Mood:  a-ok

The weather forecast was absolutely incorrect!  It called for scattered thunderstorms, and they were not scattered.  Instead they were all directly over me all morning and part of the afternoon.  Believe it or not, it rained four inches.   That's right, four inches.

I awoke early and prepared to get an early start.  There were few accommodations in the distance that I wanted to accomplish, 80 miles more or less.  So I needed to get going.  By 6:30 AM, I was on the Trail.  There was evidence that it had rained during the night, but it had mostly dried up.  Nonetheless, I had put rain covers over the panniers before leaving.  In addition, I put my rain jacket and rain pants in an easily accessible pocket for quick use.  The skies were dark, but one never knows if it will rain or not, so I kept rolling. 

About 15 minutes after leaving a light rain started to fall.  The drops increased in size.  At one point they even started to sting when they hit me, but this only lasted 15-30 seconds, then the drops decreased in size while increasing in intensity.  I donned my jacket.

I'm not sure why they call it a rain jacket.  I thought that it meant that it was supposed to keep the rain out.  But I suspect that this jacket thinks it means that it is supposed to let the rain in.  Within forty five minutes of starting, I was completely and irrevocably soaked for the day, even though the rain was not a terribly hard one.

Although I had a good breakfast before leaving, it soon came time for breakfast #2.  I kept watch for a restaurant (there just aren't that many around) and, lo and behold, I came across Lucy's Beverage and Burgers.  Lots of cars in front, a good sign at that time of the morning that they are serving food.  I put in an order for a big breakfast.  I would need it today.

As I was eating, the television above the bar had a special weather alert.  It showed this incredibly violent rain and wind storm in Columbia, Missouri.  I thought to myself "I just passed the trailhead to Columbia about two miles back."  Which made me look outside.  It looked distubingly similar to the television.  I could barely see the other side of the road through the rain.  Hmm.  Maybe I'll have another cup of coffee.  Other customers would wander up front to look out the windows, shake their heads, then head back to their tables.

This was looking bad in terms of me being able to get in my 80 miles.  The trail wetness slowed the bike a bit as well as created the occasional fishtail. 

Finally, the rain had reduced itself to a level I was familiar with, a Puget Sound rain (the kind where you need an umbrella or rain coat.), not too hard but steady, and definitely rideable.  Even though the temperature was in the 70's, I was cold at first, shivering pretty good for the five minutes.  The second five minutes were better, and from that point forth, I was warm but wet.

Even though I felt more like I was slogging along instead of pedalling, I was making progress.  Things would have to improve, however, if I was going to make 80 miles.  That is when I reached the part of the Trail which was under water for as far as I could see.  Now what the heck do I do?  I wasn't going to wade through it for a number of reasons, not the least of which is it would soak much of my gear.

So I turned around and rode back the way I came about one half mile until I came to a little used farm implement road that crossed the Trail and connected to a gravel farm road about 150' to the south.  The road, used by farmers to get into their fields looked to parallel the Katy Trail for some distance.  If this kept up, perhaps there would be another farm implement road that would cross back.  Between the Trail and this road was deep water.  Sure enough, about a mile down this road was a very little used road that could get me and the bike back onto the Trail without too much trouble.

The Trail was starting to be a little worse for wear because of the rain storm.  Tree branches and an occasional tree had fallen onto the Trail, blocking it in several circumstances.  I got off the bike and cleared one obstacle.  As I looked up, there, down the Trail a quarter mile, were headlights.  Not sure what this was about, I headed that direction.   The headlights belonged to the Missouri State Park Department, and they were clearing the Trail of felled trees.  Not sure why they sat there and watched me instead of helping, but it was nice to see that they were responding to the rain.

One surprise, besides the omnipresent bird calls (in the rain?), was the frequent interpretive boards discussing various aspects of the Lewis and Clark Expedition.  I had forgotten!  Lewis and Clark went up the Missouri (they were to try to find the source as well as many other things.)  It was fascinating to stand on the very spots where they had camped.  There was one of the caves that they discovered right there beside the Trail.  Signs asked that it not be entered because the species of bats inside were endangered.

Because of the delay during the previous deluge, the slow progress on the wet Trail, and the flooded portion that I had to bypass, I clearly was not going to put in the miles today that I had hoped for.  After 50 miles, I arrived at North Jefferson, which is on the north side of the Missouri River from Jefferson City, Missouri's capitol.  This may sound like I was in suburbia, but it was a very rural area.  Crossing the bridge into Jefferson City was not an exciting prospect.  I found a phone number for a hotel in town, and they had a shuttle van.  Within 20 minutes they had arrived, loaded up the bike, the gear and myself, and we headed to the hotel.  The only duties remaining were showering and eating.  I was starved.

Tomorrow, according to the weather forecasters, is supposed to be clear and warmer, but not in the 90's.  With an early start, I might be able to make it to Augusta, which had a bunch of B&Bs.  It was 78 miles away.  We'll see what tomorrow brings.

Will McMahan