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The Katy Trail, Clinton to St. Louis

2005 had been a bad year for cycling. My mom had a triple bypass at the end of 2004 and moved in with us at the beginning of 2005. The situation was further complicated by the fact that her kidneys stopped working and she had to be taken to dialysis three times a week. Both my wife's and my cycling time fell dramatically. We were gaining weight and getting out of shape. In September, an opening occurred at at a very nice senior independent living center and my mom moved in, excited at all the opportunities for the interaction that the center would afford.

Her move allowed an opportunity for us to squeeze in a small tour in the fall. In addition, I had 50,000 air miles available on my credit card, just enough for two free tickets to St. Louis so that my wife and I could ride the Katy Trail. I ordered the tickets and Jeanette made arrangements to get the week off from work.

The next chore was to arrange how to get our tandem to Clinton MO. Regular bikes are allowed on AMTRAK, which takes riders from St. Louis to Sedalia but tandems are persona non grata. In addition, Sedalia is not the western end of the trail, Clinton is. My next thought was a rental car. No good. None of the rental cars allowed for a one way rental from St. Louis airport to Clinton MO. I came up suddenly with the idea of a U-Haul truck. I checked on the internet and found that U-Haul had a dealer in Clinton and another just three miles from the St. Louis airport. A quick phone call to the facility in St. Louis confirmed that a one-way U-Haul was available and within our budget. They advised calling and making a reservation about one week before the actual trip.

The last thing to consider was accommodations. We are definitely NOT self contained tourers and it would be necessary to book rooms along the way. In Europe we usually book hostels since we want to stretch our money over a month's time but on this trip we'd be gone only a week. In addition, we really were looking for a break from the high stress work grind. I ordered Brett Dufur's book, The Complete Katy Trail Guidebook and looked at www.bikekatytrail.com on the web for prices of B&B's on the trail. I found that if one included the cost of breakfast for two along with budget accommodations, that the difference between a B&B and an inexpensive motel was in most cases only about $10 per night. I decided to make it a B&B trip. I started calling B&B's and made reservations for each night of the trip.

I had an extra two days off before we were to depart and I used the time to pack the bike, clean the house, change the sheets and stuff our cycling clothes into the panniers. We were ready and waited for the day to arrive.

Day 1 - The longest Day. Flying into St. Louis. Driving to Clinton

The Katy Trail, Clinton to St. Louis

Planning

Day 2 - Clinton to Sedalia, 49 miles

Planning