All coming together, Katy day 3

It was a beautiful thing, the dinner we were served in camp at Jefferson City. The park had a large pavillion were the whole group could fit and eat comfortably. The catered dinner was real good. In fact as far as the whole food thing on this trip was very good. If you were hungry it was your own fault because plenty of good food was offered.
We started the next morning with an early rise and a bike ride back through town and across the river for our breakfast. This morning was the first of two mornings with a session with the pancake man. He is a breakfast entertainer along with serving up a pretty good french toast or pancake breakfast.

Heading back across the Missouri I caught the capitol in the early sunrise.

Today's ride takes us to Boonville, about 50 some miles down the trail. I found today to be the most enjoyable ride for me. I felt great physically after a tough day the day before and this part of the trail was advertized as the most scenic....it did not let me down.
Early on, a pretty place and another guy who loves his mower!!

I stopped to take a shot of this big tree just to show that nature still is pretty powerful here in the middle of Missouri. Wind got after this big tree and required park maintenance to chainsaw it up to keep the trail clear.

The majority of today's ride was in the tree canopy, right next to the river, or alongside the bluffs. It was so nice and kept us out of the headwind and the hot sun.
Next to the river

Did I mention that it is a big damn river!!!

Or, next to the bluffs!

There is some Lewis and Clark history here as they traveled and camped in this same area that today we ride our bikes.

Just some photos now of the fantastic area that we get to ride through this morning.

Here we roll up to the only tunnel on the Katy trail near Rocheport.

We goofed around and did the total tourist thing taking a bunch of pictures. Well built tunnel still providing passage through a good sized bluff in the path of the trail......or RR.

The tunnel is pretty short and it is so pretty on the other side as you pop out in the tree tunnel on the bluffs that line the other side.

Today's flower picture, I did not see any turtles today.

After Rocheport we decided to just keep pushing on to our finish town of Boonville to catch some lunch. We pulled into town a hungry and thirsty crew. It was comical as we picked a place right after hitting town. Four sweaty cyclists who downed the first big ice water and cold bottle of beer before the waitress even had a chance to get back to us for an order.
I thought Boonville was the nicest camp spot of the trip for us!! We got a great spot backed up against some bushes.

Good evening meal in town, plus after a walk through town, ice cream!!
What a day!! Good riding with friends, beautiful scenery, a bit of history, and a nice evening in a good camp.
We'll get after it again tomorrow, but it will be hard to top today.