Getting into Missouri presented a bit of change. Even though most of the western states were cut up using straight lines it’s surprising how geographical differences are actually noticeable. There definitely are cultural differences between the states which have likely influenced how the roads were built, which in turn influences how you experience the landscape. Routes in Missouri seem to meander a bit more, with less of the grid pattern prevalent farther west.
I’ve entered the edge of the Ozarks with its undulating hills. On the minor roads I have to constantly shift gears as I climb and descend. After an exhausting morning of riding country roads, I connected with US 50 which was busy but slightly better graded. The condition of the shoulder is terrible, though, sometimes thinning down to a foot or nothing, and either crumbled at the edge or obstructed by roadkill. I'm already missing the wide and clean roads of Kansas.
After a day and a half of riding the mediocre roads in the western part go the state, I got to Sedalia, the birthplace of Ragtime. It’s also the junction of the Katy Trail, one of the best rail trails in the US. I gladly traded the poorly paved shoulder of the highway for the well packed gravel of the trail. An even better feature of the trail is that it is well shaded with trees and cooler than the open road. Plus I get to avoid all the hills!
The Katy Trail leads up to the Missouri River then meanders along its valley all the way to St Louis. Along the course of the river, it intertwines with the beginning and end route of the Lewis and Clark Expedition in 1804. The famous trek was commissioned by the Jefferson government to map out the newly acquired territories of the Louisiana Purchase and lay claim to the lands beyond to the west, cementing the grand expansion of the United States towards the Pacific Ocean. It must have been such a slow and painstaking journey, as I pass their outbound campsites every 15 or so miles, the best they could do in a day fighting against the strong current of the Missouri.
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| Crossing the Missouri |
The heat and humidity has gone way up these past few days, There have been daily excessive heat advisories and people have been looking at me like I’m crazy to be on a bike. Although it was hotter in the Mojave, I’ve been sweating way more than in the desert. The trail is so well appointed, there are water taps on most of the trailheads every 10 to 20 miles, so I haven't even bothered filling my spare reservoir.
I remember when I graduated from grade school, our teachers had the class sing a saccharinely optimistic song called "Gee I'm Looking Forward to the Future". Part of the lyrics go, "Like the old Missouri we'll roll along, our dream now is bold and strong". It definitely was amusing belting out that tune with nobody else on the trail :)
The Katy Trail was once the route of the Missouri-Kansas-Texas railway (M-K-T = KT = Katy), but was prone to flooding and eventually decommissioned. The towns in this floodplain never amounted to much, as the population favoured the much higher ground to the south. Although the trail has injected a bit of seasonal economic activity, services are a bit sparse in long stretches of the trail. Outside of Jefferson City, Missouri's state capital, there was a nice air-conditioned shelter for cyclists at Tebbetts that only charged $5 a night. it was tempting to stay there, but there were no food shops and I didn't stock up earlier. Regrettably, I continued on to Mokane where I camped out in in ball field, and across the park there was a motorcycle rally called Frogs and Hogs. They played loud live music until midnight and just as I finally got some sort of sleep in the hot and humid night, they set off fireworks at 3 am intermittently for half an hour. I guess those Harley riders never get enough noise during the day!
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