Mi…ssi…ssi…ppi River…is the finish!

Day 9. 10/10/24. St Charles to Machens to Portage Des Sioux…. and back.

Stats: 32 mi. AIS: 3:10 min. 10.2 mph. Eleven. 272 ft.

The usual morning start for our last ride on the Katy Trail. Another beautiful day… 9 for 9 in perfect weather days. How lucky is that?

Our goal is to ride to the eastern terminus of the Katy Trail called Machens …12.5 miles to the end. We only saw 2 people on the ride out after we left St Charles… it seems most people just end in St Charles because there isn’t a parking lot at the end… so you have to ride out and back.

We followed the Missouri River for the first few miles then it was farmland and a coal fired plant near the end… near the confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi.

We met State Park Nick at Machens. He was doing his maintenance job but kindly stopped to take our photo and caution us about crossing private land to get to the Mississippi River. He knew a lot about the trail. Nice guy..Nick.

Even with the reroute that Nick told us to take, it was 3.3 miles to see the Mississippi River. We couldn’t ride all this way and be that close to the confluence and not see the “big river”. So off we went down a nice country road to Portage Des Sioux. This was the place that Lewis and Clark got the men for their expedition west.

The bluffs along the Mississippi were really beautiful too. After that it was quick ride (almost non-stop) back into St Charles. The trail had a few more people on the way back. Still not busy by any means. Weekdays are best!

Back in St Charles we had a nice sandwich lunch at The Bike Stop Cafe.

Uphill return to our house for the last day of riding. Once we got home we washed all the Katy Trail dust off the bikes and they’re ready to pack up for the departure tomorrow morning.

A few of us took a drive back down to the historic Main Street to checkout the businesses and buildings. It’s amazing how old the area is with brick sidewalks and streets. Once again I was glad we were not visiting this area on a weekend. I hate to imagine how crowded and busy it would be.

The buildings in St Charles

Things I See…

Favorites and Bests…

Favorite dinner… Jerry’s for overall impression. Hermann German for flavor

Best air bnb/hotel/bed & breakfast …Toss up… they all had their own positives

Good historical trail information.

Excellent trail condition from start to finish.

Quirkiest trail infrastructure: the bicycle square ramp up to the bridge to Jefferson City.

Favorite town…good things about all of them… but Sedalia was at the top

Roadkill….squirrel. Racoon. Mouse. It’s hard to kill things with a bicycle!!!

Wildlife…black snake, hawk, deer, frog in the outhouse, turtle, beaver, muskrat, heron.

Miscellaneous…

No obnoxious people or car drivers.

1 flat, 1 slow leak

2 crashes…no broken bones or blood.

Beer consumed… lots of Octoberfests, and many other mostly local beers.

Verdict on electric bikes.. Margie says: “a liitle bit of assist is just lovely”. Sarah says: “necessary when you’re older, especially going off trail in the towns where it’s uphill”. Paul says: “It was good… especially when he had to catch up to us when his tire was low and we left him”.

Impression of Missouri: 100% agreement that it’s a beautiful state! Vegetation grows well in Missouri… beautiful trees, gorgeous flower pots in every town, parks, benches, views of river in the towns. Old buildings restored and well taken care of.

FINAL STATS:

280 miles, Avg 35 miles/day, AIS: 24:55 min., Avg 10.2mph, Elev, 2280 ft.

Wrap up…

We all really enjoyed our ride together…all 9 days or it! Thanks Mom for raising a family that not only loves each other… but likes each other too! And thanks for teaching us to enjoy lifetime activities and giving us the good genes to be able to accomplish athletic adventures like this during our retirement ages. I feel pretty lucky to have all my brother and sisters and that they said “yes” to riding the Katy Trail.

Thanks for following another one of my bicycle adventures in another beautiful place in the USA and the world. Life is good…