I left the hotel a little later than I planned, it took me a while to get in gear but I felt refreshed and ready to go. After a quick ride I crossed over the mighty Mississippi River and entered Missouri. I got to spend some time on the Alton trail which was actually a lot of fun. It was very overgrown and unused, if I had a mountain bike or no gear on Ashley it would be fun to ride full speed on that trail.
After 10 miles or so I got on the Katy Trail, my cross-Missouri friend for the next few days. The trail is beautiful but pretty sparse. There aren’t a lot of people on it, I’m guessing because of the record breaking heat. It hasn’t been bothering me too much but others are definitely talking about it. I did meet three people today on the trail and we got chatting, they were impressed with what I was doing (one woman called me “inspiring”) and they took a picture with me. I guess I’m a celebrity or something… it’s cool but weird.
After putting some miles down I stumbled upon a little restaurant/deli at one of the trailheads. It had a sign that said “Welcome Katy Trail Riders” so I figured I would see what they were about. I went in to a small trailer and was met with a very pleasant AC breeze. I quickly realized I was the only customer but a cute waitress walked up to me and told me to sit anywhere. I was hoping to chat with her a bit so I sat at the bar.
I ordered my food and started to relax, unfortunately I never really got a chance to talk to the girl. She was busy slicing deli meat on a huge machine and I’m pretty awful at initiating conversations anyway. Oh well, it wasn’t the best interaction but these little hole-in-the-wall places are exactly what I was hoping to encounter.
When the day was coming to an end I was able to find a place to set up my tent in a town called Marthasville. Apparently this town was considered the last town before “the frontier” when Lewis and Clark rolled through in the early 19th Century.
Wandering Oak 