May 21, 2010

After an evening at a campground in St Charles, MO, the bike trip began on the Katy trail, a 225 mile stretch along the Missouri that is the longest bike trail in the US. It is the old railroad bed on the Missouri, Kansas, and Texas line. I decided to use my mountain bike on day 1 since I was told that the recent rains had the Missouri at an extraordinarily high level and that there would be wet places along the trail. It turned out that a road bike would have been fine, and I paid the price, pedaling 65 miles with knobby tires on hard-packed gravel. My legs were feeling weary at about 45 miles, but I just willed them forward. The ride was amazingly beautiful. I saw more bluebirds and indigo buntings than ever, easily more than 100. There were also many finches and cardinals and numerous other birds I couldn’t identify. At my first resting point, there was a plaque commemorating the Lewis and Clark Expedition which began out of St Charles on May 21, 1804. I was amazed. I had no idea that my start date coincided with theirs. That just made things a little extra special. At about mile 50, I saw Jamye passing by in the Airstream on highway 94, which parallels the trail and Missouri. I called her on my cell phone, and she stopped a few miles ahead. We visited for about 10 minutes. I thought how 206 years had allowed such conveniences, with cell phones, GPS systems, 4runners and a stop for provisions the evening before at target and Bed, Bath and Beyond. Thanks to our courageous forefathers, we can enjoy the many fruits of their labors!

May 22, 2010

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 8^th 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.

May 23, 2010

Jamye and I slept in, had a great breakfast and reorganized our gear. I cleaned my Peugeot for my ride on 5/24 and true to form, we found a local Starbuck’s for a Sunday afternoon coffee. Our rest day was wonderful.