Traveling through Missouri took less time than I thought it would. Traveling through Virginia took forever, Kentucky just seemed like Virginia with a different name (for the most part), and Illinois was Illinois. We spent six days total in Missouri, only four of which were biking days. Here is the break down:
July 24th: St. Louis, Mo to Marthasville, Mo. 55.07 miles. We left the lovely Rhonda's house, in St. Louis, while she was still asleep. We spent a good part of the morning traveling through the outskirts of the city, until we finally made it to the KATY trail, which we planned on following for the next day or so. The trail was beautiful, flat, easy, covering what used to be an old railroad bed. We spent about 60 miles of our day on this trail. We took an afternoon break at a small brewery, and then we pushed on, traveling the last ten miles until Marthasville. We camped out under the covered patio at the community baseball field. The field, when we got there, was being used by a family for their reunion. We were greeted warmly by one of the family members and given free beer, as we explained what we were doing and how we were doing it.
July 25th: Marthasville, Mo to Jefferson City, Mo. 66.64 miles. We had planned to pull close to our first century this day, but we got a later start than we intended, and by the time we got to Jefferson City Ivan had gotten a flat. So we just had Ivan's uncle, Steve, meet us there. He picked us up and drove us the hour to his house in Centrailia. He is so bright and happy. He greeted us both with huge hugs that exuded such exuberance; I immediately felt right at home with him. When we finally made it to Centrailia, we were greeted with a wonderful home-cooked meal, a hot shower, and a steaming hot tub. Pure bliss. We then spent the next two days with Uncle Steve, his wife Bonnie, and their daughter Alicia. (I will blog about our actual visit with them in greater detail, later).
July 28th: Uncle Steve's. Mo to Sedelia, Mo. 53.58 miles. It was sad to leave Uncle Steve's, but though we left the house behind we didn't leave the people! Alicia rode with us for the first 40 miles of our day. It was so nice to have her along. Then we stopped in a small town and had a picnic lunch with Steve, Bonnie, and Alicia. After lunch it was rather hot; we didn't want to leave so upon trying to find a restroom in that small town, Steve found us a salon that let us sit on their couches for several hours during the worst of the heat. We parted ways at the door of the salon. Hugs all the way around. After resting, we filled up our water and headed out. We only made it to Sedelia another 15 miles or so. But Steve called ahead to some people he knew and, like magic, we were let into a church for the night. We even got to have showers!
July 29th: Sedelia, Mo to Kansas City, Ks. 91.05 miles. Our longest day yet, and it went pretty well. The day was long, and we covered beautiful rolling-hilled country. There was no state line sign, but we ended the day by riding on State Line Drive (or a street name to that effect). We stayed the night with Ivan's cousin Carla, her husband Jeff, and their small son Bridger. They made us a wonderful, late night, spaghetti dinner. In the morning we had a lovely breakfast, and then Carla joined us for the first 12 miles of our journey. Staying with them was the perfect way to end one state and begin another.
See what I mean? Missouri went by fast.
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