Catching the Katy Trail

Location: Knob Noster State Park, MO

It poured buckets last night, but luckily had stopped by early morning so that I could get in my morning run and do a little park exploring. It was too wet to bike, but nonetheless we had fun walking the park and snapping pictures. This was our second attempt to find the headwater springs of the Current River. Five years ago it eluded us and again today, even though we did find the trail. Okay, another excuse to come back. Here's a picture close to the springs.

 

Montauk State Park is a fisherman's paradise. Just love seeing the little kids fishing next to their dads. So sweet.

 

This looks like a Norman Rockwell setting with the fishermen in their waders with the mist of the Current River rising around them.

 

We continued our travels in Missouri traveling due north through countryside and rolling hills. Most of the towns in this part all have German sounding names such as Vienna, Westphalia and Freeburg. We made a quick pass through the capitol, Jefferson City,a sweet looking town along the majestic Missouri River. It's been a rainy overcast day so I haven't been able to capture many pictures of the towns. Hopefully, this will give an idea of what some of them looked like. (We also had a stop in Columbia to deal with a car issue, some kind of knocking noise. No one could find anything wrong with Winnie so along our way we went!)

One of my favorite things, next to road trips of course, is to bike Rail-to-Trails (RTT). Missouri has a renowned RTT called the Katy Trail. It's over 200 miles and mainly follows the Missouri River. In doing research I read one of the prettiest parts of the trail was starting at Rocheport. This quaint little town, population 235, mainly consists of Bed and Breakfasts and sandwich shops catering to the biking community. Hey Megan, what do you think of this railroad car, converted to a little suite, for your land?

 

We started our ride at the railroad station in town and road along the Missouri River. This bike ride was over the top amazing!! The gods continued to smile down on us and we had overcast skies, but no rain on our ride!

Some things we saw along the way as far as nature was concerned: 3 snakes, turtles, bunnies, badger, baby beaver (we think), white-tailed deer and two many bright red cardinals to count.

Here's Ned riding along the Missouri River. Unlike the Mississippi River which is constantly bustling with barges and towboats going up and down the river, this part of the Missouri River is quite peaceful.

 

 

There was also some interesting history along this trail. This is where Lewis and Clark camped over 200 years ago on June 6, 1804.

This trail is so beautiful with a canopy of trees covering it. Definitely one of the highlights of the trip for me was to ride this trail!

We've clocked over 200 miles bike riding on this trip...so far!

 

 

 

 

There were also several caves and a really creepy looking stone house built into the cliff. I had no desire to go exploring, but curiosity got the better of Ned and he peaked in. He said he wouldn't recommend it for an overnight stay. The floor was covered in water.

We also rode through an old railroad tunnel. You could hear the doves cooing inside. I refused to notice if there were bats as well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

And let's not forget the llamas!

By the time we finished riding it was a lot later than what we thought...close to 5:30. We still had an hour or so until we reached tonight's campground. Mmm, good time to stop and get dinner along the way, and of course, quench my thirst after that ride.

I'm posting the blog now at dinner cause I don't know if we'll have cell connection at the campground...yeah that's it...it has nothing to do with the size of this humongous margarita!

 

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