After leaving the charming German-influenced city of Hermann, we made our way to Knob Noster State Park near the same-named town in Missouri. We'd taken a day trip to the park while living in the greater Kansas City area and checked out the campground in case we ever pulled the trigger on an RV. So now we were able to return with Pearl and spend a few nights. Knob Noster actually means "our hill" in Latin. The town was named for two prominent knolls ("knobs") in the area. After bicycling in the area, we can vouch for it being hilly! While staying in the park, we needed to do laundry, and the nearest laundromat we'd located in our research was in the city of Warrensburg, 11 miles west. Barry had long been wanting to try taking our laundry on the back of his Bike Friday to see how feasible it would be, and this provided our first chance to do just that. Turns out, with two panniers and a basket, it's feasible! Although most of the ride was on the road, we were happily surprised to come upon this bike path as we entered the far eastern edge of Warrensburg. And on a weekday morning, we had it all to ourselves. Score! The laundromat was one of the nicest ones we've been to, and to make our day even better, there just happened to be a donut shop RIGHT NEXT DOOR. If that isn't an amazing stroke of luck, I don't know what is. While I was inside keeping an eye on the washers and dryers, Barry made his way over to the bakery and purchased a selection of yummy pastries for us to enjoy now -- and later. Oh my! Laundry dried and packed back up on Barry's bike, we pedaled a short distance to a grocery store for a couple of items we needed. Just outside the store, we had a random encounter with a couple of young bicycle tourists, riding across the US from east to west. It was a real treat for us to talk to these two guys about their trip and share some of our own cycling experiences. Wish I had thought to get a photo of them and their loaded bikes. We certainly wish them well on their tour.
Ironically, we later discovered that the campground has a little laundry facility right on site. We'd never encountered this amenity at a public campground, only in commercial parks, so we hadn't even thought to look. D'oh! But we're still glad we did this laundry ride, because now we know we can do this when needed.
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Emily & BarryWe're a long-married, early-retired couple who are currently traveling as nomads with no fixed home base. After years of living in North Carolina (Emily's home state), we spent 18 months living oceanfront on Ambergris Caye, Belize, a year road-tripping the US in a Honda CR-V, a year in Playa del Carmen, Mexico, and are now roaming North America in our 32' motorhome, Pearl, following warm weather whenever possible. Archives
July 2019
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