Second Longest Day: Jefferson City to McKittrick

Today was our second longest day, but we spent the day thinking tomorrow was! We covered 43 mostly flat miles with a light headwind. We have settled into a pace that’s slower than our normal training rides and making sure we stop at every depot to just stretch and sit down a bit. Well, I stretch and Brian sits down 🙂

The trickiest part of this section of the trail was the rough surfaces. They are all well marked, but where water has washed over the trail and left rivulettes or washed parts out, you can be on washboards or on super soft gravel sand that they have filled it in with. Our rides on the beach a couple months ago turned out to be really good training for handling a bike through those conditions!

We’ve also learned to really love the sight of moss on the trail. Seems weird, right? But moss means A) we’re in the shade and B) the trail is so compacted there that it’s more like concrete and doesn’t drain as quickly as the looser parts do, leaving enough moisture for the moss to grow.

Today we were again between the dolomite bluffs and the Missouri River. Sometimes there was

Bluffs right at the edge of the trail. Those lines of missing rock
are where the chunks that fall onto the trail come from.
They are made of whiter, and presumably softer, rock

more space between them than others. At times, the trail was really the majority of the land between the two! The bluffs are amazing, if a little terrifying. There were many large rocks, even boulders on the ground between them and the trail. At one point, Brian nearly hit one that blended into the trail, so we turned around so he could go back and remove it so the next person to go by didn’t risk getting thrown over their handlebars. We imagine this will get more dangerous as the leaves start covering the trail so you can’t see what you’re riding over. Right now, there are some early leaves on the trail, but no real color unless you count the red poison ivy!

Cotes Sans Dessein across a soybean
field

We started in French settler territory in the Cotes Sans Dessein area (hills formed by being cut off from the bluffs by erosion over millennia) this morning and ended firmly in German settler territory here in McKittrick. Yes, this village isn’t really German sounding, but we came through Rhineland and ate across the river in Hermann tonight.

Hermann is so charming! The Vintage Restaurant at Stone Hill

winery had amazing sauerbraten, red cabbage and warm german potato salad! The apple strudel was amazing, too. Of course we had to try the wines. I got a 3-wine flight of their reds. My favorite was the Chambourcin – not unusual for me. Hermann is worth a trip if you enjoy wineries, antiques and German charm. In fact, since we discovered tomorrow is a short ride, we’re now planning to go back into town in the morning for a walk around before we hit the trail.

I really never imagined I’d be saying this, but I’m a little sad we only have 2 days left! Yes, I’m tired, but I get up every morning ready to go again. There may be a couple teansy parts of me that are ready be done – those parts that are sore – but in terms of fitness, I’m not struggling at all. It helps that I have great company on the ride! We talk some, then just enjoy the scenery, then talk some more. Also, there is another gentleman about our age on the trail that we keep catching up with or he catches up with us. He’s going across both ways and carrying all his camping gear with him! We’ve been comparing notes and learning a lot from him for future rides.

The various flood
levels dating back
from 1913 to 1993
are marked

As the sign explains, it’s not a fallen rock
but one that is left after the dolomite was
eroded away.

Hole-in-the-wall bar with good food in
in Portland, MO for lunch

More bluffs over
our heads!

You can just see a bluff sticking out
on the left in the distance

Fun bicycle art

Snakes! Why did it have to be snakes?!
Actually, this was the first live we saw
and it was tiny. Brian says it had just
eaten, but I didn’t look closely enough to tell