper News.  They are citizens of Texas since that state doesn’t have any income tax.  She seemed so thrilled with their lifestyle it made me jealous.  Sure hope I can talk Jim into living in a travel trailer when we retire. 
     After showering we walked in the rain next door to the Beefeaters Grill and Bar.  We were really looking forward to a good steak dinner.  As the lights flickered we prayed that the electricity didn’t go out until after our steaks were cooked.  Rain and lightening entertained us while we consumed every morsel put in front of us.  We hadn’t had this much food available to us all week.  We enjoyed every bite.  We walked back to our cabin to hunker down for the night with promises that Saturday would have drier weather for our investigation of the St. Charles area.

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     We were up early and cycled to the St. Louis Bread Company for breakfast.  We window-shopped before the stores o