Category: DC to California 2010

During my rest day I had connected with a fellow redditor, Marcus Ward, who lives in Western Missouri and he had offered to let me stay at his place for the night. It would be a 57 mile ride to Windsor, but since the forecast predicted rain I figured that wouldn’t be a bad distance.

After a slow morning I got back on the road at 11:30 and headed out of Boonville. The rain had yet to start, and about 20 miles in, I ran into a trio of bike tourists heading east. They had come from Oregon and were headed towards North Carolina and were the first cross-country riders I had talked to on my trip. We talked for a couple minutes before heading our separate ways, and less than a minute later, the light drizzle turned to rain so I stopped to pull out my rain jacket.

After a while I eventually reached the town of Sedalia and stopped by a bike shop in a continuation of my search for a Brooks saddle. Unfortunately they didn’t have one so I ate a late lunch and got back on the trail.

Riding on the limestone trail is inherently slower than on roads because the surface isn’t as hard and is bumpier. Once it gets wet though, it really starts to slow you down. Between Sedalia and my destination of Windsor, the trail started to get really soft and my tires would sometimes dig half-inch deep ruts in the surface. My pace slowed to 7mph. Eventually, Marcus, my host for the night met up with me on the trail and we rode back to his house.

He cooked up a great dinner and served wine while we talked about biking and World of Warcraft ( he used to play). I eventually turned in for the night. It was a poor day for riding but it ended nicely so all in all it was a huge success.

Today’s mileage: 61 miles.
Total: 1674 miles

I stayed at the Hotel Fredrick I’m Boonsville, MO for a couple nights and took a rest day. The hotel is pretty awesome, the rooms have a lot of character and I would recommend it highly.

I lounged around and slept. Grabbed some supplies and slept some more. I ate at Glenn’s cafe in the hotel and at the Stein a few blocks away, both places were good.

Took a photo of myself by popular request. See below.

I woke to rain this morning. Packing up, I got on the road a little before 11 and climbed back over the hills of Jefferson City to a bike shop. I am in the market for a new saddle (seat) and maybe shoes, but the items I am looking for aren’t usually carried by the small shops I come across. Never hurts to check though.

On my way out of town I ate at the Thai restaurant that I had scouted out last night. It was good. Back over the terrible freeway bridge and onto the Katy trail. The rain had let up by this point and the cloud cover was giving way to sunshine. My destination for today was Boonville, MO where my parents were kind enough to get me a hotel room there for two nights, so I’ll be taking a rest day.

Since it was “only” 50 miles to boonville , I of course got in the mindset that it’d be a short day. No good.

At one point I came across a pack of 4 or 5 dogs walking down the path. I dismounted and carefully passed them but they seemed entirely passive – no threat whatsoever. I also passed by another bike tourist with four overflowing panniers and a big trailer. His whole setup must have weighed 120+ pounds, and his slow pace seemingly showed it.

The miles went by pretty slowly, but as the afternoon got later I was greeted with some pretty spectacular views of bluffs and a beautiful sky. Lots of photos today… of more clouds.

I arrived in Boonville at 6:00 after upping my pace to 16 mph for the last hour and checked into my awesome hotel room. I’ll try to get some photos that do it justice. Anyways, I’ll be back on the road Thursday morning.

Today’s mileage: 53 miles.
Total: 1613 miles.

I woke up early and was out of my campsite by 7, but decided to take a shower before getting on the trail. Thanks, person who reserved that campsite, for the free place to stay and shower.

I got on the Katy trail at 7:45 and stopped pretty soon for big breakfast to make up for my lack of real meals the day before. The first few miles were cold but it warmed up into a nice day before too long. These miles went by pretty easily but I found myself pretty tired/lethargic after 25 or 30 miles so I pulled over at a bench overlooking the Missouri river and lay down.

I stayed there for probably an hour, getting a little bit of sleep. Had a nice chat with a local cyclist who had previously lived in the DC area, and got back on the bike. The wind had picked up, but it was a mix of crosswinds and headwinds. Furthermore, the Katy trail is about half covered by trees and half open and when surrounded by trees you are sheltered from the wind, so the combination of these things added up to the wind not being too bad, certainly not like Illinois was.

Town after town went by that supposedly had places to eat, but none of them did. They were all closed permanently or closed at the time or were seemingly nonexistent. So I continued on a diet of Gatorade, energy bars, and once I found a convenience store, cookies and candy bars. After eating so much packaged food, I’ve gained a newfound respect for a properly produced meal, it goes down much more easily.

The miles went by slowly this afternoon, with breaks every 10 or 15 miles. I would stop and watch the river, it has a very strong current and when boats try and go upstream on it they are reduced to a crawl. The wind blows strongly across it’s surface and breaks upon the trees on the banks. Sitting on the river bank, it was simultaneously refreshing and violent – a strange mix.

I decided to stay in Jefferson City, the capital of Missouri. To continue my trip’s bridge woes, the pedestrian/bike part of the bridge was closed. Google maps walking directions told me to go 94 miles around to a different bridge. Lovely. So I once again crossed a shoulder-less 60mph freeway bridge. I tried to go to a Thai restaurant but it was only open for lunch. I’ll have to go tomorrow. The city was hilly, which was especially rough at the end of such a tiring day, but I found a motel and slept.

Today’s mileage: 82 miles.
Total: 1560 miles.

Waking up at 7 this morning, I checked the weather. It was 48 degrees outside. Back to sleep.

I got packed up and on the road at 11. The motel owner had talked my ear off when I checked in but I managed to keep our conversation short as I left. It was a 15 mile ride through suburbs and then East St. Louis before crossing the Mississippi river into Missouri.

I made my way to the Gateway arch park and took a picture of my bike in front of the arch. There were tons of tourists but they all were right below the arch – I wanted a picture of the arch in the background so I went to the edge of the park. I was planning on asking someone to take a photo of me with my bike but it was entirely deserted, and I thought it was a great spot for a photo. Weird.

I decided to eat lunch at a brewery right next to the park, and it turned out there was some sort of festival going on. During lunch, the people sitting next to me were cyclists and they were impressed by how quickly I made it this far. The waitress then caught on and was pretty interested – apparently she rides casually. On my way out of the festival, some guys working a booth stopped me to ask questions and take a photo. St. Louis treated me pretty well.

It was a 20 mile ride through the city and the surrounding suburbs to connect to the Katy trail which will take me most of the way across Missouri. Once on the trail, I headed west and ran into a nice local cyclist who gave me recommendations for places to stay and eat. Unfortunately, labor day royally screwed up my plans. The restaurant was overflowing due to some event and the campground was completely full. I did notice one camp spot that was reserved but empty. I ate a dinner of trail mix at the park’s picnic area while waiting for darkness to set in, then pitched my tent in the reserved but empty spot. Hopefully I can get an early start tomorrow.

Today’s mileage: 63 miles.
Total: 1478 miles