Wednesday, July 08, 2009
Day 23: St Louis, MO to Hermann, MO
Since we needed to navigate tricky roads through St Louis in order to find our way to the Missouri River and the Katy Trail, we opted to leave early, again.
Things were great, roads were empty, all the way until US-67 (Lindbergh Road). Google Maps seemed to indicate that we'd be able to cross and find our way to Fee Fee Rd, but unfortunately there was a large concrete barricade in the middle of the road. So we ended up riding half a mile out of our way. As we got close to crossing the beltway we stopped at a grocery store for breakfast. Once again, I got donuts. Note the lack of a kickstand.
We soon reached Creve Coeur Lake State Park, where we saw a bunch of people playing on the lake. Even better, we hooked up with a spur trail to the Katy Trail, which will take us most of the way to Kansas.
The path to the Katy Trail was great - paved, no interaction with traffic, separate paths on bridges. We were going through a tunnel and suddenly a whole bunch of birds went nuts. They were in these little nests in the corners.
After crossing the Missouri River, we came to a parking area, which allowed use access to the Katy Trail along the river.
The trail was a little different. It was a crushed limestone path, which when dry generated a lot of dust. But the whole path was level, with no worse than railroad grade hills anywhere. The only real problem was the bugs. We had to keep moving all the time, otherwise bugs would try to eat us alive.
One of the best parts about riding this part of the Katy Trail was the shade. At times it seemed like we were riding through a jungle.
The other best part was that we were following the Lewis and Clark trail - every once in a while we'd see a spot where Lewis and Clark camped, or a place where some adventure happened.
The bridges on the trail were pretty awesome. Most were the standard iron truss bridges, but at least once we saw a bridge that predated rivets and was actually held together with pins.
The fields along the river were awesome - they're in a low lying area that floods occasionally, creating rich soil. We'd ride along, and we'd keep seeing more and more field.
By far the best parts of the Katy Trail were the rest areas. Every 10-12 miles there'd be a terrible smelling bathroom (more of a pit toilet), occasionally potable water, and once in a great while, ice cream! In Defiance, MO we stocked up on ice cream and cold drinks. If we had just been in the area to ride the trail we could have rented bikes here. It makes me so happy to see advertisements on a bike route - makes me think people are taking bike transportation seriously.
The Katy trail also meant we could ride after people on a regular basis - kept us motivated to ride hard. At some point we stopped at the Daniel Boone Judgment tree, which is rumored to be where Daniel Boone held court back in the day. We'd had no idea that Daniel Boone decided to settle in Missouri after he was done with his adventures in Kentucky, and seems to have just missed meeting Lewis and Clark. The tree in the picture isn't actually the Judgment Tree, but it was planted in its place.
The only downside of the rest stops was that they caused us to stop regularly. We might have made much better time, but when you're touring you never, ever pass up the chance to use a bathroom.
Each rest stop had a map showing the area we were riding. They were very helpful. Note the elevation on this one,
The turn to Hermann is a little tricky. Before the road underpass there's a trail that seems to go up to the road surface, but what you really want is the turn after the underpass.
Once we made the turn we had an awesome bike lane back across the river to Hermann. There was even a little gas station where we were able to pick up something to hydrate with.
Hermann seemed like a nice town, but unfortunately we got in a little too late to enjoy it. Most of the motels were Bed and Breakfasts, meaning we stayed at the Hermann Motel, which seemed to be the only place in town. Hermann is in the middle of Missouri's wine country, which I'd love to return to and enjoy some day. After checking into the hotel we took a look at the restaurant next door. Good service, reasonable prices, and road food.
Then we returned to the motel to catch a good night's rest. The Katy trail was looking good - no traffic, no dog problems, regular rest stops. We're optimistic.
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| posted at: 10:04 |
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