Day 26 July 5th Hermann to New Franklin

The day in Hermann began with a few visits from Paul, a neighbor camper, biker enthusiast, and enthusiast in general. He had tried to speak to us on our way back in from the fireworks last night, but we had both had to use the restrooms that we had replied simply that we had to go too badly to talk. We met again this morning on the way to the john and he told us about his many trail adventures, all the good towns, flooding, Missouri grapes going to France, his life as a salesman, etc. After telling him that we were always hungry he also gave us some very tasty trail mix and dried mango on my return trip out of the bathroom.
Time for Pie! was our breakfast joint of choice. Scones and good coffee. The owner has Celiac disease but doesn't make anything gluten free because she would have to go crazy for the health-dept. Her glutenous scones were quite tasty however. I bet the pie was excellent.


Our trip back over the Missouri was misty. The fog coming off the river was thick, when we got back on the trail you could see where the river was simply by the long river of clouds ascending from it. See this picture below. It just covered the mountain range behind it.

We started off with a pretty hefty goal of 90 miles on the trail. Although flat with just a touch of an incline, the gravel was still hard work, especially in places where it was dense. (always something when you're pedaling) The weather was great, somewhere in the 80s. Much of the trail is in the shade too which was fantastic! The mosquitoes were dense from all the flooded areas, but as long as we were pedaling we seemed to keep them at bay. We passed a slew of little towns, some sad, store owners selling cigarettes to 10 year-olds without a second thought, some seeming to keep up despite economic pressures. One of these we had our lunch in, Hartsburg, also a German settled town, which was a quiet cute town with a winery, but we opted for Dotty's Cafe. We were not too pleased when we got the menus and only fried stuff and burgers were available, again. I fear that our energy dropped at this point and what could have been a nice friendly encounter was just a digestion of fried oils.

But not to linger, we set off further down the trail, passing Boat Henge (not terribly exciting- 5 boats stuck in the ground) and winded our way along the bluffs that started to appear along the coast. The KT for this part follows the path Lewis and Clark took on their expedition and there are many historic markers noting their progress. We made it to Rocheport for dinner, and we delighted, absolutely delighted to find their General Store a wonderful, fresh place for dinner. The shop was hosting a fundraiser for the flood damage with live music, wine tasting, etc. The tomato salad, veggie lasagna, and cheese/veggie quiche we dined on made our night and gave us the motivation to make the last 10 miles of our trip at sunset. We rolled down the now empty trail passing fields with leaping dear (this is pretty cheesy, but it was cool), the road was really strait and I watched Andy's shadow lengthen down it. We rolled into our campsite just as the sun went down, set up quickly to avoid the bugs that were attacking with vigor, took showers and went to bed.

Crossing the Missouri for the last time...


More later!