Katy logistics and the first day of riding

After wrapping up the Prairie Spirit portion of our program it was time to make the drive over to Clinton. I had a beautiful room there at the Hampton Inn and we ate some pretty good Mexican food right there in Clinton, Missouri!!!
The next morning we got over to the community center to give up our bikes to be loaded up into the moving trucks and catch the bus that will take us to the east end of the Katy in St. Charles....all in a pretty good rain.

I sent this picture to Coach's Nachtrieb, Skapin and Ginter telling them how great it would be to have one of these baby's for those road games out to Sterling and Brush!!!

Am I getting old???? Because cruising across Missouri in this, reading, napping, chit chatting, was a pleasurable way to travel.
Setting up first camp right on the banks of the Missouri River. Pretty nice place. And......this mountain boy has forgotten what a "real" river looks like. As big across as Horsetooth reservoir is!

Next to the river

Richard and I found a joint......a joint with good beer and good food!!

Packed up and headed down the trail early the next morning. First day was our longest mile day of the trip....aprox 64 miles to Hermann. I met friends of Richard that he met on the ride last year, Rob and Kelley from Peculiar, Missouri. Except they were not peculiar at all but just the nicest people and we became quick and fast friends. We had much in common having raised boys and getting them through school and becoming adults.....much to talk about and compare notes, plus, the whole bike thing too!!
The tree canopy was amazing to ride under. kept it very cool and was so pretty. The kind of riding I have never done.
Here is our little group rolling along.....Richard, Rob and Kelley. I saw my first snake this morning. A big black one that everybody said was common and no harm at all. Could not get a picture of it slithering along the side of the trail be cause it got into the deeper grass by the time I fumbled my camera out. I could not talk Kelley into reaching in and grabbing it back out.

Alright, you are going to probably get tired of these pictures.....but.....That's a big damn river!!!
The trail was firm and great for rolling along, I probably brought the wrong bike in Ogre because the wide tires were not needed at all. I would have been fine on the Trucker with its 38 tires. Both ride about the same so it really did not matter.
Rolled into our campsite at the Hermann city park and got set up. 64 miles and I felt pretty good, especially after my intimate date with the Shower truck. For dinner we received $10 in "Hermann Bucks" so we went into town and found some good German food and a local brew at a joint. We tipped a couple to celebrate a real good first day!!!  Oh, and ice cream too!!

A great start to the trip with fun friends to share the riding and dining and camping experience with!!