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| A Beautiful, Green Canopy over the Katy Trail |
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| You Never Know Who Might Show Up at this Peaceful Missouri River Overlook on the Katy Trail at the 147 1/2 MM
Early Wednesday morning, August 20, 2017 I loaded my bike in my truck and headed to the Katy Trail. Tom, who I usually ride with, was on an Alaskan cruise with his wife, Linda. According to the itinerary, they arrived in Skagway about the time I left home to ride the trail. According to my map, Skagway is due east of Mosquito Lake and due north of Mud Bay. No one could ever accuse those Alaskans of trying to sugarcoat place names. I, for one, find that refreshing. If I need to bring Deep Woods Off or my mud boots, I appreciate knowing about it in advance.
The air was cool and refreshing and traffic was light as I pedaled west to Hartsburg after parking at the North Jefferson trailhead. Much of the way I pedaled, quite literally, under a beautiful canopy of green. When I arrived at the trailhead in Hartsburg there was a lot of activity.
"How's the trail ahead?" asked an eastbound biker.
"Very nice!" I responded, after which he gave me a recap of a ride he went on this same time last year.
"Last year the trail had washouts over my head east of Jefferson City!" he said.
"Yeah, we had 8 inches of rain early last September" I recalled. "I think there were washouts in my driveway over my head, too!"
As we talked, I learned 2 things:
1. The gentleman was from Pineville, deep in the southwest corner of Missouri, and
2. He was 84 years old. That's important because every year, he explained, he takes one day and "rides his age" on the Katy Trail. This year the route was from New Franklin to Rhineland. 84 long, exhausting miles regardless of your age. Next year he can look forward to 85 miles. Happy Birthday, Sir! You have my respect! I only wish I could donate a little body fat for you to burn on your ride.
Before he continued on his 84 mile jaunt, he looked me in the eye and said "Let me give you a little free advice I like to share with younger guys. You need to take up a hobby like motorcycle riding or hang-gliding or sky-diving. That way you won't live long enough to do dang fool things like I'm doing today!" And with that, he mounted his bike and headed east to finish the other half of his own self-imposed challenge to "ride his age" on the Katy Trail on his 84th birthday.
On the way back to my truck, I stopped at the benches that overlook the Missouri River 4 miles west of Jefferson City. They were deserted. Ten minutes later, though, up pedaled a guy from Belle, Mo. He was huffing & puffing. "I bought 5 pounds of tomatoes at Hackman's Produce in Hartsburg" he explained. "It's slowing me down, but not like the time a friend of mine and I hauled one of those trailers designed for carrying kids and bought two 40-lb watermelons. THAT nearly killed us!"
"Were the watermelons good?" I asked.
"They were delicious!" he said.
"Then it was worth it!" I said. Good thing he got little ones. Only last week I was admiring a 126 LB watermelon grown in Hartsburg.
Turns out the guys name was Greg Nott and he drives to the Katy Trail nearly every day from his home in Belle, Mo. If you would like to help Greg and outdoor enthusiasts around the world, Missouri currently has the opportunity to add to it's impressive trail system by accepting the former Rock Island railway from AmerenUE and converting it to the 144 mile Rock Island Trail. The Rock Island Trail would cross the Katy Trail twice and run right through Belle, Mo., along with a lot of other former rail towns that would like to become trail towns since the railroad left town. Here is a link to a great editorial on the Rock Island, along with another link to express your opinion on the matter to Gov. Greitens.
126-LB watermelon in Hartsburg
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