Western End of the Katy Trail (May 2021) 175 miles
In May 2021 my friend Bryan and I spent four days on the western half of the Katy trail. We, of course, would love to do the whole trail in one shot but we don't have the time with our adult responsibilities. So we are doing the western half this year and the eastern half in the Spring of 2022.
We drove to Jefferson City on a Friday morning, day started out hot but turned to rain. We didn't get started until around noon. We rode 20 or so uneventful miles before making our first stop at Coopers Landing, a well known camping/restaurant/entertainment spot on the Katy.
https://cooperslandingmo.com/
We had an annoying experience there. We later found out that the place had a new owner who was clashing with the locals. It was easy to see why, he was a younger guy and kind of uptight about the whole enterprise. It wasn't horrible or anything but it didn't make us want to go back. Everything we did was in violation of rules that we would only know by reading this kid's mind. He's going to have a lot of conflict in that area of the world and my guess is you need the locals on your side to succeed.
Upon further research, the guy we encountered was not the owner. He was Michael De Leon, the GM.
https://cooperslandingmo.com/about/
We continued onward to Rocheport hoping to get dinner but the main trail spot was closed on a Friday night for a private event. We got erroneous info that they were the only restaurant in town. I believe it to be ignorance and not intentional, but there are many options in Rocheport.
Soon after w came across a "trail closure". Based on our experience in Wisconsin we tried to power through it. This was not the same as Elroy-Sparta, the trail was legitimately unpassable. So we had to go six miles out of our way (three up and three back) but these three miles were the prettiest of the trip. I'm not a big picture taker, you'll only see three at the end of this of this post but they were all from that stretch of trail.
When we realized that we weren't getting much further we decided to try and find a place to stay in Rocheport. It didn't turn out to be that difficult. We found a really nice spot, the Schoolhouse B&B
https://www.schoolhousebb.com/
We had pizza at a local place next to an annoying loud group of people who clearly wanted us to hear their awesome conversation. We also met an 80s dude who talked like Jeff Spicoli and his woman partner who were cruising around on their ebikes. Pretty uneventful.
We went back to the lodging and watched some NHL playoff games. We also listened to the "Spitting Chicklets" podcast that covered Mike Keenan. "TELL ME TO GO FUCK MYSELF!!!" Classic shit, highly recommended as the world has definitely changed.
Day 2: Rocheport to Sedalia (50 miles)
We started the day with about 4 miles on a detour for the trail closure. It was not fun riding as there was no separation from traffic. This just reinforces my decision to stick to trails and off the road.
We stopped in Booneville for breakfast at a diner. Booneville is where the trail leaves the Missouri river.
We were traveling in late May right when COVID vaccinations were in full swing so it was interesting but not surprising to see high risk people congregated without masks. The culture wars are not going anywhere.
We had our late breakfast and continued onward. We stopped for a rest in Clifton City (not sure) and met a few other travelers. A young guy Mark from Pennsylvania stood out. Mid 20s, just came from yoga retreat. Little prick probably gets more pussy than he can remember. It was good to see a young guy who had figured out the secrets, the rest of us could learn a thing or two.
We also encountered an older dude who had ignored the trail closing and waded his bike across the river. He was the one who told us about the ongoing friction between ownership and the locals at Cooper's landing. Another interesting individual we met was Thaddeus. He was there with his dog driving as the support vehicle for his wife and mother. Something was a little off, I felt like he was going to start telling me how I should have a better relationship with Jesus. Fortunately that did not happen.
We were struggling as we got to Sedalia. The last mile into Sedalia is on brand new trail and that was the hardest mile of the trip because it rained and made the trail soft. Fuck that shit.
When we got to Sedalia we found a Days Inn on the outskirts with a hot tub. We dragged our asses over there and met a group of older gentlemen preparing to ride east. Bear in mind the forecast for the next few days was hot (around 90 if I remember correctly). These guys definitely looked like 80 miles was going to be difficult but who knows? Hopefully it was fun. Personally I would not plan on that many miles as it would be tough to enjoy the ride.
When we got to the Days Inn we went straight for the hot tub to soothe our Dadbods. When we got there we encountered an ALPHA MALE along with his ALPHA FEMALE. This dude was either a body builder or MMA fighter (or both) and clearly didn't appreciate our company. I was too tired to do anything but accept and laugh at the situation. These people clearly thought they were entitled to the entire Days Inn public pool setting. I was more than happy to intrude. It did not look like the happiest of situations but they were a really good looking couple so they have that going for them.
After the hot tub experience we started our culinary journey into the flavorful world of western Missouri Mexican cuisine. It's about all that is available west of Jefferson City. Place we went to was akin to a chain and Bryan and I indulged in the Honkey Delicacy of fajitas and margaritas. The Margaritas were very, very strong. I think we both stopped just in time as to not have a problem the next day.
Day 3: Sedalia to Clinton back to Cabins (53 miles)
We started Day 3 off bidding farewell to our future selves at the consistently mediocre Days Inn breakfast bar. I was hoping that we made just enough noise to wake up the ALPHAS but I was also SECRETLY AFRAID that we would do so. Such is my cowardly existence.
We got on the road and made the decision to complete all of the Katy trail rather than divert to Lee's Summit via the Rock Island Spur. I think this was the correct decision given the circumstances. Hopefully there will be a future trip in the near future to go from KC to Jeff City or vice versa.
We ended up meeting a group of riders from the Beverly neighborhood in Chicago (both Bryan and I have spent a little time there, it's an Irish neighborhood on the far South side of the city). These guys were funny dudes, they were riding from KC all the way back to Chicago on the Katy and route 66.
They were classic Beverly guys. One of the guys was clearly into politics and couldn't stop talking about his connections (I called the head of the DNR to complain about the I&M Canal!). They told us that the Rock Island trail was muddy so that confirmed our decision to skip it was correct. Overall they were fun to talk to, I told them about the GAP and C&O so I hopefully gave them a trip to do in the near future. This trip was their second longer trip as a group, they had previously done the Lake Michigan Circle tour.
We continued onto Clinton in what was the first really hot day of the ride. I got sunburned pretty badly on my forearms which is saying something (my sunscreen had either been left at one of the places we stayed or had fallen off the bike). We got to Clinton and it was really to hot to ride anymore. We had lunch at another Mexican spot in the center of town. Not much open on a Sunday but this place was very, very good.
We decided to hang out in Clinton and let the heat pass and then ride the 18 miles back to Windsor to stay at some Cabins. This was the best course of action given that we had to board a train around 10AM on Monday.
We rode back as the sun was setting and into darkness. It was much more comfortable and we both enjoyed it. The only downside is that it's more likely you'll get run into by a deer but we managed to avoid that particular land mind. If we were in a similar situation I think the play is to ride early and late and just take cover mid-day.
We got to our cabin, had a couple of beers and called it a night.
I would say the Katy trail is great but the trail towns, at least on the western end, are a bit disappointing. Just a microcosm of the economic problems facing rural America, most wounds from a skewed economy but some self-inflicted.
Day 4:. Cabins back to Sedalia (18 miles)
Last day was just an 18 miles spring from Windsor to Sedalia to catch a train. Train ride was fine, though we did encounter one of those peculiar government employees (Amtrak train conductor) that was clearly MASTER OF HIS DOMAIN. I had to spend the train ride listening him try to impress the blonde woman in our car (only other passenger). It reeked of the desperation of a guy who watches too much porn and was hoping for a miracle. "Oh conductor, can you show me your private office...."
We wrapped things up with a short ride back to our car on the Jeff City spur (Jeff City has some hills) and lunch at a BBQ place that was decent (meat was too dried out)
Only regret: hauling camping equipment we didn't use.
Let of great conversations and just healthy to get out into nature for a few days. Looking forward to taking care of the east end in 2022.
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