Tebbetts to Boonville Missouri along the Katy Trail- 62 miles and 280 ft of elevation gain. Another beautiful day, starting in the 60s with a light fog, clearing in the afternoon in the low 70s with a light breeze, perfect for biking. The trail was pristine packed gravel, really nicely kept up in spite of the recent rains in the area. I passed a tractor with a roller behind it compacting the gravel, they really keep this trail up. Much of the trail today ran right by the Missouri River- the current is still strong, maybe 4 mph, fast for such a big river. Parts of the trail had big cliff bluffs on the right. We stopped for lunch at Rochport, 47 miles into the ride- a great bike shop/café. They had remnants of the old locomotive roundhouse near there and they had converted the area into a campsite. Sad to see these old remnants of what was once a thriving rail transportation corridor with the MKT rail line. Could they have imagined back then that in 100 years their thriving rail line would be turned into a bike trail! What an ignominious ending!!!
We are staying at a public park in Boonville, which is across the Missouri River. This place was originally known for the Boone salt licks, a place where the local Indians used to hunt animals attracted to the salt deposits there. Daniel Boone bought some land there and later his sons started a salt manufacturing company using these salt deposits. From our campsite high on a hill we overlooked the Missouri River looking West. This was the boundary of the United States in the early 1800s, so all that land to the west of the Missouri was Indian land. Pretty cool thinking about this being the US frontier not too long ago. This is the last of the Katy Trail for us! Back on roads tomorrow. This park has no showers, so just did a sink bath with cold water no less. Felt great! Now sitting here under our covered veranda at the park, with a cold beer, writing this blog. What I life- don’t miss work at all!
Biking across the USA with Mike 
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