Katy Trail Riding: Part Two

So, this brings us to day three. 

Day 3. More matching outfits

One thing I forgot to mention regarding day two was the weather got rather hot as the day went on. And I am pale and sensitive and overheat easily. My body got angry about the heat before it got angry about the miles.

So, day three, we tried to be smarter about the heat. We knew we had a shorter day ahead of us (just about 50 miles for the day) but I did not need to make myself sick with the heat. Q discovered that drenching his shirt at the stops that had water helped cool him off, so I started doing that too. We both also kept towels wet around our necks to help keep cool. The week was not supposed to be a hot one, so of course with it being Missouri, that changed, and it got to 90 degrees. But hey. At least our outfits accidentally matched again.

It was so nice knowing we would hit our day's destination (Hermann) by dinner time. This is why next time I decide to do this, I want to try to keep the days to 45-55 miles. Not that I cannot handle the 70+ mile days, but it was much less stressful knowing we got to relax and enjoy ourselves later. This also meant we could take more breaks if we wanted to take a look at things we passed and not worry about wasting too much time.

What is the point of being out in nature if you don't get to stop and look at it for a bit? Plus, to be honest, it was nice giving my butt a break from being on the bike seat when we got to look at things along the way, like that giant rock. My inner thighs and booty were experiencing some nice bike butt.

You can't really tell from those pictures, but that rock was used to keep track of floods that had occurred in the past, since we were along the Missouri River. We saw many, many Lewis and Clark historic markers along the way. We did not pay much attention to those, however. 

We did pay lots of attention to all the animals and flora we saw. Q is one of those people who knows a bit of everything so he was tossing out random facts about things we saw or identifying certain plants. 

This was one of the lesser populated stretches. We would go many miles without seeing a single other person. We saw so few that we started keeping track of how many we did see. I was also getting to the point of mentally and physically exhausted so I was okay when we would go many miles without speaking. 

Starting to look a bit worn around the edges

We spend the night in Hermann, which is not one of the stops immediately off the trail. We veered onto one of the spur trails right before McKittrick to get there. This trail was only a few miles long, but I was not a fan of it. It included a bike lane along highway 63, which was just a large shoulder area. I am not a road biker, so this made me uncomfortable having semi trucks right next to me. You then go over a bridge to get into Hermann, and holy moly, that bridge almost killed me. I cannot even imagine having to bike that thing had it been one of our 70+ mile days. Patty even said when we drove the road that she would pick us up at the trailhead instead if we wanted because she did not like how it looked. But, we are stubborn and wanted to bike it to say we did.

Well, now I've done it and don't really need to do that again. Or, at least, next time I bike into Hermann I am going to at least drink some delicious Hermann wine once I get there. Every time we passed through a town known for their wine and I did not get to have any, I got quite sad...

But, we stayed at Hermann City Park, which we were able to find fairly easily navigating the not so busy streets of Hermann, Missouri. The campground really was just inside a city park, but it was nice and had a mix of RV/campers and tent campers. Plus, it had toilets and showers, so no complaints. We made delicious food and drank a little bit of wine Patty had brought with her and watched some movies in the RV. And I think I was asleep by 10 PM, which never happens. 

**

Day four I woke up and was not excited. I was sore. My back ached, my butt and thighs killed, my knees were stiff. That many miles so quickly on your body is just rough. And I knew we had another 75 miles to go.

We would stretch, but I am sure it was not enough for the amount of miles we were doing. Since about day two, my knees would hurt but once I got a few miles in, they would loosen up and be okay. 

Patty knew I was not really feeling it, so she put a little flower she found on my bike to cheer me up. Okay, by flower, it was really a weed, but it did make me smile.

Starting off Day Four, Not Matching...

So Patty drove us to the McKittrick trailhead and we hopped on our bikes and backtracked to where the Hermann spur was just to say we hit ALL of the trail and didn't miss anything. At that point, why not. We didn't think the trip was going to happen, and we managed to get back on track timing wise even with missing half a day, so we were going to make sure we got the ENTIRE thing.

And we're off!

We were entering the area that I knew a bit better. This was the day that I had heard of almost every town we stopped at, and had been to most of them even. This is also the stretch of trail that very few of the stops had water. We luckily knew this before starting the day, so we made sure to pack extra water and extra gatorade on our bikes. We also swapped out some bottles when we would meet up with Patty along the way. 

Final day Selfie

The previous days, Patty sort of did her own thing during the day and maybe met up with us once while we road, if at all. The last day she met up with us ever 10-20 miles. Partially because we hit an area of Missouri that she didn't know as many people to go bug, but also partially because I think she was a bit worried about us...she wanted to make sure we were feeling okay and hydrated and eating. 

Unfortunately, about 20 or so miles into the last day, my knee started massively acting up. It was no longer just feeling stiff but going away once I was moving that had been earlier in the trip. Now, every time I pedal down, a sharp, intense pain occurred in my right knee. At times the pain was so bad that I felt a bit sick to my stomach. I honestly was not sure how I could possibly finish the trail with it hurting so badly. 

We stopped in Augusta for lunch and I voiced my concern about finishing to both Q and Patty. Patty said there was no shame in me riding the rest of the way with her in the RV and stopping. I debated with myself during the whole break. On one hand, my knee really hurt and I did not want to do anything that could have done more serious damage. On the other day, this was something I had been wanting for years and I was too dang close to just stop. 

Resting and Stretching in Augusta

I decided to keep on going and as we continued on, I had moments where my knee got worse and other times that it felt better. I told myself to just take it each section at a time. I told myself to just make it to Weldon Springs. I made it there and then told myself I just needed to make it to Greens Bottom Road. I knew that area. I had walked that part of the trail with my sister when I lived in St. Charles. We were so close. And from there it was just a few miles to the big St. Charles stop. I knew St. Charles would be where Patty and Q's parents were waiting for us. If I made it there, it would surely be good enough.

Found the RV in St. Charles

Well, we got to the meeting spot in St. Charles and helped empty the RV of all of our stuff and loaded up Q's parents' SUV. This was our parting spot with Patty. The rest of the way we would have Q's parents to support us. I was still debating just stopping here. This is where the trail used to end, until fairly recently. Many people still consider this the end (or beginning, depending). But. We wanted the whole thing. 

It is a good thing I am easily talked into things. Q and Patty and Q's parents all convinced me that continuing on was the better option. And I am glad I did do those final 16 miles to Machens, even if Machens is seriously boring. 

Ten miles from the big St. Charles stop was Black Walnut, which is not even listed on the Bike Katy Trail map, but it is the closest parking lot to Machens. Machens did not even have its own parking lot. And unlike the other end (or beginning) of the trail, Clinton, it did not have water or flushable toilets.

Where Q's Parents waited for us

Those last three miles from Black Walnut, where Q's parents waited for us, to Machens seemed to go on forever. We were worn out and tired and just wanted to be finished. We wanted fast food. That sounds gross, I know, but we just wanted calories. The worst thing was knowing that once we hit the end, we had to turn around and re-do those 3 miles to get back to the car waiting for us in Black Walnut. 

That's it, Folks.

But really. I don't know what I was expecting in Machens, but this wasn't it. Clinton was so cute. Clinton made you pumped to be going on the trail. It had the old train cars and it had water to get you going and it just seemed like it tried. This was just...well, a let down. Don't get me wrong, I was really excited we did it. And I was super proud of us. And, I think since St. Charles is so cute and plays up the whole railroad thing, Machens feels like it doesn't need to. 

Final Selfie of the trip

We took some pictures and read the little bit of information that was posted at the stop and did our last bathroom break on the trail and then we turned around and headed back to the parking lot at Black Walnut. From there it was stretching and loading up our bikes to the car.

One thing I did not expect was how much my hands would hurt. We both wore biking gloves, but even still, we both experienced issues with our grips. By the end neither one of us could really hold onto the handle bars very well anymore. Q had issues with his hands for the following week or so after the trip. 

All in all, I am so happy we did this and I think we did incredibly well especially with starting late and not training as much as we (or, well, I) could have beforehand. Would I make changes next time? Oh, yes. Am I glad this trip worked out the way it did? Yes. And now I can proudly put my Katy Trail sticker on my car. Which, let's face it, is the whole reason I did this thing.

Kidding. Mostly...

A huge thank you to Patty for driving us around and dealing with us for these days. Thank you to Mr. and Mrs. Q for driving us to Columbia and picking us up on the last day...and feeding us much needed burgers. And THANK YOU to Q for agreeing to do this with me and for supporting me along the whole way. I would not have been able to do this without you.

So final count: 2 bikes, 3 friends, 4 days, and 253* miles. 

Not too shabby, if I do say so myself.

Remember: You're Always Welcome in Missouri State Parks

*The Katy trail is 237.7 miles and then the added miles we did along the trip added up to about 253 all together. 

Katy Trail: Riding Part One

(I am embarrassed to admit how long this took to finally write and post. I started writing it right after the trip, which was mid-May. I then had issues with uploading all the pictures onto the computer to get on the blog. And then I just...didn't write. So with much delay, I am posting this)

I am pleased to announce that my friend, Q and I survived the Katy Trail. 

Which, honestly, I am shocked. The trip almost didn't happen. This just goes to show that it does not matter how much you plan something out, sometimes life has other ideas.

My last post had our official plan. See it here if you would like. However, this plan ended up completely changing. Here's what went down.

Q's parents were nice enough to drive us to Columbia where Patty was meeting us with the RV. We were then to drive that evening to Clinton so we could start biking Monday morning. Patty made it to Columbia shortly after we did...aaand the RV died. Seriously. All the planning, all the training, all the anticipation, and the one thing we did not even consider could happen, happened.

The RV!

So we ended up staying the evening in Columbia, unsure if we would be able to get to do any of the trail and we were all in rather foul moods. What do I do when I am frustrated/angry/sad/stressed? Go to a park, of course. So Q showed me around and we walked around two nearby parks. One had cool exercise machines around a trail and I am pretty stoked to say I finally did my first ever unassisted pull up and chin up. 

Anyway, the RV got fixed Monday morning and we were able to get on the road to Clinton. Instead of getting to bike early in the morning, we did not get to bike until about 2:30 PM. Needless to say, our 70 mile day did not occur. We ended up only doing 37 miles, making it to Sedalia. 

We had to take before pictures!

I wish I could say that 37 miles was easy for me, but that would be a giant lie. I completely struggled with day one. Which freaked me out. If I struggled with just doing 37 miles, how the heck did I expect to do the up coming longer days?! I was also worried that Q, who spent more time on a bike than I did regularly would get super sick of my slow pace.

This stretch of the trail was sort of boring in comparison to other stretches. However, you do get to get to the "High Point" of the trail. Despite the Katy being more or less a flat trail (since it used to be a rail road track), there is some change in elevation. And when you are in the areas of just open land and fields and there is no shade in sight, you can feel that ever so slight up-hill feeling.

The very sunny high point of the trail

We did not know where we were going to stay the first night since our plan was not being followed anymore. We realized that Sedalia was as far as we would make it, so we started searching for RV options. We rolled into the Sedalia train depot (which was super adorable, by the way) and Patty was waiting for us. We saw a couple sitting outside their RV in the parking lot so Patty went over to them to ask where they were staying for the night. They said they got permission from the depot to just park there for the night, so we did the same. 

Tired. Worn Out. Happy to be off the bike. 

We Made it to Sedalia!

Despite day one being much shorter than we had originally planned, I was just excited we were even on the trail. I forgot how much harder the Katy Trail was compared to paved bike trails. I don't even know how many times we looked at each other the first few miles and just exclaimed our excitement and disbelief that we were actually on the Katy.

Our accidental matching outfits for day two

Day two we took off from Sedalia and made it to Hartsburg, making that day 72.5 miles. We ended up rolling into the last stop a few minutes past Sunset. The last few miles were awfully miserable; I was tired and sore (especially my thighs and bum) and the bugs were just ridiculous as the day went on. We did get to go through some tunnels and over many bridges that day, which meant some neat pictures. 

Q in a Tunnel

Resting on a Bridge

We rested at every trailhead, which ranged between 5 miles to 16 miles. The trailheads are located in the towns that the MKT Railroad had stopped in. Each trailhead looked like a mini train stop. I really enjoyed all the train details throughout the entire trip. Each rest time was about 10-20 minutes, depending on how long we had biked to get there. Sometimes on the longer legs we stopped after X amount of biking just to rest our bodies or hydrate. We also took about an hour break each day for lunch where we could eat, stretch, and rest in the shade. Lunch breaks were a God send, seriously. I think letting your body rest up and power up is insanely important in order to do the long days. And we had some 10-12 hour days of biking. 

And, let's face it. I was not in as good of shape as Q. He was so patient with me and we balanced each other nicely. I tried to bike quicker for his sake, and he slowed down for me. 

Once we made it to the first stop after Sedalia (Clifton City) we kept running into the same little groups of cyclists along the way. We would all end up meeting at each rest place around the same time. It was fun getting to talk to other riders along the way and hear their experience levels and advice. Some of them were doing it for the first time, like us, and were taking much more time to do it. Others had done this ten plus times before. But when we hit about 50 miles for the day, we lost all the people we had been meeting up with, because they stopped. We pushed on another 20+ miles.

Standing in the Rocheport Tunnel

Day two had the most beautiful stretch of the trail in my opinion, especially the Rocheport area. The above picture is me inside the Rocheport tunnel, which is one of the iconic stops along the Katy Trail. It is a beautiful tunnel. I loved all the aspects along the trail that made you think about the history of the trail and the importance of the railroad, and this tunnel just embodies that. 

Q decided we needed to go off the trail and go to the Big Tree which can be found just near McBaine, MO. This tree is 350-400 years old and is 90 feet tall. Talk about feeling tiny and insignificant. This is a sight that is definitely worth seeing and is just a quick ride away from the trail.

I just needed to hug it

Q snuggled up to it, too.

Needless to say, I am very happy we took the time to go look at The Big Tree. If/when I ride the Katy again, I will give myself more days to do it so I can do more exploring like this along the way. There is just so much to see!

Like I mentioned, we rolled into the last stop of day two as the sun was setting. That night we camped where we originally planned, a camp ground in Jefferson City called Binder Park. We stopped in Hartsburg, which meant the drive to Jeff City was a bit longer than we had planned, but we ran out of daylight hours to bike any more. We decided backtracking the next morning would be easier. We insisted in getting all the miles on the trail and not skipping any sections. 

Last Stop of day two

By the time we got to the campground, it was completely dark and we could not find the campground host. So, we just grabbed a nearby spot and got situated for the night. A shower had not felt that wonderful since I went 5 days without a shower when camping at Yellowstone National Park. Well, we found out in the daylight the next morning that we picked the handicap camp spot. And we apparently did not register correctly. Two strikes against us by the campground host. Luckily, Patty was able to get on his good side by talking to him about the movie RV and we told him we were mid riding the entire Katy and rolled in super late last night. He softened and ended up joking around with us...whew...

Okay this post just got super long so that is all for now and I will continue on in the next post with days 3 and 4 of our epic Katy trip!

Katy Trail: The Official Plan

Q and I have been discussing biking the Katy Trail for over a year now. Five or so months ago we decided we were officially going to do it this summer. Then we picked the actual dates (May 18-22). We started planning and training and now we are 3 days away.

Three days.

And I am in panic mode, I am not even going to lie.

What am I doing? Why did I think this was a good idea? 

My Bike.

Because. It is a goal of mine. This has been a dream for quite some time. Would I ever truly feel ready and prepared? No, probably not. Am I freaking out about feeling ill prepared for doing such long distances at a time? Yep. 

But, it is an adventure. And I will survive it, even if it isn't perfect. 

Here is our plan, so if you decide to ever bike the entire Katy, you have an idea. Also, props to Q for the plan's title. That is what he named our google document we have been writing information on. 

The Great Katy Trail Adventure
or, How I Destroyed My Legs in 240 Miles 

Pre Day- Drive to Columbia from St. Louis with bikes and supplies to meet up with Patty and the RV. Drive then to Clinton, Missouri and await the adventure to begin. Stay at Cozy Corner RV Park.

Now, since we are RVing and not tent camping, finding a place where the RV can park was a bit more difficult. That sort of dictated our miles each day. 

Day 1 (so first day of biking)- Bike to New Franklin and stay at the Katy Round House. We are starting the trip off with a bang and doing 75 miles. 

Day 2- New Franklin to Jefferson City where we will stay at Binder RV Park. This day is only 45 miles, which will be heaven sent after the killer first day. 

Day 3- Jeff City to Hermann where we will stay at Hermann City Park Campground. Again, we are only doing 45 miles this day. 

Day 4 (The Final Haul) is another whopper of a day with 70 miles. This is Hermann to Machens, which probably means backtracking to St. Charles. 

I know the milage seems wonky, but again we were limited by what places allowed RVing. We will have to just suck it up on those long days and take lots of breaks. And drink lots of water. No getting dehydrated.  

There are tons of amazing cafes and resturaunts along the trail (or so I have been told), but we plan on bringing our own food and picnic-style eating along the way. This means figuring out foods that are easy to travel, don't require much prep, and ideally does not need refrigeration. 

I posted on Facebook requesting food suggestions for when we are traveling and received many awesome ideas, most of which are from Courtney, who is currently hiking the ENTIRE Appalachian Trail on her own. Solo. You can check out her blog here. She has not updated it a whole lot, because shocker, when you are out in the wilderness you do not always have internet connection. However, I stalk her updates and photos whenever she does have a chance to post anything, and you should too. 

Once we for sure know what food we are bringing and the complete list of supplies I will share that as well so people can plan their own trips! 

Preparing for The Katy

My friend, Q, and I are riding the whole Katy Trail mid May. We are starting in Clinton, MO and riding West to East towards St. Charles. We plan on doing this in four days.

Originally we had hoped to camp the whole time in tents, but that would mean purchasing a whole lot of supplies that we do not currently own. I have a great 4 person tent, but it is super heavy and would not work with biking. Sadly, I do not currently own much in the ways of light weight camping gear.

Hotels and the great B&Bs that are along the Trail would cost us more than we are willing to spend, so we moved on to the next plan.

RVing. 

A friend of ours has a RV and the availability to act as our support team along the way, such as meeting us at trailheads, carrying our over night supplies to keep our bikes lighter, and being around in case of an emergency. I am very excited about this plan! I would love to someday actually camp the entire trail, but this works well for us for our first time. 

Once all the details are completely finalized, I will post the stops with the mileage, the supplies we bring, and other fun details.

I'd love to hear any and all suggestions from others who have made thia trek. I have beeb reading through the Bike Katy Trail website. 

I have been training all winter in the gym, but now the weather is FINALLY starting to be okay enough to train outdoors, so I have to get my butt in gear. 

I have been thinking about this for almost two years, and I can't believe it is finally happening!

Keepin' It Patriotic: Flag Day 2013

Alright, if you haven't noticed by now, I love Missouri. But you know what I love even more than Missouri? America. Fourth of July is my favorite holiday. I love showing my patriotic side. A huge part of this stems from the fact I was born in July. I was practically born with the love of that holiday.

I honestly think the other reason I love America so much and am so patriotic is because of all the trips my family took growing up that revolved around roadtrips and camping around the country. 

If you spend any time at all exploring our amazing land, how can you not fall in love with it? Seriously, we have everything. Mountains, oceans, beaches, sand dunes, deserts, forests, lakes, rivers. Everything. And it is all gorgeous. 

So many people spend weeks, months, or even whole years studying abroad in other countries while in college. And that is great, I by no means am dissing on those experiences. But so many people do not even spend the time exploring and learning about the country they have spent their entire lives in. I am always so shocked by the amount of people who have not seen the majority of states.

Today, Friday June 14th is Flag Day. This is an entire day dedicated to honoring our flag, the good ol' stars and stripes. How awesome is that? 

Today I ate patriotic waffles at my favorite cafe, The Bike Stop Cafe (right across from Frontier Park and the Katy Trail in St. Charles). I wish I could say that I planned having patriotic waffles in honor of today being flag day, but I totally didn't. I just wanted waffles and they happened to come that way. But it made me so happy.

I then added two more miles to my total. That is now 8 miles for the 100 Missouri Miles and I believe 106 for my 500 mile goal. Holy moly, I need to start moving quicker. Fingers crossed this weather will continue being as amazing as it has been and I can up the times I go outside and be active. 

Today on Flag Day just take a moment and think about how amazing this country is. Even if you can't spend any time outside today, try to do something active this weekend then to really soak in how beautiful our land is. Ok. Cheesy moment over. 

Happy Flag day, all! 

Swift as the Coursing River: Flooding in MO

Spring/Summer in Missouri (and, well, the whole Midwest) seems to mean one of two things: drought or flooding.

Right now the rivers are flooding. Not like flood of '93 bad, but still pretty bad. I was only 3 or 4 years old when that flood happened but I have very vivid memories of that summer. My aunt and uncle lived in Washington, MO area and the bridge into this side of the river was closed for awhile so they stayed with us. 

This is not that bad, but I am sure all the houses and businesses that have water pouring into them would say it is bad enough.

Everything is looking normal at Frontier Park...

Oh, wait. Not so normal. 

See that body of water? Yeah, that would be the Missouri River. In Frontier Park. The river is supposed to be on the other side of the furthest trees. As in, not even visible from the park. 

Hope you weren't planning on going there anytime soon...

So, for obvious reasons, Frontier Park, and that stretch of the Katy Trail, is closed for the time being. I would assume it will stay closed until the river is back to the other side of the trees. You know, where it belongs. The crazy thing was that the water still had a current. I was expecting just pools of water, which we saw also on either side of the Katy Trail. But the park and the parking lot was legitimately the river still doing it's riverly thing. 

River is just chilling behind me

Okay, so that smile and pose probably is not the best because really, it was rather intense looking at all the flooding. What I did not take pictures of were all the homes along the Katy Trail that are under water. I cannot even imagine the water damage they must be suffering. And most of those homes are along the path that the tornado took last week. St. Charles is being hit hard by Mother Nature right now. As are so many other places in the midwest between the rivers flooding and the tornados and storms. 

This is a parking lot for the Amistar Casino off the Katy Trail

I wanted to get some good pictures of the tornado damage as well to show that, but the pictures did not do it justice at all. So many large, full trees just snapped and uprooted. I found roof shingles and house siding along the trail in areas that homes were not in sight. Time and time again I was just gasping at all the damage. I am so thankful I was not home when the storm hit because I would have been freaking out. I hate wind. And most storms in general. I am also incredibly thankful that the tornadoes did not cause as much damage as they could have. However apparently this one tornado touched ground for over 20 miles. That is incredible. And insane.

I have to give props to all the men and women who have been working so hard to restore power to everyone and also those who have worked crazy hard to get roads clear of debris. The fact that the trail was already cleared and ready to go so quickly shocked me. Mad props to the State Park department for that one. 

Anyway, I walked my first 6.25 miles for the 100 Missouri Miles. I have now gone 102 miles of my 500 mile goal.

In other words, I am am utterly and completely behind schedule.

Time to get a move on.

 

Last Few Weeks Smashed into One

Well, I am rather behind with posts for this thing. I have been super crazy busy. Since the last post I left my last job, finished my last class for my MFA, turned in my thesis, and started a new job. Oh, and I have been adventuring during that as well. 

Spring started with a bang and then turned into a blizzard. Not really, but it might as well have been. Suddenly 8 inches of snow fell when it had been nearly 70 degrees the day before. Not cool.

Snow from outside my apartment. In March.

Despite being crazy busy and dealing with snow, I did not let that keep me from going out and gaining more miles and being active. My sister and I walked on the Katy Trail some more (And discovered my new favorite cafe The Bike Stop Cafe. Oh my goodness. We stopped in there for a mid-walk snack and it was amazing. I got these waffles with apples on top. My sister had an egg and some veggie and cheese wrap. I made my boyfriend go there with me a few days later and I tried one of their other wraps. I totally plan on starting my day there whenever I do a big ol' Katy bike ride. 

On that walk we also hopped onto Main Street in Historic St. Charles. We walked by the First Capitol of MO site. It is a Missouri Historic Site. The store was closed but I took a picture of the sign. A few days later I was able to pop into the gift store. I now want to buy almost every book in the store. I plan on doing the tour some time soon. I feel like a lot of people do not realize (or remember) that St. Charles was home of the original Missouri State Capitol. I'd post the picture I took but something funky is going on between blogger and IPhoto. Most of the new pictures I just uploaded and edited are not showing up for me to pick when trying to load onto this. Oh, technology.

As the snow quickly melted we decided to go to Forest Park in St. Louis City. Seriously, one of the best places ever. Museums, Best free zoo ever, outdoor theatre in the summer. We chose there because the pathways are paved so we would not have to mess with as much mud and nastiness from snow turning the ground to gloop. Yes, that is a technical term. This plan worked out for the most part, but my minimalist shoes did not work so well with all the puddles. 

Not sure why there are two trails right next to each other...

I also spent time on the Katy Trail by myself. I had time to kill and wanted to walk at least five miles (which I did) so I started at the St. Charles main trailhead and walked until I reached Bangert Island Park, a conservation area that is owned by the Missouri Department of Conservation but is taken care of by the City of St. Charles. I love hiking in there. You get some nice views of the Missouri River and there are enough hills to keep it interesting without it being killer. I just remembered at this moment that I meant to call or email the parks department to let them know some of the trails were totally blocked by fallen trees. I ended up crawling under some of them but others I could not get through. So then I walked around some of the trees (yes I was off-trailing it...) but some spots were so bad that all I could do was turn around.. The nice thing about this park (when the trails are not blocked) is there are several trail loops so you can be in there for less than a mile or 4-5 miles without having to do multiple laps around the same trail. I will be spending a lot of time in there and it is SUPER close to my apartment. 

This was also my first experience of hiking in barefoot shoes. It was interesting. I would not suggest hardcore hiking with barefoot shoes (at least the type I own) because I think my ankles would need more support, but I was not planning on venturing into the conservation area and was not sure what the state of the Katy was due to all the melting snow and rain fall. My barefoot shoes are much easier to wash than my other shoes. 

Sidenote: I own those barefoot shoes but I also own a pair of tennis shoes that have a minimalist-style sole but the top looks like a normal lace-up shoe. I refer to those as my minimalist shoes because to me they are not straight up barefoot shoes. Those are Reebok but I cannot recall the style.

Truth time: this photo is not from this past visit but I left my home without my camera.

My new job actually gives me some weekends off whereas before I worked every single weekend. This is amazing news for me because I can go camping when other people are actually free to go with me! And I can do more weekend-related adventures. Bad news is this means I will have less middle of the week days off which means less sister and nephew adventures on a weekly basis. 

Here's to more time to adventure and write about it. 

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! 

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?