Day 18 – Kissing Katy Goodbye!

The alarm went off earlier than normal since there is a person on our trip that has not had a bath since the beginning and has never needed it worse than today. The Katy Trail was nice to my Dad and I because it was flat but it was quite unkind to our bikes. They have been gathering dust and grime for the past two days and this morning we were going to bathe them!! They deserved it! This is a process that includes taking both wheels off and the chain off, using paper towel to wipe down the entire frame, soaking the chain in mineral spirits, and putting everything back together. All in all a 1.5 hour process. It was worth it. Before I could hear and feel every pedal revolution but now it just flows silently and with ease!

We said goodbye to the State Fairgrounds at about 8:30 and hit the road running. I think the bikes were just glad to be on the asphalt instead of the dust and grime of the Katy Trail. I did find one thing to be remarkable and disconcerting. My hill legs were gone. We have been riding on a trail with no more than a 2% grade (that his the max for a train) for so long that it was like my legs forgot how to do anything but churn forward. The first hills were like learning to drive on the right side of the road after spending two weeks driving in England. I guess I can just be glad that we are not in the Rockies just yet.
We were motoring along and up ahead I saw huge clouds of dust. I never imagined that it could be coming from our road since they were paved, but the closer that we go it was clear that a clean bikes nightmare had indeed come true (and the cleaners)! FRESH CHIP SEAL!!! This means that the tar underneath is still a little wet and will stick to the tires and get flung toward the frame, chain, and derailleur. It was a mess! So as you can see from the picture we decided since there was only one lane that had been finished we would ride in the other lane until traffic came towards us. This worked fine but the continuous pinging of little rocks off of my frame was like the constant scratching of fingernail on the chalkboard.

We did finally get past the construction and came to a small town where we did something that we have not done all trip. We went to a different place other than Dairy Queen for refreshment! We went to Sonic and got one of their fruit smoothies! It was awesome and truly refreshing!!! On the way out of town we did see the Dairy Queen and our bikes tried to turn in but with much fighting we did get past.

The roads of western MO are much like I would have expected in KS and CO. If they were to be any straighter they would have to have built them with a ruler. They are straight and go for as far as you can see. It was quite nice and it makes for pretty easy biking.
Our second to last stop for the day took us to this small town with the first almost exciting but probably not historical looking barn. It was picture worthy.


Patty’s Place served great Gatorade and supplied us with fine ice water. The people were very nice and friendly and seemed interested in what we were doing. Our last stop was not that way.

The city of Adrian and the people had seemingly never seen anything like us before. We pulled into the gas station and the stares began. You would have thought we were from outerspace. I understand that we look kind of funny but to stare at someone out of the corner of your eye kind of like they have a strange bodily deforming disease. It was weird and so we did not stay long, let alone try to explain what we were doing.

This sight was a good bit of comic relief in the final 10 miles of the trip! We chugged along and anticipated one last picture with the Kansas state line picture. As we came around the bend where it should have been there was nothing. We looked back and saw the Missouri one but nothing for Kansas. The only “welcome” that we go was this hug power plant.

The girls as always had a wonderful supper planned for us and we ate it and enjoyed a little family time and then it was time to hit the sack. Another century is planned and anxiously awaits us tomorrow!