Too Thick to Drink, Too Thin to Plow



Katy Trail Rest Stop Overlooking the Missouri River

On May 14, 1804,  the Lewis and Clark Expedition headed west on the Missouri River from near St. Louis.  On May 15, 2012, I retraced 27 miles of their route. 

I began the day by driving my wife to a doctors appointment in Columbia, Mo.  5+ weeks ago she had her knee replacement replaced.  After she was cleared to drive this morning, she dropped me and my bike off at the Martin Luther King Park trailhead of the MKT trail in Columbia, Mo.  The 8.8 mile MKT spur hooks up with the 238-mile-long Katy Trail near McBaine.  It's a favorite of mine for 2 reasons:

1.  It is especially scenic; and
2.  It is mostly downhill from Columbia to the Missouri River.

Mark Twain once described the Missouri River as "too thick to drink, too thin to plow."  Lewis and Clark would have agreed.  On June 21, 1804, William Clark wrote
"The water we Drink, of the Common water of the missourie at this time, contains half a Comn Wine Glass of ooze or mud to every pint."

When the expedition passed Jefferson City, William Clark described himself as having "a verry sore throat", adding "am Tormented with Musquetors & Small ticks."  I guess our ticks have gotten healthier.  While sitting on a bench overlooking the river I felt something on my neck.  When I checked to see what it was, I pulled off a tick the size of a watch battery before it could make it to a more secluded area of my anatomy for lunch.

I encountered no  "Musquetors" on my ride, though they were a common complaint of most adventurers.  On the Oregon Trail in Wyoming one journalist described the mosquitoes as "smaller than hummingbirds but larger than crickets."  Near Alcove Spring in Kansas, Joe Meek wrote in his journal that the mosquitoes weren't as bad as he expected.  "Though I heard reports of mosquitoes as big as turkeys, the biggest one I saw was no larger than a crow."

Four hours and 35 miles after my wife dropped me off I arrived at the North Jefferson trailhead, just across the river from Jefferson City.   When the Lewis & Clark Expedition passed by what would one day become the City of Jefferson,  Sgt. Charles Floyd wrote glowingly about this area in his journal.  "As butifull a peas a ground as ever I saw" he said.   Which, even though I had a great time, pretty much describes my feelings when I saw my truck waiting for me in the parking lot.