The Katy Trail is America's longest rails-to-trails project, with many connector trails through nearby communities, like Columbia, MO. Formerly the MKT railway, the Kathy Trail stretches 225 miles (365 kms) across the state, following Lewis and Clark's path up the Missouri River, bordering rich farmland, and shadowed by towering dolomite bluffs. For five fantastic days we traversed the state of Missouri in the luxury of shade, no vehicles at our backs, and no hills...well almost no hills...
After spending the evening in the tiny town of Rhineland and enjoying one dollar hamburgers at the local restaurant establishment (insert Happy face for Narelle), we awoke to an approaching storm and heavy rain causing the hard, finely packed limestone of the Katy Trail to become slushy, slow and difficult for our 32/28 size touring tires to handle. In a strike of genius from Narelle, it was decided to take the paved roadway that had been consistantly running parallel to the trail up to that point. Our joy of easier, faster riding was soon struck down like a sledge hammer when we headed north into the township of Blufton. Do we turn back? "Nah... maybe it will just be a short hill and link back to the trail around this bend ...or after that next hill...hmm, Well, we might as well just keep going now!"
After fifteen miles of continuously steep, difficult climbs and downhill descents made a bit sketchy and potentially slippery in the light rain (with the addition of roadwork signs reading: "fresh oil, loose stones"), we finally got back to the trail. Our intuition to turn back early would have served us well, but at least we learned why the area was named "Blufton." Lesson learnt: don't stray from the FLAT of the river valley and the Katy trail, especially around Blufton.
Back on the Katy trail (whew!), the weather cleared and the sun came out hot and humid again ...but only briefly. After we passed through the town of Hartsburg we were both stopped in our tracks by what lay ahead of us in the sky: a massive, dense wall cloud approaching in our direction with an erie silence.We stood starring up at the sky, completely struck by awe and wonder at the beauty of what we saw, with edges of cloud cascading down as it pushed forward. Never before had either of us seen such a cloud, and as we watched the movement in the cloud more closely, we noticed that within the front structured of the cloud the interior was rotating at a swift speed, blending different cloud masses and colours together. TORNADO CLOUD instantly came to mind! In the necessity to avoid becoming the latest winners of the Darwin Awards, we biked on and away from the storm towards the safety and security of the city of Columbia. (Picture below shows cloud rotation).
Biking through the heavy rain that soon followed and successfully navigating our way over (or at times through) fallen trees we were greeted on the trail by our host for the evening, Nate Means and his wife Meghan, who treated us to an incredible meal and homemade dessert. We could finally relax and found ourselves celebrating the trial and tribulations of a long 70 mile day on the trail.
The city of Columbia is connected to the Katy trail by the MKT trail and is surrounded by a network of running and cycling trails. Taking advantage of the bike lanes in town, we took the day to replace a lost bike flag in the hills of Blufton (thanks to the bike store Klunks for the flag), meet with a journalist from the local college newspaper and tell our story, and enjoy lunch of home grown produce with a good friend of Carmen's, Aly and her son Phoenix.
The sense of community in Columbia and the towns along the Katy trail are incredibly strong. It was a true pleasure to see so many people out using the networks of paths and parkways; riding, jogging, walking and simply spending time with family and friends. We also found a few other cross-country cyclists like us utilizing and enjoying the trail for their travels. These people wore smiles on their faces and genuinely appeared to be enjoying their surroundings. Despite some controversies that do exist in areas of converted rail trail systems concerning original land ownership and acquistion, we have found that there are enormous benefit to the communities who are able to invest in the resource of the rail trails, from improving individual health through exercise to building the local enconomy. We believe in the benefit of investing in such resources, not only for us but for the communities as well.
We were fortunate enough during a water break in Rocheport to share our story with many other trail users and even have the pleasure of meeting Marilyn Nichols, who as a child and young woman actually rode the rails under the Katy trail when it was still operating as a railway. Marilyn excitedly shared her stories of her father who worked for the railway and the many trips she would take alone as a small child to visit her grandparents in St Louis. Unable to continue as a viable railway, it's comforting to know that the stories of the Katy trail can continue to be shared as today's and tomorrow's generations of bikers, runners and walkers enjoy the pathway.
As we neared the end of the trail, the path left the Missouri river and headed northwest into the Osage plains and countryside of Bonneville and Clinton. With less shade and the extreme heat index still lingering high into nightfall, we were blessed by the kind and generous offer of Teresa Young and her family in Clifton City to allow us to sleep in their air conditioned camper. (Air conditioning, you have to be kidding!) What a joy to spend a evening on trail in the cool and away from the menacing mosquitoes and flies. Saying good bye in the morning to the favorable conditions of the camper was hard but we had one last milestone along the trail; the highest point of elevation at 935ft! Just a slight reminder off our struggles yet to come.
Leaving the trail behind us we got back out onto the black top and into the heat of Western Missouri. Experiencing the 'hottest day of the year" with a temp of 104F (40c) we rolled over the 2,000 mile mark just before the Kansas state border, which is unofficially half way across the United States of America!
Surrounded by the plains and prairies of Kansas we soon discovered that eastern Kansas is NOT flat but actually dominated by short steep climbs followed by pleasant rolling down to the base of the next hill.
The farmland, rolling scenery and heat reminding Narelle of Australia and the area in which she grew up as a child with the only thing missing being the smell of Eucalyptus on the breeze, we rolled into the hometown of Carmen's childhood, the tiny town of Lyndon.
Feeling instantly "back" at home and welcomed into the community like family we took to exploring this incredible piece of the country. Getting up early to feed the cows, riding motorbikes through cornfields, swimming in the lake and visiting Carmen's old school and friends reminded us both of the joy of living in the country and the specialness of small communities.
Arriving to Kansas has been an incredible milestone for us. We think back over the past 2,000 miles; of the people and places we have encountered along our journey thus far and do nothing but smile. So many amazing people, like Bill and Alice Kingsolver of Ottawa, KS, have entered our lives and positively impacted our experience 
that it's truly renewing our faith in humanity and the spirit of community. We all to often only hear about the negatives of society and the people doing harm, however their are so many more good people out their in our very own communities that are doing incredible things with great amounts of love.At a milestone like this it's difficult not to be sad that already half of it is over however we know that there are so many more wonderful people, mostly strangers who will cross our path before this journey is over and help make this experience possible for us. All the support of the friends, family and strangers we have met thus far is nearing us ever so close to been able to pass the love along and give to a community of strangers somewhere who need our support desperately. We are currently just under $1200 away from our fundraising goal of a water well for a community of 250 people or more, with 25 days left of this initial campaign. Thank you to everyone who has supported us in giving water to 188 people so far. Please if you haven't already and are able to donate even one dollar then please do so as every little bit counts. Please also share our ride and efforts with someone else and help spread awareness of water and how we can all simply make a difference in life of another.
Our next maildrop will be:
Carmen or Narelle
c/o Tara and Josh Butson
P.O. Box 3679
Telluride, CO 81435
...and Thank You, Sara Patterson, for sending the ice cream requested. :o)
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