Today was a rest day, thanks to weather! We knew the storms were moving in overnight last night, but the weather forecast looked like we could ride in the morning during a lull. But we woke up to thunderstorms, and the forecast looked terrible until early afternoon. So we made an executive decision to stay safe; we were worried not only about storms but also about washouts on the trail, which was now wet from overnight rain.
Fortunately, this was the best spot to have an unplanned rest day. Jefferson City is the capitol of Missouri, with great places to eat and the state museum in its beautiful capitol building. Not sure if the entire group was as excited as the public historian about that! Then the rest of the group had to listen to the public historian pick apart every facet of the exhibit designs. But, all in all, we made the most of the free morning.
Our B&B is in McKittrick, about 45 miles up the trail from Jefferson City, but the nearby town of Hermann is a tourist hotspot, so we spent the afternoon wandering through its shops and a couple of the distilleries and wineries in town. Hermann was a planned settlement of Germans who left Philadelphia for Missouri so they could protect their heritage and culture. It‘s still very German in feel and look and a fun town to explore. Its distilleries make gin, vodka, and whiskey, and there are wineries all over this area.
Never saw vending machines that dispensed bratwurst before! Mary Jo couldn’t stay off her bike (shocker) and so took a little ride in the afternoon when the weather cleared. Our B&B is called Joey’s Birdhouse and is super cute: The rooms are the former post office on the main square.
Tomorrow we’re back on the bikes and riding 40+ miles to Defiance on the Katy Trail. Our second to last day of this adventure...we roll into St. Louis the next day!
Highlights:
Playing tourist today and touring Missouri’s capitol building, state museum and the cute town of Hermann
Hummingbirds outside of our B+B
Lowlights:
Not riding today (although Becky doens’t really think that’s a lowlight!)