Tuesday, September 13, 2011

September 13, 2011. McBaine to Mokane, MO. 47 miles.

We ate a substandard breakfast in the hotel and lined up out front around 8 AM. We rode in the trucks to the McBaine trail head of the Katy trail rather than riding out of town on the connecting trail that we used last night. As we were unloading the bikes Tom noticed that my rear tire was flat. I had been having problems with it all week--must have been a slow leak. So I changed my tire right off the bat. That's 3 for 3. Fred had a flat the first day and Otis had one yesterday. Life goes on.



Tom and I played the Lewis and Clark Trail game that I learned from CJ last year. That's always fun. I was the only one who really wanted to ride back to where we left the trail yesterday so I could say I rode the entire trail... and I crossed the bridge over Perche Creek and saw the creekbank reflected in the water below.


It's been very hot this week; yesterday it was 87 degrees when we finished the ride and the same was predicted for today, so we all wanted to finish the ride early in the day. I'm sure that's why no one else wanted to ride backward on the trail... but when I got back to McBaine minutes later Tom and Fred were waiting for me. They decided early in the week that I should never be last on the trail in case I meet up with a bee.


We passed "boat henge" along the trail, which was entertaining...


The Missouri River was beside the trail much of the day. It's still quite high after the flooding earlier this summer. Fred, Otis and Tom had a great time in the morning.


Fred and I rode through Hartsburg after our rest stop at the trail head. There was not much there but we enjoyed seeing this lovely building.


All along the trail we have seen creeping vines taking over the native trees and shrubs. It's not kudzu, but it's doing the same damage that kudzu does in the southern states.


We were hot and tired by the end of the day--it was 95 degrees when we finished, and there was little breeze. Here is Otis coming across the Middle River bridge about 3 miles before the end.


We loaded the bikes, drank some cold water (thanks to Bill, Doris and Ruth) and headed to the motel. The only real restaurant in town turned out to be super! We had things like steak and salmon, sweet potato fries and ice cream, dark beer and white wine.... the waitress (who is not a cage fighter) took our photo.

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