Day 39: Boonville to Jefferson City, MO

Distance: 52 miles

Elevation: +1298 / -1511 - that’s code for floodplain flat

Temperature: low 90s and humid

We were really looking forward to our second day on the Katy Trail when we rolled out of Boonville this morning, en route to Rocheport where we planned to have breakfast. The breakfast provided at the hotel was a bit lacking. There were potato chips (yay, gluten free!). But, for breakfast? Big time head scratcher. Clearly, Rosalee had spoiled the group the day before in Higginsville with the great breakfasts she made. But again, potato chips? Sigh.

Once we again met up with the trail on the other side of the Missouri River (I think we’ve crossed it about six times so far), we were surprised to encounter a bit of wash out on the trail. There was a lot of flooding in Missouri last week, so I guess it’s not surprising that there might be a bit of washout.

What we weren’t prepared for was the massive amount of washout that we were about to encounter and which turned our short 11 mile jaunt to a cute breakfast place into a slog that took more than two hours, much of which was on foot. In one area, the washout was so severe that it exposed the actual railroad ties that were a couple of FEET under the trail.

After about 7 miles, the trail took us no further. Carol called Kurt to see if he could help get us around the mess, and then we discovered directions spray painted on the street for how to navigate around the closed off area. The directions took us out onto a highway for a short bit, and from it we could see the bridge that used to cross the trail, and which was laying in pieces from a flood that ravaged the region two years ago.

This was not the good start we had anticipated.

We finally got to breakfast at Meriwether Cafe and Bike Shop (great combo, right!), which was really excellent, and right on the trail. We all did a bit of reconnaissance by talking to other cycling patrons, in order to see if the next part of the trail was more passable than what we had just come through. We were told there were some rough spots: washouts, landslides, tree debris, and sand, but that it was mostly ridable to the next main trail head. Ok, so let’s do this.

Several of the folks we talked to told us about the McBaine Burr Oak, the largest in Missouri, that was near the trail: 400 years old. It is 90 feet tall and almost 24 feet in circumference. We had to find it. This tree was already 200 years old when Lewis and Clark came through this area in the 1800s, which we thought was pretty cool. The tree itself was spectacular. In fact, we learned that it has its own facebook page 😊.

Yes, there were definitely some rough spots on the trail after Rocheport, but they were occurring with far less frequency. This was great, but it was also dangerous to get lulled into setting a nice pace without paying enough attention, since those washouts can be hard to see from far off, and they will getcha! This section of the trail paralleled the Missouri River, and it was the tributaries of the Missouri that had caused all of the flooding. It was amazing to go over bridges along the trail and see how huge some of the flotsam and jetsam was that was piled up both beneath and on the bridge: an indicator of how powerful and how high the water was when it ripped through the area. Huge tracts of farmland lost parts of their crops to the flooding, and there was still a significant amount of standing water on the fields in many places. So, the smell and the mosquitoes were robust as we cycled through.

In spite of the rough terrain, there were still some beautiful parts to the trail. The shade was welcome in the climbing heat and humidity. The views of the bluff to our left and the river to our right were wonderful.

Additionally, the trail was following the route of Lewis and Clark, so there were periodic markers that told of their journey, and what they would have seen along the way each day in this area. It was a LOT of text on a hot day, even for our roving public historian.

Because we weren’t sure how this would go, we arranged to meet Kurt after only about 10 miles, just in case we ran into more trouble than we could handle. But, again, it was getting better the further east we went. Kurt went ahead another 10 miles, and we met up with him, this time for lunch.

Then, he went ahead, and we planned to meet up with him in Jefferson City (the capital of Missouri), where he would pick us up and take us to the hotel. The roads going into Jefferson City were busy, and we just didn’t want to mess with traffic on a hot, Friday afternoon (impatient drivers and cyclists NEVER mix). When we arrived at the trail head in Jefferson City, this interesting overview of the 1993 flood gave some perspective on what we had just come through.

So, the ride took WAY longer than we expected it to today. But, Kurt found an amazing Italian restaurant (with the most extensive gluten free menu Carol had ever seen), and we ended the day with more great food in Jefferson City.

Tomorrow we head to McKittrick, but severe thunderstorms are predicted. We will be playing it by ear. Only a few more days to St. Louis.

Highlights:

We had some awesome food today after we left Boonville.

Some parts of the trail were really lovely, and we learned a LOT about how flood plains function.

Lowlights:

Walking our bikes through areas that were impassable

Mosquitoes

Heat and humidity

Potato chips for breakfast

I have no idea what this is, but I felt it worth adding as a potential topic of conversation:

UPDATE: This is Boathenge. This was built by a man named Catfish, who couldn’t bear the thought of getting rid of any of his old boats. Wait for it: There was alcohol involved in its creation. Www.boathenge.net