Day 16 – Into the West

This day was exciting because we got to ride on the nice paved and trafficless trails and also looked forward to crossing the Mississippi River. The trail began about .5 mile from our KOA so we were on it in no time. We followed the river to the Clark Bridge in Alton, IL.

The bridge had a special lane for bicycles so we stopped and got pictures and could take our time not worrying about being run over by any crazy motorists. The bridge took us to West Alton, MO, which put us in our 7th state.

Thank the LORD, from whom all blessings flow, we enjoyed another tailwind that significantly aided us to the city of St. Charles, MO where we visited the Dairy Queen for lunch (try the chocolate covered strawberry waffle bowl, it is great) and then joined the Katy Trail!

The Katy Trail is a former railroad bed. The railroad was shut down in 1987 and has since been turned into a biking and hiking trail. The surface was a little suspect before we actually got to it but when we arrived it was more than sufficient. The smoothness of the surface is important when riding on such small (25mm across) road bike tires. The surface is crushed limestone and has been packed down quite well to mirror concrete with a coating of sand and fine pebbles on the top. It is nice but dirty.



This trail gave us lots of opportunities for pictures. The cool tunnels and overpasses that were built for the railroad that still are there were nothing short of picturesque and almost made us feel apart of history. The old and restored train stations were great too! Another benefit of the trail is the natural canopy of trees. The sun has been getting hotter and it was nice to ride under the protection of this canopy.

Dad and I were moving right along when we came to a place where the park system put up a small shelter to post the map and some points of interest along the way, and we saw a huge group of riders wearing the same shirts sitting and eating lunch by their sag vehicle. Come to find out they were riding across the country too and were stopping in various cities to help build affordable housing for people. They had all raised $4000 for the trip and donated it to this charity group. We had a good time talking and sharing stories but needed to get going. I sometimes wish we didn’t have so many miles planned for each day so that we could stop longer and talk to such neat and interesting people like this more. As we pulled away, a young man named Jon asked to join us. We love having more than just two in our pace line so he joined us. We really pushed it for about an hour and got him to his destination, Marthasville, MO.
Our campground was still 40 miles down the trail so we needed to keep going but we had pushed it so hard for the past hour that we slowed down considerably. We passed through one small quiet town after another until we arrived in Blufton, MO, our destination was Steamboat Junction Campground. The LORD knew that just before we arrived that we needed some comic relief. Dad and I were wearily pedaling along when we saw a huge black thing in the trail. Bikers are always leery of dogs so I was about to reach for my dog spray when I noticed that it was not running like a dog. It was indeed heading our way and as we got closer we saw that it was a cow!!! By this time it had stopped and was looking at us with a very curious and suspicious eye. It was time for action. Dad came up with a plan sooner than I did. He decided to flail his arms, holler at the top of his lungs, and make a real scene all while pedaling toward the cow. The cow was quite frightened and turned and ran right into the barbed wire fence. Ouch! I guess it is better him than us though.
The campground where we stayed had 4 lots. The people run it basically for people on the trail and do not want to advertise in order to expand. It was nice. This bath house, though simple and unassuming, may have been the nicest shower that we have had on the entire trip!! There was no reason to walk anywhere in the campground since the mosquitoes were kind of like tow trucks, if you stood too long they carried you away. Oh well, at least we didn’t have to sleep outside!