Yesterday, Karen and I began the drive to Colorado for the ABB Colorado reunion ride. Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Illinois passed quickly. Before we knew it, we were driving through St. Louis into Missouri. We made it to Columbia, MO before calling it a day.
The Rocheport trailhead
This morning we had a quick 12 mile drive to Rocheport where I was able to take a short bike ride on the Katy Trail. This is a 225 mile rails to trails project, extending from St. Charles to Clinton. The surface is crushed limestone, or similar to the Elroy-Sparta Trail for those of you who have ridden the latter in Wisconsin. Anyway, I got in a nice ride along the Missouri River on the stretch of bike trail that is supposed to be the most scenic of the entire trail. The Missouri River is in flood stage here and was within one foot of flooding the trail just west of town. In fact, there is a section of trail in the town that has been sandbagged. I understand the river is supposed to crest here later this week, so hopefully there will be no damage to the trail. Ironically though, it was a flood washing out eight miles of surface that was the last straw causing the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad to cease operations in 1986, and leading to the current Katy Trail State Park.
The trail south of Rocheport with the I-70 bridge crossing the Missouri River
I would recommend the Katy Trail for anyone interested in a point to point, flat, scenic, dirt/crushed limestone surfaced ride. There are many bed and breakfasts, and camping opportunities along the entire trail, and plenty of restrooms and restaurants. Perhaps I'll have to come back and cycle the entire trail some day.
After cycling this morning, it was time to hit the road again, driving through the rest of Missouri and substantially all of Kansas today. Kansas is a wide state, taking about 420 miles to drive end to end. Our day finished in Goodland, KS in the mountain time zone. Tomorrow we will reach the Colorado Springs/Denver area, needing to be in Boulder on Thursday afternoon.
Today's ride: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/95568419
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