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Day 5, Rocheport  to Jefferson City - 43 miles

    I was up, showered and dressed by the time our hostess, Tawnee Dufur, arrived. She went right to work fixing breakfast and was all business at first. She had the coffee ready in short order but chased me out of the kitchen for getting in the way. Once breakfast was well underway she had time to talk. the painter from the day before was her brother. The author of The Katy Trail Guide Book, Brett Dufur, was her husband and the town's current mayor. In fact, if I wanted to meet Brett, he was going to be at the book store after ten in the morning.  I would have liked to hang around and have him autograph my copy of The Katy Trail Guidebook but Jeanette and I had a long ride this day and we wanted to get started early. Another thing that prompted us to be on our way was the prediction of possible rain in the late afternoon.

    Tawnee served a breakfast of French toast, juice, coffee and tea that was just right in volume for a cyclist, not too filling and not too heavy on protein while high in carbohydrates for some energy while pedaling. Once she had breakfast well underway she loosened up and talked with Jeanette about the trail and life in Rocheport. I was just happy to demolish breakfast. It was delicious. When I finished I asked Tawnee about the fall colors. Her opinion was the same as others, that the summer drought combined with the recent rains had delayed the leaf turning but she believed that we'd see more color along the bluffs since the slight rise caused a weather difference that would affect the trees.

    When I had looked out the window upon waking I had seen a trace of fog in the air, however, by the time we were loading the tandem the mist had disappeared. In fact we were skeptical of the weather reports since it looked like another beautiful day with the bonus of a tail wind to help us along our way. We rolled away from the B&B just past 8:30, our earliest ride start so far. I expected to see lots of critters along the trail in the morning light.

    Just before we had reached Rocheport we had started riding alongside the Manitou Bluffs, a series of cliffs along the north side of the trail. The bluffs were important for two reasons. The native Americans living along the bluffs believed they held mystic powers and they served as a natural obstacle for preventing flooding of the Missouri north of the river.

    It wasn't more than a mile down the trail when I saw a greenish gray lump in the pathway. I recognized it as a land tortoise right away and jammed on the brakes. We had expected to see turtles but had been looking in the creeks that the trail crossed without success. The land tortoise was a total surprise. Cameras came out and we both photographed the creature and then photographed each of us with the creature. Of course, the turtle had withdrawn into its shell because of all this commotion and being passed around but that didn't bother us, we had captured a turtle! I held it flat on my hand for about three minutes waiting for it to stick it's head out. Generations of genetic experience told the creature to stay put and that's what it did. I finally gave up and set the little critter on the side of the trail. It was still tucked away in its shell as we rode away.

    The day's ride would take us through McBaine, Easley, Wilton, Hartsburg, and Claysville before reaching North Jefferson and Jefferson City, the Missouri state capital.  The only town of note was Hartsburg and we planned to stop there for lunch. Hartsburg also featured a cycle shop and Jeanette was hoping to find a pair of cycling shoes since her feet ached riding in her tennies.

    With the wind at our backs, the miles just melted away. Both Jeanette and I felt that we were missing something however. The focus of all of our previous tours had been the attractions at the end of the daily ride. However, with the Katy Trail, most of the towns could be taken in within minutes of arrival. We figured out what the problem was. The focus of the Katy Trail is the trail itself. We had crunched gravel in a race to the next town. Instead, we should have slowed down and looked at what we were riding through. We decided to redeem ourselves. Every four or so miles, we'd stop the bike and walk along side from a half mile to a mile looking at the setting and examining the plants and rock formations along the path.

    The early start had creature bonuses. We soon added a deer, a mink, three more turtles, two turkey vultures a garter snake and lots of squirrels to our daily tally. The mink was a rarity and we weren't sure exactly what we had seen until we checked our sighting against a list of creatures that lived in the area in a guidebook. Of all the animals I was most fascinated by the turtles. I stopped the tandem at each sighting and moved the modern little relative of dinosaurs off the trail where it would be safe.

    We left the trail at Hartsburg and rode a block up 2nd street to Dotty's Cafe. Jeanette was disappointed to see the cyclery alongside the cafe closed. It meant that she'd be riding for one more day in her tennies. Dotty's was doing a lively business when we entered, a good sign for hungry pedalers. Jeanette ordered a BLT and I ordered another burger, still looking for a decent patty on a bun. Dotty didn't disappoint. Our lunches were well prepared and reasonably priced. In fact, everything on the menu was a bargain. Our waitress asked if we'd like to follow up lunch with dessert. Jeanette's lighter BLT allowed room for a peach cobbler but I was way too stuffed to take her up on the extra calories.

    When we left Dotty's we could sense a definite change in the weather. Looking to the west over our shoulders we could see high cirrus clouds approaching and we sensed a drop in temperature. Rain was coming. Thunder could be heard in the distance and an occasional lightening bolt could be seen to the south. The weather change along with the tail wind gave us the extra boost to reach the North Jefferson trail head early in the afternoon. We checked the signboards at the depot and found the one displaying the spur to Jefferson City. The spur took us to a freeway approach and onto the bridge crossing the Missouri into the state capitol. The crossing was easy and slightly downhill but harrowing to my stoker, the one most exposed to passing traffic. A bike lane runs along the both sides of the bridge and although narrow, allows enough room for bikes to cross single file. We exited at the first off ramp. Two blocks later we were in front of the Jefferson Inn, our B&B for the night. It was too early to check in so we put our panniers in back of some bushes next to the front porch and rode over to the capital to view the sights. 

    We toured all three floors and were impressed with what we saw. The Missouri state capital is much larger than California's and more of a showplace for Missouri's history and famous Americans. We spent two hours wandering the halls and then returned to our bike which was cabled to a post next to the police guardhouse for access into the basement. High Street, lined with shops and restaurants was only a block away. We rode up and back on the street, stopping to read all of the different menus. We finally settled on Arris' Pizza Palace, not for pizzas but because they advertised Greek dinners. We'd go home, rest up and return for dinner later. On the way back to the B&B it started sprinkling.

    We returned to the B&B and I took out the cell phone to call our hostess. She had told us at the time we made reservations that she lived only few blocks away and would meet us at the B&B when we called. While we waited I leaned over the wrought iron railing and counted the pannier bags. I found only three. I looked under the bushes but still found only three. I asked Jeanette if she had moved one of the pannier bags and she said no. She looked down the block to the east and could see one of our raincoats laying on the sidewalk. She walked down, picked it up and kept on walking hoping to find more stuff. In the mean time, our hostess had answered the phone and said she'd be right over.

    Rachel had walked over from her house but when she found out what was going on, walked back and got her SUV. She returned and asked what my wife looked like and took off in the car looking for her. I carried the panniers in the house and parked the bike inside the hallway and then walked in the direction I had last seen Jeanette. A few minutes later Rachel pulled up with Jeanette in the front seat. Jeanette was grinning and holding the missing pannier up so I could see it. 

    Once back at the house she told me that she had walked in the direction she thought the thief might go and saw a series of garbage cans put out to be emptied. She looked in the cans and found my stuff and the pannier. An inventory of the pannier and its contents revealed that a tee shirt and a pocket book had been taken. Everything else was in place. No great loss, actually pretty cheap excitement. 

    Rachel showed us the house and our room. The B&B was beautifully decorated, with special emphasis on the wall coverings. Jeanette asked and Rachel admitted that she and her mother had at one time hung wallpaper and did wall finishing professionally. It showed. She explained that there was one other guest in the B&B and arranged our breakfast time. We asked about Arris' Pizza. She said we wouldn't be disappointed.

    We left for dinner at dusk. I clipped on the two headlights and turned on the 18 LED tail light. We rode downhill and then uphill on High Street to Arris' and chained the bike to the lamp post outside. I asked the girl at the register to watch the bike since it was squarely in front of her when she looked out the window. We had been seated only a short time when I could hear the rain. I got up and looked out to see it pouring. I said to myself, "It will pass." and returned to my seat and ordered my dinner and a large beer. 

    My dinner was fantastic. I had ordered the Greek Gyro. Jeanette was not as pleased with her meal something that resembled a Greek burrito, but said it was still very good. We had no room for dessert. We tipped our waitress, put on our raincoats and readied ourselves for the wet ride back to the B&B. I was right, the rain had passed, at least temporarily. We rode the bike back the downhill and then the uphill to the B&B with the rain just starting as we reached the house. Lightening was popping all over the sky as we opened the front door and the rain started falling heavily by the time we were inside. We headed upstairs to watch TV and check the weather report for tomorrow. When the news came on at ten the weather report wasn't promising. One look out the window corroborated the report, The wind was blowing and the rain was coming down in buckets.

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Recommended:

Dotty's Cafe 
40 S 2nd Street
Hartsburg,  MO 65039
573 657 9750
Wed,Thur,Fri: 11am-8pm
Sat: 7:30am-8pm
Sun: 8am-2pm

Breakfast, lunch, dinner - $4-10

Arris' Pizza Palace
115 E High St
Jefferson City, MO 65101-2959
Phone:    (573)635-9225

Greek dinners, pasta, pizza, chicken, fish - $8-15

Jefferson City Inn B&B
801 West High Street
Jefferson City, Missouri   65101
(573) 635-7196 
(800) 530-5009
email: jeffersoninnbandb@yahoo.com
Rachael Boessen, Innkeeper

Ambience *****
Bathroom ***** (including access to laundry room upstairs)
Breakfast *****

Cost: $87.20

Day 6, Jefferson City to Hermann