But I Would Walk 500 Miles...

...and I would walk 500 more.

As you may have seen from my summer 2013 list my sister and I decided that we will both walk and/or bike 500 miles this summer (see number 5). In order to not kill ourselves since neither one of us are super amazing athletes (sorry, R, but it is true...) we are actually starting now with the beginning of day light savings time marking the start of this challenge. I am not sure when the end date is, probably September 21 since that is the end of Summer. Maybe August 31 because honestly September does not feel like summer to me. 

Today we walked 6.8 miles on the Katy. We have no sense of distance. We first realized this while driving to Colorado 2 summers ago and amused ourselves in Kansas by trying to guess how far away buildings and windmills were in the flat fields. We were always wrong. Today we thought "oh that was probably 3 miles." No wonder my feet were tired. 

I really dug the part we walked on today, I had never been on it before. Some really nice forested areas. Some more open, flat areas, which today was great to have the sun beating down since it was not entirely warm. I found a house I am madly in love with and want to now somehow buy it someday. We almost made it to Greens Bottom trailhead but I had a time crunch and needed to get home. Next time. 

That added to the 3 miles from Monday at Graham Cave equals 9.8 miles. Only 490.2 more to go...

And yes, I will be listening to this song the whole entire time. 

Da da da da (da da da da).

What are your goals for this summer/spring? I would love for more people to join in the 500 miles challenge! 

Missouri State Parks: Graham Cave

Had to grab a picture as we left the park

Today I was bumming a bit, so my sister said we should go on a day trip. We decided on Graham Cave State Park because it is only an hour west on 70 from St. Charles and we had never been before. So she packed up the baby and headed over to my neck of the woods and we were off!

Now, unlike this past weekend when it was 50-60 degrees outside today was a nice 35. Brr! We had on hats and gloves and the baby had on his little bear suit (seriously the cutest winter outfit ever) and after we chatted with a lovely woman at the park office and gathered a trail map (along with with pamphlets) we started on the hike. 

All I can say is thank goodness for hiking boots with gore-tex. A few weeks ago Graham Cave (along with lots of Missouri) was hit with over 12 inches of snow. That is all gone now, but that means the trail was mostly sludgy mud and the springs were flowing. Despite most plants still being dead, the hike was lots of fun. We did several loops that ended up equalling 3 miles total...which was plenty with the not so pleasant weather. We first hiked to the cave. Really, the word cave is misleading. It is more of an overhang so do not be disappointed if you are expecting an actual cave to go through. If you want to go cave exploring then check out that link for the 3 Missouri state parks that offer excellent cave tours (more on that some other day- I love caves and bats!). 

Oh, that's me! Posing in front of Graham Cave. 

The "cave" from afar

From there we kept on hiking. I cannot wait to come back when it is actually Spring or Summer when things are alive. Despite the trees being still rather bare the hike was still lovely. I am pretty in love with the wilderness of Missouri, though. Constantly I am shocked by how beautiful this state is and I feel it does not get the attention it deserves! 

The trails were rather diverse. We had to cross little springs, hiking up and down some steep hills, cross bridges, walk next to steep drop offs, and saw water falls. We could see part of the Loutre River and walked next to swampy areas. I love it when hikes aren't the same ol' same ol' the whole time. 

Walking down some stairs!

We looked at the campsite to see if it would be a place we would want to camp this summer, and I am not so sure. The campsites are really close to each other, and that sort of seems to be a trend in a lot of Missouri camp grounds (and probably lots of camps all over). I am sure I will camp there some time even if it is just to say that I have, and I am sure camping during the week would make it better than being there on a crowded weekend. Anyone have any opinions of whether or not it is a good place to camp?

Today we walked the first 3 miles of our 500 mile goal. More on that later!

First Bike Ride

My pretty (although now dirty) new bike

I took my new bike out to ride for the first time today since it was in the low 50s. I quickly learned a few things. 

1) I am SO weak. I expected to be able to bike the way I used to when I hit the Grant's Trail on a regular basis. A 20 mile ride was no big deal. It was so silly for me to think that I would have the same strength that I had 4+ years ago.

2) The Katy Trail is much harder (at least when muddy) than paved trails like the Grant's Trail. Holy cow. I was not expecting that. My wheels were slowed down most of the time and then the parts that weren't as muddy were super bumpy.

I have a lot of work ahead of me if I think I am ever going to ride the whole trail. But you can't just expect to start running and run a whole marathon. I will just keep riding and eventually it will get easier again.

Now to find a way to make my lungs stop burning as much...

Welcome to St. Charles!

The main issue with the St. Charles part of the Katy Trail is all the construction going on at the Blanchette Bridge over highway 70. However when you get past that then it is fine. Just have to snake around the construction and you are golden.

See the construction signs through the tunnel? No bueno. 

Anyway, I have lots of work ahead of me, but I am excited to going! Let's go biking!

Waiting for Warm Weather

I don't know about you, but I have been going crazy with the cold weather and snow and rain. I know that living in the midwest means dealing with indecisive weather, but it is March now. Can the warm weather please start making its way here to stay?

Today got to be the mid-fifties, which compared to the snow that was blasting Missouri the last two weeks, this was like a hot summer's day (someone remind me I said that when it actually is summer in a few months...). I have been talking about buying a bike for a good year now, and I live near one of the trailheads for the Katy Trail so I don't know why I have been dragging my feet so much. Well, I finally did it! I cleared out my honda Fit and drove to Granada and asked the nice people there what would best suit my needs. I told them I am mostly interested in riding on trails (Katy Trail and paved trails such as the Grant's Trail) so they suggested a hybrid/comfort bike. I have always enjoyed riding Giant's bikes so I picked out a silver Giant Cypress. I did not have any choice in the color, so I decided to make it up with a fashionable teal lady helmet. I will post pictures later once I located the missing camera charger.

Everyone at the bike shop was super nice and helpful from the woman who helped me pick out the bike to the man who taught me how to remove the tire to best fit it inside my Fit. He would not let me leave until he was convinced I could do it. That's customer service. He also gave me info on a group of women called The Katy Trail Biker Chicks. I am not sure yet if I will join them or not, but they look like an awesome group of women for anyone in the area who is wanting to get back into biking (or into biking for the first time) and doesn't want to hit the trail solo. Currently my schedule is so wonky that I don't think I will have the time to check it out yet. 

I also met an ex-Army medic and retired police officer while at the bike shop. He had been shopping there for years and was interested in getting a new bike. He was very chatty and I ended up spending about 30 minutes more than I had planned there, but it was well worth it. He now is a tour guide at The Missouri Wing of the Commemorative Air Force which has a World War II museum at the airport there. I never even knew this existed. How have I lived in this part of Missouri my whole life and never heard of this? Apparently you can get there via the Katy Trail, so as soon as this warm weather sticks and trail is not just a pile of mud from all the snow melting, I am hitting this place up. 

I have all sorts of dreams and plans for this year that all revolve around the weather being nice, so winter better end soon. The groundhog didn't see his shadow this year so where oh where is this early Spring?