Happy Trails
Day 19 - Lake of the Ozarks, MO to Rhineland, MO (86 miles and 2,500 feet of climbing)
With refreshed legs and spirits, Robin and I hit the road early to try to beat the heat. Today, we got back to the excessive heat warnings, and we knew we could not ride past 2pm. The first half of the ride was on a busy road with a wide shoulder and lots of hills. Robin rode strong for 47 miles and 2,400 feet of climbing. I slowed her down with our first flat tire around mile 30. After a quick tube change that lasted 15 minutes, we hit the road again.
The highlight of our ride was riding through Jefferson City (the capital of Missouri) and riding across the Missouri River. Throughout the ride, we started seeing car race tracks and a few confederate flags. Who knew Missouri was a Southern state? Right after we crossed the Missouri River, Shannon met us. Unfortunately, I suffered another puncture right before meeting Shannon and spent most of our rest break fixing the flat. That made one puncture on each tire, so far.
Knowing that punctures can come in bunches, I cautiously left with Shannon for the second half of the ride. We had a completely different experience on this part of the ride. We soon found ourselves on the Katy Trail, our first bike trail of the ride. The Katy Trail is the longest rails-to-trails project in the country at 237 miles (386 km). The crushed limestone trail stretches across most of the state of Missouri.
We followed the Missouri River the whole way and had a whopping 80 feet of climbing over 40 miles. We saw deer, snakes, and squirrels but the best part of the trail were the trees with plenty of shade on a hot day. We stopped twice to fill up our bottles and called it quits around 2pm when the temperature was 98 degrees.
We then had to drive 45 minutes to our hotel. There were a lot of vineyards and small bed and breakfasts on the route, but there were no hotels that took dogs. If they only met Maude, I am sure they would change their minds. After a nice shower, we are getting ready for an early dinner and another early bed time.
