Day 15 and 16

Day 15 was probably the toughest day so far. The morning was great. It was a short stretch to Jefferson City where I explored for a little while. I found out that Jefferson City was a big target of the South during the Civil War and that it had to be defended against several major takeover attempts.

After exploring, it was time for me to hook up with the Katy Trail which was just north of the city. That's where I met the people that were taking their dog along for a ride. They were really friendly and I wish I could have stuck around for a while longer to talk.

The Katy Trail was a great type of trail that I think all states should have. I'm fairly certain that it used to be a railroad track that they just paved over. It spans most of Missouri and follows some very scenic parts of the state. Huge bluffs and most of it trailing right alongside the river. It was also a route that Lewis and Clark followed quite closely so there was a lot of history to be told along the way. The only problems that I had on this trail were the strong headwinds and the trail surface wasn't the smoothest.

That morning my aunt asked if I was going to be anywhere near Midway which is where a travel channel show takes place at a local truck stop. Well, in traveling on the trail I was on I noticed that Midway would only be 5-10 miles out of the way so I went for it. Getting there was pretty tough with big hills and ridiculous winds. The truck stop was pretty cool but I didn't see any cameras around and didn't recognize anyone from the show's webpage.

Getting back to the trail was the toughest 5 miles I've been on yet. Not only were there hills and a lot of wind but most of the way back was terrain that my bike isn't really suited for. I was cursing this five miles the entire way. Haha when I finally got back to the trail, nearly an hour later, I was very relieved and planned out how much further I was going to be able to ride and where I would stop.

I had my sights set on Boonville. The winds were dying down, I was making pretty good time, when only five miles from Boonville I get my first flat. I wasn't sure if it was just a slow leak or an actual flat so I tried pumping it up to see if I could limp on it the last five miles but it wasn't happening. Of course this had to happen on my rear tire and with only about 30 minutes of daylight left. Regardless, I was able to take care of it and continued on. When I got to town I found out there were no vacancies anywhere in the heart of town so I had to ride another five miles to get to the nearest place to stay and upon getting there I find out they had nothing but smoking rooms. Not happy about that but I was just relieved to have a place to stay.

Day 16 I was back to the Katy Trail for a short stretch and on to Warrensburg. My buddy Phil knew somebody that lived there and was willing to let me crash. While still in Boonville I stopped at a local bike shop where I was helped out by a really friendly old man that gave me a quick tune-up and a long talk involving many random stories and advice. One of them was about a man that visited his shop once that had designed a recumbent bike that he could hit 65 mph in. Might look into that for my next trip.

The rest of my ride was pretty straightforward. When I got to Warrensburg, Ethan and his roommates welcomed me warmly into their apartment. Ethan took really good care of me while I was in town and we had a good time. I am very grateful for his hospitality. Tomorrow I'm off to Kansas City!