Traveling Twosome
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Long shadows in Wyoming

Barry's Excellent Katy Trail Adventure (Day 4) - Washington to Machens, MO

10/23/2013

4 Comments

 
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                                                                                           Map source = BikeKatyTrail.com
Note:  In this post, Barry's words are in italics, Emily's are in normal text.
At last it was the fourth and final day of Barry's Katy Trail adventure.  In case you missed the previous day's posts, you can read them by clicking here: 
  • Day 1 - Clinton to Boonville
  • Day 2 - Boonville to Jefferson City
  • Day 3 - Jefferson City to Washington


On this fourth day of his tour, I dropped Barry off at the Marthasville trailhead in the morning so he could finish his trek to the eastern terminus of the Katy Trail in Machens.  After he reached Machens, he'd have to backtrack 3.1 miles to the tiny, tiny "town" (if you can call it that) of Black Walnut, which isn't even shown on the map above.  That's the last place I could park to pick him up as there's no park access or parking in Machens (which is even smaller than Black Walnut, I guess!)  The hotel I'd booked for us was farther west in Wentzville (not on map but a bit west of St. Charles) to help us get a head start on the drive back to Kansas City the next day.
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Starting out again on another beautiful day!
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Always smiling on the bike...
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And off he goes!
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As I was riding up to the Greens Bottom Road trailhead, I saw two ladies stopped there, and couldn't help but notice that they were riding Bike Fridays.  Since both Emily and I also have Bike Fridays, I had to stop and chat with these adventurous ladies.  They were pulling trailers and doing a self-supported tour of the trail.  One of them even volunteered to pose for a photo next to her bike!
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Another Lewis & Clark memorial -- one of many along the trail
While waiting to check into our hotel in Wentzville, Paisley and I hung out in a nearby city park.  I didn't even take any photos there as it was a nondescript, smaller park, mostly just a couple of ball fields and a kiddie playground.  In the 1.5 hours we were there, no one else even came to the park other than a couple of cops talking in their cars in the parking lot.  At least I felt safe!  

Escorted by a Sheriff in Black Walnut.

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Finally we were able to check in, so I changed into my bike gear and hit the road to Black Walnut.  Our GPS could not even locate it, that's how small it is.  But I figured out the route using google maps before I left the room.  The only thing I missed was exactly where the Katy Trail State Park access and parking area was.  I figured there'd be a sign pointing my towards it.  But when I finally got to a sign saying "Black Walnut", I only saw a couple of farms and no Katy Trail sign at all. Huh? Every other town had had brown informational signs leading directly to the park, but not here.

Once I realized I had missed it, I saw a sheriff's patrol car parked in a gravel area beside the road, so I pulled in behind him and asked if he knew where the Katy Trail parking was.  Not only did he know, he escorted me right there!  Turns out it was just off the one turn in Black Walnut, and if I'd turned around and gone back on my own, I would have certainly turned down that road and found it, but getting escorted by a sheriff was pretty cool!  Wish I could have gotten a photo, but my camera was not easily reachable, so you'll just have to take my word for it.

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In the middle of nowhere, Black Walnut, MO

The Final Stretch.

Barry and I had been in phone contact, so I knew he wasn't too far to the west.  I took off on my bike, and sure enough, I met him after about 5 miles of riding.  I wish I'd been able to make it to the St. Charles trailhead.  It looks charming from the photos Barry took.
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Meeting up just a bit east of St. Charles
Today I hit the lowest point on the trail (436' elevation).  You can see the relative flatness of the trail as the high point, which I passed on Day 1, was only 519' higher.
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Low point of the trail near Black Walnut
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Bike work stand at the Black Walnut trailhead -- only one on the entire Katy Trail
We then continued riding east to Machens and the end of the trail.  He did it!
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Eastern Terminus of Katy Trail in Machens, MO
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Can't go any farther than this!
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Today's mileage
This was my shortest day of riding (just under 55 miles); however, I saw more riders today than on the other days combined.  This was due to a very popular bike rental company in one of the trailhead towns and being so close to St. Louis at this point.


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Happy that he accomplished his goal
Four day totals:  all 237 miles of the trail, plus 15 more miles riding to/from lodging. The weather was great, I met some wonderful people on the trail, and knocked one more item off my bucket list. Time to rest up until the next adventure!

Reward Meal.  Mexican of course!

The Super 8 hotel in Wentzville was definitely the least desirable place we stayed on the trip and really needed a facelift.  The best thing it had going for it was a great Mexican restaurant almost right next door, so we treated ourselves to a reward meal to celebrate the end of the trail.
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My spinach quesadilla
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Barry's smokin' hot chicken fajitas
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That's all for this trip -- stay tuned for our next adventure!
4 Comments
David Christmas
10/24/2013 05:35:33 am

Nice to see you guys blogging again - so fun to follow your new roadtrip adventures!! Great pics! Your travel options have really broadened since Belize... Hey what kind of bikes did you get - and Barry did you leave your Trek carbon road bike at home?

Reply
Barry
10/24/2013 05:51:02 am

Hi David! We both got Jamis Dakar XC full-suspension mountain bikes (used) when we returned to the US but are running slick tires, which are fine for the type of riding we've been doing. As for my Trek carbon road bike, I still ride that on the roads in KC and will certainly take it on our travels where there is some good road cycling. Thanks for stopping by the blog!

Reply
Larry Kuntz
5/27/2017 12:14:25 am

Traveling Twosome,
I hope Emily recovers from the bike accident.
Having lived in Missouri all my life, (20 something years
in St. Louis and 30 something years in CoMo)
I was surprised when you left Belize and
ended up on the Katy Trail.
Your trajectory seems opposite of ours.
We've been to Belize twice in the past five years
but we haven't spent the recommended 6 months
in any one place.
Anyway, thanks for your blog and I hope
Paisely is alright.

Reply
Emily link
5/27/2017 08:16:11 pm

Thanks, Larry! Yes, we tend to do things a bit backwards at times! We enjoyed so much about Belize but ultimately missed the ability to travel more, and as we said in our final blog post when we left, that's what we wanted to do, along with lots more cycling, and we've certainly done just that! Paisley is doing great, thank you!

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    Emily & Barry

    We'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.

    Our passions are bicycling, walking and hiking, birding, continuing our midlife struggles to learn Spanish, enjoying healthy food (and the occasional donuts & pie!), traveling (duh!)  We travel with a fleet of bicycles and Paisley, our 10-year old Boston Terrier. 

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    Paisley, May 2016
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    States visited in "Pearl"

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  • Traveling Twosome Blog
  • BeBelize - Our life in Belize (2011-2013)
  • Earlier adventures (2003-2010)
    • First Belize Trip 2010
    • Fall Sail Cruise Aboard Logos 2009
    • Conch Key 2007
    • Charleston Sailing School 2007
    • Biscayne Bay Sailing School 2007
    • Key Lime Sailing Club 2006
    • Southwest Parks 2006
    • BEYC/Jost van Dyke, BVI 2005
    • Offshore Sailing School 2004
    • Annapolis Sailboat Show 2004
    • Finger Lakes 2004
    • NY State Bike Tour 2004
    • Biras Creek, BVI 2003