Day 26, Friday, May 16

Mokane, MO to Franklin, MO

The plan for the day was to ride 25 miles to Jefferson City, capitol of Missouri, to do laundry and visit Red Wheel, a local bicycle shop. From there our options were not great. There were two campgrounds we could reach, but neither had very good reviews. We set out without a clear idea of where would we end up for the night. 

The 25 miles to Jeff City (as the locals call it) were good. It was another warm day, but there was plenty of shade along the trail and the miles went quickly. 

Jeff City is on the right bank of the Missouri and the Katy Trail is on the left, so we had to cross. The bridge over the river is on US 64. You climb up to the bridge on an impressive piece of cycling infrastructure, the Skywalk.

Once you reach the bridge you are on an attached cat walk for both bicyclists and pedestrians, well separated from traffic, with views of the Capitol Building.

The bike shop was closed, so we went to start laundry and grab some breakfast. The laundromat was up and over Capitol Hill, so we rode past the Capitol through a little district busy with shops and bakeries and restaurants.

After breakfast we split up, John to finish the laundry and me to head to the bike shop. As I've said before, he is a great cycling companion, and I definitely owe him the next load of laundry, but I needed to have my chain checked.

The chain was shot, and the mechanic put a new one on right away. They were done before John arrived, so I relaxed with an iced coffee at the coffee shop next door. I talked with a few cyclists, some local and others riding the Katy Trail. Given we had no place to stay for the night I would have been perfectly happy to spend the day in Jeff City and camp over the river in their free campsite.

But we need to put in more than 25 miles each day, so we pressed on. We pushed to check out the two campgrounds within reach and hope one was adequate.

The first was Cooper's Landing, 20 more miles down the trail. That would make for a short but legitimate day of 45 miles.

Cooper's is a restaurant and bar right on the Missouri River that often has live music. John was pretty turned off by it when we got there, and in truth it is a little small. The campsites are right next to the patios on the river where everyone sits and talks and drinks. This was Friday night and  there was a blues band playing later, so it would be difficult sleeping if we hit the tents at 8:00.

The next option, Diana Bend Conservation Area, another 17 miles away, sounded horrible. One reviewer described it as a gravel parking lot where they let you pitch a tent, with no water, electricity, out even vault toilets.

We had no desire to do that, so John went to pay for a tent site at Cooper's, but they had none left. We decided them and there to make this another 70-mile day and go all the way to the Katy Roundhouse in Franklin. 

It was a difficult afternoon. The wind started picking up, blowing about 18 mph from the west and northwest, always in our faces. It was warm, too, with temps in the 80s. There were stretches of the trail in the trees, protected from both the sun and wind, but the open stretches were brutal.

 

We did eventually reach the Roundhouse campground. There were four Scouting troops due that night. We picked a secluded campsite far from the shower house but also far from the troops, and quite sheltered from the wind.

This was one of my favorite days of the trip, despite the wind in our faces all afternoon. We had a long stop in Jeff City, but that provided us with clean clothes and new chains. We still put in a 70-mile day, and we ended up at a great campsite. I slept very well.