Cycle Around Mid-Missouri 2003
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June 12, 2003 - Windsor, MO

Right now, I'm sitting at the edge of Ferrington lake in Windsor, MO. This is the first day of my annual cycling adventure, version 2003. I left home at 8:00AM from my front door. I rode to the Overland Park Indian Creek trail and followed it down to 135th and Switzer. I rode south Switzer to 179th, east on 179th to Metcalf, south on Metcalf to 247th and then took 247th to the Missouri /Kansas state line. This brought me to WestLine, Mo. I did a short jog south to Hwy 2 and then stayed on this highway to Windsor. Highway 2 to Freeman did not have much traffic. That was good as the shoulders were debris strewn gravel. From Freeman to Harrisonville there was a nice paved 6 foot wide shoulder, but also much more truck traffic. Just before entering Harrisonville, there was some road construction on the 71 hwy bridge overpass. Traffic was being detoured onto hwy 71 to go around. This was not a good cycling option. I asked the construction workers if it was OK let me pass through the construction site. They said OK. I'm glad for I really did not want to take the detour. Just down the road as I entered Harrisonville I spotted a restaurant and stopped there to eat. It was 11:30 and I was beginning to be concerned about getting to Windsor on time. The next few miles after leaving Harrisonville saw traffic steadily becoming lighter. There wasn't much in the way of towns or places to get food/water for several miles. I expected this and was carrying a lot of both. The next stop was Leeton where there was a c-store. I rested here and saw that my mileage was about 85. This was already more miles than I had planned for the first day. Twelve miles later I arrived in Windsor. The park is on the south end of town and is very nice. They try to separate tent campers from mobile campers, nice. At night I was treated to a serenade by frogs, owls, and coyotes howling with the local dogs howling and barking in response.

Total miles 105.3 (my 1st Century this year!)

Too many miles the 1st day, almost 9 hours in the saddle.
Windsor has a nice park and camping area. A fee of $4.50 gets a safe spot to camp, water and electricity.

June 13, 2003 - New Franklin, MO

This morning I rode around Windsor and found a cafe downtown and had breakfast. Today was spent entirely on the KATY trail. I rode very easy since I was still tired from yesterday. The town of Green Ridge was just up the road. There was a gentleman at Green Ridge greeting cyclists as they passed through so I talked with him a few minutes. It was the usual conversation about where I was going, where I came from, and how many miles I was going to ride.
There was a great number of wild creatures crossing the trail. There were many rabbits, squirrels, a few deer, several serious looking cats who were in crouched hunting mode, and a couple of wild turkeys who stood still long enough to get their picture taken. It was early, 9:00 when I passed through Sedalia and since I was going to see Sedalia two times in the next week, I just rode on through stopping only long enough to get a map to find out where the Amtrak station was and use the facilities.
At Clifton City I noticed by the trail services sign at the trail head that there was water available. It was getting warm and I was pretty weary from yesterday so I was drinking a lot of water. I wasn't out of water, but decided to top everything back up. I didn't find a water spigot at the trail head so I asked anther cyclist where the water was. He said that he thought the store at the top of the hill was the water supply. So I struggled up the hill to what amounted to a country garage which consisted mostly of repair bays and lots of car parts, tires, etc. laying about. I went inside to see about water and maybe a sandwich (it was about 11:45). I was told that they had sandwiches, but were out. The only water was from a sink in the garage. They did have a few candy bars. The candy bars were in a freezer and were frozen solid. I bought a Baby Ruth and tried to bite off a piece. It was tougher than a PowerBar in the winter. I put it in my jersey pocket to soften up. Getting water was another adventure. The water source was a sink in the corner of the garage. I had to move a tire to get to it. I'm not sure if this faucet has been used anytime this century. It did produce water though, I ran it for a few minutes and filled a spare bottle. "I'll save this for emergency only", I thought to myself. When I got back down to the trail head the Baby Ruth was soft enough to eat easily. Yum.
Pilot Grove was the next town and from my research I knew there were places to eat here. As I rode into Pilot Grove, I met a group of about 15 cyclists who had gotten together to ride the KATY across Missouri. They were sharing sag duties by using 2 cars to carry equipment and support gear and taking turns driving. They were really having a good time. They were just coming out of the bar. I was pretty hungry and ready for lunch. The bar owner had just shut down his grill for cleaning and wasn't going to open the grille back up until 5:00. He did have a cold ham and cheese sandwich which he let me put together. This was very good and so I had an excellent lunch after all. After lunch I went to the supermarket next door and bought a couple of bananas. Before leaving I met another rider, Lowell, who was riding from Clinton to Weldon Spring and training for Ride the Rockies. We started riding together. Lowell was not as heavily loaded as I and was going too fast for me. We agreed to meet at the KATY Roundhouse in New Franklin. I also met a father and son who were riding to Clinton from St. Louis and then going to ride back. They had toured all over the U.S. and were thinking about going out west after doing the KATY. One of the group of 15 wondered how someone could get that much time off from work to ride.
I next arrived in Boonville where I got a little turned around by the new casino, tried to take too sharp of a u-turn, slid on some gravel and went down. I just gouged my elbow some. It really bled at first and when I went into the ranger station to wash off I must have looked more wounded than I really was (lots of eyes wide open stares). I washed the wound real good and used a bandage out of the first aid kit I carry (another good idea for touring) to patch myself up.
It was a then a short 3.9 miles to New Franklin and the KATY RoundHouse where I planned on camping that evening. This is a nice camp sight. It has showers and segregated camper and tent camping. The mosquitoes were pretty bad this evening since there had been a lot of rain in the area lately. If you stayed away from the woods that seemed to minimize the nuisance. The KATY Roundhouse has a restaurant that is open Friday and Saturday evenings. They request reservations. They have two seatings, 6:00 and 8:00. The 8:00 always fills, but the 6:00 usually has openings. If you stay here on the weekends, this is a very nice place to eat. Lowell was just setting up camp. We were talking when a thunderstorm rolled in. I set some kind of tent set up speed record and just made it in time before the rain started in earnest. In 15 minutes the storm had passed. We got dinner reservations for 6:00 and had a nice dinner. We decided to ride together the next morning to Rocheport and have breakfast at the TrailSide Cafe.

June 14, 2003 - Fulton, MO

I arose bright and early and broke camp. Lowell and I left around 7:30 for Rocheport. We arrived in Rocheport and took some photos in front of the tunnel. Here I am. Note the BandAid on my arm. Breakfast was pancakes. I had a "big" order of 3 and Lowell had the giant pancake. The giant is about the size of a 16" pizza. You are definitely off your Atkin's diet with this one! After breakfast we rode to the edge of Rocheport. We said our good bye's and good trip's and then Lowell took off and I plodded on to Wilton. My plan was to leave the KATY at Wilton and cut across country to Fulton. I arrived in Wilton at about 9:30 and stopped at the little store there and had some crackers and a Gatorade. I fully expected that some of this route would be uphill since I would be climbing out of the Missouri River basin. The first leg was highway M to Ashland. The climbing started at once, I took a right turn out of Wilton onto M and started uphill right there. The hills flattened out some as I neared Ashland. I stopped in Ashland and ate in the Downtown Cafe. A good small town operation. One of the things that makes touring so rewarding is finding these places in the small towns you visit. After lunch I crossed US 63 (bridge over) and proceeded on to hwy Y. In about 1/2 mile I went down a long twisty descent. I thought "Oh Oh, there's going to be a cost to this". Boy oh boy was I ever right! The next 7 miles were a series of straight downs and ups. I crawled up about 4 of these and noticed that I was doing about 2.5 - 3 mph on the uphill. I walked one of the hills. I looked at my bike computer and noticed that the speed pushing was the same as riding. I also noticed that the effort was much less. Walking also gave me time to get out of the way of the many pickups pulling horse trailers. This was a very narrow road with no shoulders, ditches on both sides and many hairpin turns and blind hilltops. No place to be wobbling up hills with a fully loaded bike at 3mph! Everyone was nice and waved (but no one offered a ride, which I may have accepted after the 6th walk up). Eventually I came to the town of Guthrie. I took hwy J out of Guthrie. J was fairy flat, there was a tailwind, and the traffic was light. I was ready for a break. Soon I came to the intersection with hwy H. H would lead me to Fulton. H was a little hillier than J, but manageable. In about an hour I arrived to Fulton. I came in on the far south end. I stopped at a c-store to ask directions. "William Woods is downtown" came the reply. "Which way was downtown?" I asked. "Just take a left at the street out front and follow it." came the reply. I bought a coke and took a break. It was not quite 3:00. I then headed into Fulton. It was about 5 miles into Fulton so I rode easily down the hwy 54 business loop. As I got into down town the streets deteriorated to almost off-road status: crevices, pot holes, rough patches, bike trapping drain grates, and lots of traffic. Even rush hour in KC is a cake walk compared to this! I rode to what appeared to me to be the middle of the town and stopped to get my bearings. I spotted a bake sale going on and rode over and asked for directions to William Woods again. These directions were more precise. I was close to my destination and was told which road to take and the sign to look for. At about 3:45 I pulled into William Woods. Whew!

The return trip, Herrman to KC

June 20 - Rocheport, MO
This morning I reloaded my Trek and made ready to turn into a loaded bike tourist again. I made the rounds at Hermann's high school saying good byes to all the people that I've met on CAM03. Today I am heading back to Kansas City while the rest of the group is going to Fulton and then return to their homes. I rode with a bunch of CAM03 riders out of Hermann and we bunched up for a group presence going across the Hwy. 19 bridge. We then turned east on MO 94 and I rode with them until the CAM03 turnoff at State Rd P. I waited there until all the people I rode with the previous week passed and bid them all goodbye as they made the turn off. Since a paved highway is easier to ride on than the chat surface of the KATY I decided to stay on MO 94 until Bluffton, where MO 94 becomes very hilly, and move to the KATY trail for the remainder of the trip to Sedalia.

While on MO 94 I was harassed by a driver of a dump truck who was flipping me the 'bird' and pointing to the trail. I just waved back and kept on riding. I think something needs to be done about this activity. Many CAM03 riders reported being harassed while on MO94. One harasser who was coming towards the group even crossed over into the opposing lane to launch his insults. The people of Missouri should be aware the state is getting a very bad reputation among cycle tourists as being an unfriendly state to pass through and where you risk a high probability of being yelled at, edged off the road, or having something thrown at you by a passing motorist. My rant is over now.

I stopped for a little break on a bridge just east of Bluffton for a snack. While on this break I laid my riding sunglasses on one of the back panniers. I bumped the bike and the glasses fell into the creek below. I spent a few minutes looking for them but I couldn't find them. Not good, but things like that happen. Now on the KATY, I proceeded to ride towards Sedalia. One nice thing about using the KATY trail is not having to plan a route. The route is there, just follow it. This part of the trail is pretty sparse Monday through Friday. Most of the businesses along this segment of the KATY are only open on the weekends. If you are touring during the week, pack a lunch. Just before arriving a the Jefferson City trail head I encountered about 6 dogs on the trail. The dogs barked and sort of chased me down the trail for a few minutes. There was a Conservation Agent at the Jefferson City trail head and I asked him about the dogs. He told me that the owner didn't mean any harm but was old and loved his dogs and thought it was wrong to keep them penned or control their breeding. The agent also told me that several of the dogs have been killed on the highway, but the owner remains unswayed. Another interesting sighting was a RAM rider and support van heading west on MO 94. The rider was down in his aero bars and didn't look to be moving very fast. His support van, festooned with streamers, flashers and lots of sponsor ads was right behind him. I wonder if he got any "get on the trail" harassment. I was getting pretty hungry (breakfast was light, I should have eaten a second breakfast in Hermann). As I noted above, every establishment I checked out was closed. At I came into Hartsburg I spotted someone sitting on the porch of the bike shop. I rode over to where she was sitting and stopped. I must have looked hungry because before I could say anything she said "If you're looking for something to eat, the winery is two blocks down and one to the left of the bike shop. Finding the Thornhill Winery in Hartsburg was fortuitous. I had a fine lunch and a nice mid-day break in here. Back on the KATY trail I entered into another segment that is only open on the weekends. The only exception to this is Cooper's Landing in Easley. They have campsites, but they are primarily a boat dock and motor repair facility. It's a good place to get refreshments, but I feel that it would be noisy campground. Here's some photos of the scenery along this stretch of the KATY: View down the trail,  Toro!   Toro! Toro!   Mcbaine bluffs   At the intersection of the MKT trail to Columbia I stopped to take a break. There were quite a few cyclists there. Most of these cyclists had ridden down the MKT trail from Columbia and were taking a break at this trail head before returning. A few miles east I came across a business called Katfish Katy's (573 445-0556 ). It's housed in a little red building. When I found out this business provided camping and had showers for $4.50 (Single Cyclist fee) I decided to spend the night here. At the suggestion of the Owner of Katfish Katy's, I went into Rocheport for dinner and ate a a place called Abigail's. I had a great dinner here. I had a salad of dark greens, nuts, and fruit and a big plate of linquini. This is a fine little place and I was really pasta hungry. It was about 7 miles from Rocheport to my campsite. I got to ride off some of my meal afterward. Here's some views from my front porch as the sun sets. Campsite pictures:   1,   2,   3,   I had a nice quiet night, just the sound of the river flowing, and the standard coyote/dog serenade. I rode about 90 miles today. That's a lot, but it will give me a short ride to Sedalia tomorrow and then all morning to rest and wait for the train home on Sunday. The KATY is low on resources between the major towns. Carry enough to get you through
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June 21 - Sedalia, MO
Today was going to be an easy day. The long/easy days touring strategy seems to be working out fine. I had another pancake breakfast at the Trail Side Cafe in Rocheport and then proceeded east. The wildlife was in full force this morning. I flushed about four deer. Most of them ran in front of me and disappeared into the woods but one ran alongside in the field next to the trail for several minutes before disappearing into the nearby woods. Later, a raccoon ran across the trail in front of me and still later very wary coyote crossed the trail about 300-400 feet in front of me. I pretty much rode right through New Franklin and Boonville. I'd been to both of them riding in and visited Boonville while on CAM03. I intended to stop in Pilot Grove for lunch. In Pilot Grove I stopped at Becky's Burgers and Cones for lunch. It's located a couple blocks down the main street and right a block or so. Pilot Grove isn't very big so you could ride all over it in about 5-10 minutes. After lunch I went to the Grocery store and bought some bananas for the rest of the day. I noticed that there were quite a few more riders on the trail this day. I then remembered that it was Saturday. Sometimes you loose track of the day of the week when on tour. Some things are not that important.
I arrived in Sedalia at about 3:15. I went to the trail head information center to get some information on camping at the State Fairgrounds. I saw a note on the door that the information center closed at 3:00 on Saturday. The only brochure available in the outdoor rack was the same one I picked up when coming into Sedalia the first time. There is a number on this brochure to call about camping. On the previous day, when I had cell phone coverage, I called that number and reached an automatic answer system. Some of the options of this system were to get the fair schedule, reserve a space, etc. No options for camping. There was the default option to wait for a representative. Here I was prompted to leave my number for a call back because the representative was unavailable. This wouldn't work with spotty cell phone coverage in that area. I tried 3 times at 1 hour intervals and never made a contact. Oh well. From the trail head I proceeded down the trail toward the fairgrounds where the camping area was located. At the intersection of the trail and Ohio street I spotted a little Mexican restaurant. Es bueno que sé hablar español for most of the signs were in Spanish and the cook/manager spoke very little English. The children helping out spoke both English and Spanish and performed a good backup. La comida era muy bueno. I'm sorry, but I did not get the name.

June 22 - Sedalia, MO

That developing weather pattern was a non-event. Today the only tasks to accomplish was to get breakfast and be at the train station in time to catch the train. I rode down to the courthouse area and started to go up one block and down another looking for someplace to eat. No luck. I looked at the brochure and noticed all the eateries were on the Hwy 50 business loop. They are grouped around the Wal Mart (groan) and quite a distance out on a 4-lane 50mph road from bicycle Hell. I then noticed a supermarket and it was open! Another issue; Almost nothing is open around here on Sunday morning. I went into the supermarket and got a roll and some coffee. I noticed a Sonic down the street a couple of blocks away and rode down there. They wouldn't be open for another hour so I rode back to the Courthouse and read one of the magazines I had brought along. An hour passed and I went to get breakfast at Sonic. It was actually quite good. While eating one of the local residents rode up on his bicycle and we ate and talked. Most of our conversation was about our waitress, who by her body language, convinced us that she would have preferred to be somewhere else.
The Sedalia Amtrak station is like an episode out of the Twilight Zone. You know the one: Where this guy wakes up and realizes that he's the only person left on earth. It was clean, washed, and newly painted and the AC was on. Someone has taken great pains to restore this station to it's late 1940's style. But there was no one there. One car drove up and picked up Aunt ??? who was coming from Kansas City. They told me the train to Kansas City was usually 10 minutes or so late. Someone else showed up to pick up their friend who was going to do the Ride the KATY ride the following week and was going to join the ride as it passed through Sedalia. True to the prediction the train   showed up 10 minutes late. When the train stopped I started to remove the panniers from the bike. The Conductor said that I didn't have to remove them but when he tried to pick up the bike and hoist it onto the car (fully loaded about 70#) he agreed that it would better to remove the panniers first. I Settled down on the train and snoozed off and on until reaching Kansas City. At the Union Station in Kansas City, I reassembled the panniers and proceeded to walk my rig towards the front of Union Station. As I strolled across the main lobby I noticed that there was a very nice restaurant there. I got some interesting looks from the patrons as I wheeled my dusty touring bike past them. They seemed more curious than disapproving. Ah! It's good to be back!

Amtrak is a good way to access the KATY, just give them a day or two advance notice for bicycles. The KATY is dusty. A good bike cleaning is due after the ride, especially the chain.