Katy Trail Day 2013 4, Mokane to Marthasville

Thursday, June 20, 2013,

Mokane to Marthasville, 49 miles. Sidetrip into Hermann meant 55 miles for me.

Going to get up early today, really! Nope.....didn't happen, slept in again! Darn, this is becoming a habit! Got everything picked up and sloppily put away Why is is getting harder to get everything in my bags every day? Carried my bags down the hill and threw them in the truck, and the three of us headed back to get our bikes and ride around the building to get in line (long by now) for breakfast. A treat ..... Pancake Man again..... this time with French Toast, that wonderful sausage again, scrambled eggs, (seasoned, they were really good), the best fresh cut fruit and huge strawberries, juice and coffee. Great Breakfast! Supposed to be another hot day today, and camping on a baseball field. obviously, the prospect of shade on a baseball field isn't too promising. But, we did get going away from the Mokane school, and back down the hill through town to the trail. I was really stiff, and a bit sore this morning, my hips and knees and leg muscles were all protesting together and literally screaming at me ...... c'mon Advil...... This was the only morning I was sore like that, but it really made up for it this morning. Took me a few miles to work the kinks out, but five miles down the trail, and I felt a lot better. Today we had some of the roughest parts of the ride. Hit one pothole (halfway across the trail), that bottomed my suspension, and still almost knocked the bars from my hand. There were also a few sandy spots, and some new crushed stone put down over some washouts. Again...today seemed to have been a good day to have a mountain bike. The other bikes made it through as well, and again, I'll say, any bike you have will do this ride. Me .... however...... I just don't think I'd want to beat up my carbon road bike on this trail .....but it'd make it, I'm sure. Honestly, I'm glad I took the mountain bike. I'm almost as comfortable on it as any bike I have, and speed isn't a consideration. Actually, our average speed was around 12 mph (got that from Kelley, as my bike computer only computes trip miles, total miles, highest speed, and time of day.)  Someone asked on the Katy website if they kept times for everyone, and they replied, no, it's not a race, it's a fun ride, but that most of the riders averaged around 10mph. So, I wasn't really at a disadvantage with the mountain bike at all, and I'm not sorry I chose it to take on this ride.
Gettin' on down the trail early in the morning.......

There were times along the trail when I swore I could hear the chirping of Raptors, or that we were being stalked by a T-Rex...... it looked as though we could have been transplanted right into Jurassic Park.

Some of today was fairly open, and the sun came down hard early in the day.

Today, I said I wanted to head into Hermann to see the town, and Rob and Kelley readily agreed, so we headed across the new (yet another) dedicated bicycle lane across the bridge into Hermann.

Isn't that a dandy bike lane? After getting across, the first thing to greet us in Hermann is the Courthouse on the Hill.....

Then, we turned and went down the hill into town...

Hermann is a cool little town that is soo German, it was fun. A lot of the buildings were patterned after German architecture .....

And there were even geraniums in window boxes like so many of the homes and businesses have in Germany.

At the end of one street was the train station, (restored). Hermann is an Amtrak stop, but this is not an Amtrak station..... It is a fully restored old station of the Katy era. This side of the river, however, I don't think it was a Katy depot.

Plus the ubiquitous caboose...... Everybody had a caboose......

And a trip down to the waterfront was a must do.... the steamship monument was unique....

And......I didn't want to miss the opportunity to pose for some riverfront pictures.

Quaint little churches with tall steeples

And, as you can see...... Hermann is full of HILLS..... A break from the flat trail. I found a simply delightful German bakery, and talked my friends into joining me for a late morning snack. Honestly...... I wanted to sample everything there, apple strudels, kolaches, but I restrained myself. I settled for a wonderfully flaky, soft, apple turnover instead. Sooo GOOD!  Everything was nice and fresh, and really good. In the German way, not overly sweet, and really good. They had an entire cupboard filled with authentic German bread...... oh......my kingdom for a huge basket on my bike....... I wanted to take it home with me soooo bad!!!

The pretty lady behind the counter posed nicely for me with her goods.....

All in all, we spent probably an hour there in Hermann, and wandered around for a couple of miles in the town. On the east to west year, the Katy ride camps in Hermann .... a good reason to come back.However, it's time to get back on the trail again, so, back over the nice bike lane, and back on the trail

Remains of the old mill at McKittrick.

And here is downtown McKittrick.... Please try not to get lost!

There was a bar and grill back in the back of the mercantile, but it was early, and we thought we'd just mosey on down the trail and eat lunch at Marthasville. We had heard that there was a great pizza place there, and honestly, that sounded pretty good, so we went on. We did see a lot of the riders heading around the corner over to the grill there however. We, however, decided to tough it out, and wait for some mouth watering pizza. Then, about a mile out of Marthasville.... why is my bike feeling so funny ..... feels like the front tire is really squirrely, (looks down)..... what is that big bulge at the bottom..... Oh No.....a FLAT! Put some air in it, and headed for Marthasville, by that time, flat again. Fixed it under a roofed picnic area, and Kelley went looking for the pizza place..... closed! Not open until 3pm. It was only about 12:30pm then, and we were hungry. So, we went on over to the campground, and yes, there was no trees for shade, and yes, it was HOT!. There, we found the concession stand at the ballpark was open, with nice really cold beer. We got some liquid refreshment, and I got a so-so hamburger ... hey it was food .....Kelley and Rob got hot dogs. And after eating and cooling ourselves a bit, we went back into the hot sun and set up our tents.

We are wayyy over by the left field fence! Dinner tonight was the best on the whole ride, and this from a concession stand. Unbelievable! Roast turkey, baked ham, potato and gravy, veggies, fresh baked dinner rolls, absolutely the bestest cole slaw ever, along with fresh fruit.I had white cake for desert, along with ice tea. YUM! Dinner lines moved quickly as they split us into two groups, upstairs getting their food and eating in the upstairs dining area, and downstairs, getting food from the concession window, and eating in the picnic area. Worked out swell. We realized that there was shade there, in the form of a picnic area, that was quite large. After all the baggage had been removed we all sat in the shade and enjoyed some pleasant conversation, and a few more cold adult beverages.....

We all sat through the riders meeting (every night) and afterward, there was a program about the history of the Katy. I, however, found my tire was still leaking down.....hmmmmm.... so, I took it back apart, and looked it over and over, and finally saw what appeared to be a small nail right in the middle of one of the lugs. Hard and solid.... I dug it out with the flat bladed screwdriver on my multitool, and it turned out to be a sliver of rock about the size and shape of a flat toothpick point, and about 3/8 of an inch long. All the way through the lug, and through the Kevlar belted tire and into the tube. So that's what was causing all those flats on the skinny tired bikes! I talked to the bike mechanic and he said he had fixed something like 150 flats and sold around 80 tires on this ride. I bought a new tube from him for a spare for tomorrow, as I couldn't seem to find the hole easily enough to patch it, nor did I want to take the time. I'll patch it when I get home. By this time, it was getting dark, glad I didn't wait to do this until morning. This was also the night my folding chair died!The frame poked holes and popped through in the back, which rendered the chair useless. It got a burial in the trash receptacle at the campground. Even without the chair though, the bag still seemed fuller when I put everything away in the morning. If the ride went another week, I'd have to get another bag! Organization is NOT my middle name!  Once again, the organization of the State Park Trail Ride was evident in the fact that even though there was no trees for shade, they chose a place to stay that had a nice pavilion. In the evening hours, a nice breeze came through, and it turned out to be a very pleasant place to camp for the night. Once again, I was tired, and turned in about 9:30, for ...... Tomorrow We Ride!