Finish up Katy!!

Zipper Orchestra!!
That is what we got to calling the morning routine of all the campers around us. Pretty much 5:15 or so....zzzzziiiippppp. They served breakfast at 6:00 to 7:30 every morning. Our little group never saw the advantage of standing in line at 5:50 waiting. We always rolled into breakfast about 6:30, no line, and it was just as good as what was served at 6:00!!! Funny, the herd mentality that the human race displays sometime!!
After cooling off, I slept real well that night and was ready to go. Today was an in-between ride. 48 miles, which was not 72 but also not one of the half day rides of 36. Off we go!!

Good views of the river today. The bluffs came down to the RR bed and then the river, pretty riding!

This little guy was out sunning himself at our first sag stop

We started the day with some overcast which had the temp a pleasant 79 to start out!!
Great riding with the trail and bridges to cross.

The trail opened up to some pretty farms. These people maintain their properties so nicely!! They love their lawn mowers because they have acres of mowed property!!

Last bridge before we roll into Marthasville, our stop for tonight!!

Yes, no helmet in this picture. It got hot and I was just tired of the bandana and helmet thing. So, I was a total rule-breaking rebel and rode without helmet most of the day. The ladies from Baton Rouge that we rode with the day before rode by and nick-named me "hat-guy"! we all had a LOL at that!!
We set up at Marthasville on the baseball fields. They had a community center that was open to feed us lunch and dinner later on. This was voted by Kyle and I to be our favorite place to camp. We just hung out on shady picnic tables visiting with all our new friends with some cold beers. Stories and laughs as everybody shared their rides so far all week and a little about each other. This is the best thing about this ride. Complete strangers coming together as a tribe for a week and the bonds you share. No other activity I do has this camaraderie and bikes have much to do with it in my opinion!!
Off to bed we went with some wind and lightning popping around and then, the skies opened up!! The Rangers and Sheriff cane out and had everybody move into the community shelter for a severe storm warning. There was no warning about it...it rained hard, sideways for about 30 minutes and then just rained hard all night and into the morning. Kyle and I went back to our tents after the first 30 minutes and found our REI tents to stand up and both dry inside!! REI rules!! Some people were not as lucky and found their tents blown down or flooded and had to try and sleep on the floor of the center.
The next morning I was woken up by a text from the Rangers saying they had cancelled the final day for safety reasons and some flooding on the trail ahead. Bummer, we were only 34 miles short of the finish, but I understood the thinking. Kyle and I were set up with our bikes that could handle some muddy conditions but there are many young and older people with road bikes on the ride that would have had trouble.
Thus began a day of hurry up and wait logistics to get bikes and people bussed to St. Charles and then back on the buses to get back to Clinton.
This is Kyle's not waiting in line, wait pose!!

Turns out if we had ridden east to west we could have ridden because it was nice in Clinton when we got there. All in all after two years I liked the east to west ride a little better. Yes we had a slight headwind everyday last year but we did two of the days this year. I liked the long day to be the first day better and I overall I liked the camp places better last year except Marthasville this year. Boonville and Sedalia are the same. Either way it is a great fun time and ride.
I'll probably skip next year looking for something new to try.
Richard is trying the Mickleson trail this fall and even though the timing did not work for me, some other members of our Eons cycling group are talking about that trail next spring. Out there for me is a ride on the C&O towpath connecting with the Great Allegheny trail. My sister lives on the C&O and is a good starting point. We will see!!

Thank you everybody for following along!!

Happy Trails!!
Jim