The river was wide and deep and up when I took the Daniel Boone Bridge across the Missouri River and then 94 to the Weldon [radioactive hot] Springs Katy trailhead.  I was on my bike and riding by seven.  It was almost too cool.  It was certainly too humid.  Anytime I stopped to take a picture my glasses would fog up.  The saying goes, “If the creeks don’t rise and the good Lord is willing I will make it.”  Well the creeks were already up.  There is a certain spookiness riding through flooded woods, with only a narrow strip of trail, both fore and aft to roll on.

I rode to Marthasville and back, for 45 miles.  Marthasville has a gas station right next to the trailhead and this gas station has the cheapest soda on the Katy.  I eschewed the sports drinks in machine #1 for a dollar.  I also passed on machine #2 with its $1.25 16 ounce bottles of soda.  I elected to buy the 50¢ 12 ounce can of Orange Crush from machine #3.

So some of you are probably wondering, who are the four shirtless guys?  These four guys left San Francisco five weeks ago and plan on returning home to Baltimore in two more weeks.  It took them three days to cross Missouri.  They are planning on spending the weekend in Saint Louis.  They asked about breakfast and I told them about the deli in Dutzow and the micro-brewery in Augusta.  At this point another gentleman piped up with, “Beer for breakfast?”  To which I responded, “Beer is not just for breakfast anymore.”  I gave them suggestions on how to cross the two major river obstacles that lay before them asked them for their photo and bade them good luck.  On my return I passed their bikes parked in Dutzow, they evidently chose the deli.

So these guys were on their great adventure, just like Anne and I some 28 years ago, but they have something that we never even thought to have, sponsors.  I never got the complete rundown, but they were all well outfitted.  They did mention one sponsor though, Brooks Saddles.  These are high-end, handmade bike saddles that are made the way they use to be made.  They come with a leather seat and copper rivet fasteners.  They explained with some sanguine that it took them 1000 miles to break them in for their butts.

I saw many little birds, cardinals, goldfinches and indigo buntings; red, yellow and blue colored birds.  I saw one great white egret who was fishing in a partially flooded cornfield and I saw a great blue heron that over flew me, but I didn’t get a single picture of any of them.  The little birds are always tough to photograph, but I’ve had plenty of success photographing larger birds, but missing my ace spotter and then stopper, I just kept riding along. 

So I stopped at the Augusta Brewery on the way back, which is not open for breakfast.  I had a beer and posted this on Facebook.  This post created a bit of a Facebook sensation with Kayak Women.  Drink responsibly folks.