Katy Trail

We left my house early Saturday morning (November 5th) for the long drive up to St. Charles, MO to start spend the weekend on the Katy Trail.  We parked at the boat house and had lunch at the Bike Shop Cafe.  It was still pretty chilly out if you weren't standing in the sun so we had to have a lot of layers for the ride.  We headed out and the trail was beautiful. The leaves are at the perfect point of fall colors and the Missouri River was flowing on our left.  You really couldn't ask for a better day.  Our camp was about 28 miles down the trail so we were able to ride at a comfortable pace and enjoy.

Our campsite was AMAZING!  It seemed very secluded because of the bluffs.  There was a family with a dog to one side, on the way to the bathroom, that we couldn't see, but occasionally heard. The nearer campsite was a boys group that was also riding their bikes on the trail.  They were supported and didn't have to carry their gear, but that meant that they had a lot of camping equipment.  They had some extra wood and gave us some so we were able to have a beautiful campfire to warm up before calling it a night.  We really appreciated the firewood because had tried to find some at dinner and were unsuccessful.

We woke up around dawn but were slow to get out of our tents because we could hear water dripping on them.  I really didn't want to get my warm clothes damp, but I finally realized it was moisture dripping off the trees, not rain, and it wasn't going to get any better, so I may as well get up.  A cup of coffee made with the jet boil and a bowl of hot oatmeal warmed me up inside and we eventually got our tents packed up and we were ready to go.   Last stop at the bathroom before starting on day two.  Although the day was a little chilly, the sun was shining and the trail was beautiful!  Just look at the photo below. 

We passed a beautiful winery on top of a hill and Julie wanted to stop, but Donna thought it wasn't open yet.  Julie really wanted to check it out so she road close enough to see the sign with a phone number and called to find out they were indeed open, so we got to take a rest stop at Wine Country Garden in Defiance, Missouri. I had my coffee for my Coffeeneuring Challenge Ride #5 with some fish tacos and some tempura chicken fingers.  The food and the atmosphere was fabulous and we even enjoyed the company of a cute little cat.

Fork and Ride: SBC

Sunrise over Battlefield

   Wonderful, cool, fall morning on October 29th with a group of local cyclists, all meeting and riding the trails before dawn.  We got to watch the sun rise while riding and throughout the ride, the mist was still rising off the fields.  It was such a beautiful morning with wonderful friends, many of whom I have not been able to ride with for several months.  It was great to see them and have a chance to visit with everyone while riding this morning.

The fields were beautiful as we passed them and I couldn't help but pull out the phone for a wonderful shot. 

 We even got to ride through the "haunted forest"!  There were a lot of scary monsters and villains along the path.  Hang on to your bike and keep pedaling! We made it through and didn't lose a single friend, although we started to wonder when a couple of them took longer to get through the "forest".  It turned out that they were expecting one of us to jump out behind every obstacle, so they were riding super slow.  This was actually a detour from the originally planned ride, but worth the extra time, although my stomach was really ready for food by the time we got to our breakfast destination.

As you can see we had to get this great big table to fit all of us together for breakfast at Springfield Brewing Company.  I had a simple breakfast of bacon, eggs and toast, but others had the bacon and sausage pancakes. I also didn't have any coffee with my breakfast, so I invited everyone to join me afterwards for Trader Joe's Pumpkin Spice Coffee at my house to fulfill my Coffeeneuring challenge #4 for 2016!  By the time we go to my house it was just Juana, David, Michael and me, but we had a great cup of coffee and they got to say hi to Tsuki, who had to catch the Frisbee a few times for our guests. All in all it was a GREAT morning!

Coffee at my house!