This day I decided to use my Peugeot, a 35-year old 10 speed road bike that I bought in Paris in 1975 and used to bicycle through Europe from 1975-1976. It has a new carbon fiber fork, derailleur and brakes, thanks to my friend Walt Rider in Memphis. Jamye and I were camped next to a wonderful couple from Michigan, Art and Dot Hesskamp. They had known each other since 8th grade and had been married for 54 years. They were originally from St Charles and were going there for a family event in the afternoon. As a warm-up for the day, they were going to ride about 30 miles of the Katy trail. They were both 75 and in great health. Also, they were frequent MS 150 riders. We rode in their truck to the trail stop in McKittrick, MO and headed west together for about 15 miles. At the 15 mile mark, they turned around, heading back to McKittrick as I said goodbye, heading on to Columbia (by days end I had logged 71 miles). While riding with them, we saw several palliated woodpeckers, the long, beautiful red-headed ones that make square holes in trees rather than round ones. I asked Art if he could identify the Fritos corn chip smells along the trail. He thought that since corn doesn’t smell it might be Mock Orange. There were many other wonderful fragrances along the trail and many blue and yellow flowers, including an abundance of Crown Vetch. As we rode along the muddy Missouri, Art said that Missourians say that the Missouri is, “too thick to drink and too thin to plow”. Even though muddy, it is a beautiful river that captured my imagination as I thought about Lewis and Clark.
No comments:
Post a Comment