Katy Days!!

My second participation in the Missouri State Parks Katy Trail Ride happened last week. Thanks to my friend Richard who introduced this ride to me last year.
Great Trail, Great people, Good organization, Good food and camping locations.

Here we go!

This year my son Kyle and a friend here in Estes Park, Larry Gamble, went on the ride. We drove on out to stay at my son Matthews place in Kansas City. We did not have to be in Clinton for registration until 3 PM so I thought we would head down to Ottawa for a ride on the Prairie Spirit rails-to-trails that Richard and I rode last year. This is the depot in Ottawa that we never got to last year.

First day of riding on a trip is always full of smiles and enthusiasm!

It was a nice day for riding, not really too hot and not much of a breeze. Kyle and Larry really liked the surface and Rails-to-trails format. Larry has ridden the Mickleson trail but found the crushed limestone a nice surface to ride.
A few flowers and trail pictures!!

We went down the trail a little over 12 miles and turned around. Good warm-up for the real official ride on Monday! Loaded the car back up and headed off to Clinton for check-in.
We found a pretty good spot for that first night in the tents, attended the rider's meeting and crashed in anticipation of the first day.

Here we go....lets go ride bikes!!

We met up with our friends from last years ride, Rob and Kelley Weida. I think the best part of the Katy ride besides all the organization and trail itself, are the friends I have met and shared this experience with!!
Rob, Kelley, and Kyle

I do not have any pictures of Larry because he is a very strong rider and pedaled off and made new friends to ride with. One of our groups rules is "ride your own ride" so you can enjoy the Katy at your own pace. It really works out great for everybody!
They have refinished/painted two of the cabooses on the trail this year. Here is one at our first SAG stop.

I should mention, this years ride is west to east, a rotation every year. This high point was not until the last day last year and I did not stop for a picture so this year being the first day, we stopped for a deep breath in the rarefied air of the high point of the trail.

First day rode us into Sedalia and once again they had set up for us at the depot station, food venders and beer to drink. A relaxing stop in the shade before cruising through town to the city park and tent set-up. They also give us passes to the city public pool and we took advantage of the cool-off dunk in the pool. We found ourselves with enough time to ride back to town and enjoy a nice Guinness at a local joint before dinner. Sedalia has an old historic wooden structure ball park and that night the local team had a game. They offered 2 fo1 tickets for the ride (all of $2.50 to get in!!) so we went to check out some minor league baseball. Pretty good game for the first few innings until the relief pitchers came in and there was a noticeable drop in talent and it started dragging a bit so we headed back to the tents. Found out then that our friend, Bob who we camp with was not feeling well and had left on an ambulance. Good news is, he had two stents placed and was feeling good enough to meet us after the ride to collect his bike and camping gear. Good ending to that story!! Whew!!

A few more images of our cruising through and about Sedalia!!

We will end with that and pick it up again tomorrow!

Thanks for following along!!
Jim