Jaine and I decided to modify our trip. After hearing a lot of stories from bikers going east to west about bad roads, no shoulders, lots of traffic and a little 'taste test' of dog in Missouri, we decided to head northward and pick up the Katy Bike Trail that goes from Clinton, MO to St. Charles MO.
The Katy Bike Trail is 'rail trail' purported to be absolutely beautiful. It is the longest rail trail in the United States at 240 miles long and has lots of tunnels and bridges and gorgeous terrain following the Missouri River for much of the way. Best of all...no hills! Since it is a rail trail, the road grade can never be over 5% so essentially it's like riding in Kansas.
To put the map in perspective to the state of Missouri, here is a map with the outline of the trail:
We will be starting the Katy Bike Trail in Clinton on July 4 and will take about 6 days to get to St. Charles, give or take. When Jaine and I arrive in St. Charles (just north of St. Louis) we will be the closest to Wisconsin (and our home) for the entire trip before we start heading south to Murfreesboro IL and on to Kentucky from there.
Jaine and I would like to extend an invitation to anyone who would like to ride the Katy Bike Trail with us from July 4 to July 10. If anyone is interested in riding with us, contact Jaine at 608 558 4822 or John at 608 558 4821 or email us at either jaine.winters@gmail.com or johnwinters111@gmail.com.
We plan on traveling about 30 - 50 miles a day while riding the trail, but we can modify the ride to shorter ones if people are interested in riding with us. If you contact us we can work out the details where to meet and how far to travel.
There are some excellent interactive maps of the Katy Bike Trail. Check out the following links if you'd like to ride a beautiful chunk of America with us!
An Interactive Map:
http://www.bikekatytrail.com/katy-trail-map.aspx
Frequently asked questions:
http://www.bikekatytrail.com/faq.aspx
Background Information:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katy_Trail_State_Park
Images of the Katy Bike Trail:
https://www.google.com/search?q=katy+bike+trail+missouri+images&espv=2&biw=1366&bih=643&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=CcKTVda9KsOpyAThoJ3ABA&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAg