June 6th we left Clinton MO on our bikes with only 225 miles between us and St. Charles MO.  Being less then champion riders we chose to spend 6 days riding with a rest day in Hermann. With an average of 40 miles a day we spent about 4 hours a day on the seat and the rest sightseeing, resting, and eating.  All in all we had fun and little issues.

Day 1: Clinton to Sedalia - No issue on the first day as we passed through farm country and tiny towns offering little more than a convenience store or two. We arrived in Sedalia around 4pm, where the Scott Joplin Ragtime Music Festival was taking place. Evidentially Ragtimers go to be early, because all of the events ended at 5pm.  We stayed at an sweet Non-B&B called Maxine's Rooms For Rent.  Maxine and her husband have a small farm where they have 4 horses, a cat and a dog.  The dog, Chigger, was a wonderful, sweet and charming Australian Cattle Dog who loved to play fetch.



Day 2: Sedalia to Rocheport - This was our longest day with just under 50 miles logged.  When you ride this leg you will notice the long slow hills the seem to drag on for miles.  They aren't that steep by they seem endless. Rocheport is a wonderful quaint little town, but don't thing you are going to find food or anything on a Sunday evening, because it shuts down.  Here we stayed at the Schoolhouse B&B Dormitory.  It met was very clean, well maintained and met all our needs. It was a bit small for three people but we spent most of the evening on the patio and really only slept in the room.

Day 3: Rocheport to Jefferson City (slept in Holts Summit) - I really like this stretch of the trail.  It follows the Missouri River closely with beautiful bluffs to your left. This day was fairly short but became stressful when Alex's insulin pump (she has Juvenile Diabetes) failed and we had to give her a manual injection and have the manufacturer overnight another pump meter to our next hotel. The Best Value Inn was our next accommodations. The best two things I can say about the Best Value Inn is the price and the shuttle service they offer to and from the trail head.




Day 4: Jefferson City to Hermann - We got a late start because we had to wait for the Fed Ex delivery of the insulin meter. We finally got on the trail about 1:00 pm and it started raining about 2:00 pm. It rained for about 3 hours but we had to keep moving because of our late start.  It really wasn't that bad though.  It was a slow steady warm rain.  It really only became an issue when the trail became soupy.  We made it to Hermann about 6:30.  Of course, we stayed at the Apfelbaum Cottage in Hermann.  It is the best place in town, you know! We ate dinner at the newly re-opened Barrel Bar. it doesn't have a link yet, so you'll have to see it for yourself when you visit.

Day 5: Rest Day in Hermann - Why not?

Day 6: Hermann to Augusta - This was an interesting leg. We have ridden every piece of it at one time or another, but never in one trip.  Storms the night before had knocked down trees and made the trail very soft.  As the day went along the sun dried out the trail and we made good time. As we approached Augusta I began to feel very timed and the riding became constantly harder, but I pushed through. The last 5 miles were Hell!  After recovering at the trailhead I realized I had two, yes two, flat tires! I had only brought one spare innertube. The leaks where very slow, so I changed one and pumped up to ride to our cabin in Klondike Park.  Since we got into town early we decided to walk around and on our way to dinner at the Augusta Brewing Company a tiny kitten befriended us and followed us to dinner.  The kitten stuck to my daughter's feet and slowly pulled on our heart strings.  Needless to say, we now have a new kitten named Katy.  When we made our reservation at Klondike Park we failed to realize that they don't supply pillow or linens, so we didn't get much sleep.



Day 7: Augusta to St. Charles - The final day was our shortest.  I rode to Defiance with the leaking tire where I got a new innertube at Katy Trail Bike Rentals and Alex carried Katy in her handle bar bag all the way home.  We were so glad to see the St. Charles trailhead.   During our ride we saw some interesting place, met wonderful people, and accomplished a long time goal. I recommend it to everyone.