The Pedaler's Jamboree

This past weekend -- T, the kids, and I spent a wonderful couple of days cycling the Katy Trail from Columbia, MO to Booneville, MO (and back) -- 70 miles over two days, for the Pedaler's Jamboree. It was a great family event... no real casualties -- Zoe fell off her bike and banged up a shin, otherwise, we all survived unscathed.
Getting ready to go...
This was the MKT Park in Columbia -- where it began. Columbia is not directly on the Katy Trail -- the MKT Trail is about nine miles, and meets up with the Katy trail at...
McBane... which is mile marker (MM) 169.5 on the trail

From there, we we biked just a few miles to Huntsdale (MM171.7) for our first break, and to listen to the first band along the ride.


This sign cracked me up -- and made me think of the 27MPH sign my Dad liked so much!

The kids -- just cruisin' along...
Right along the Missouri River... and I wanted to get the shot with the river...
So I had to find higher ground
And this is the oldest/biggest tree in Missouri -- one web site listed it at 250 years old -- and it survived being in 9-feet of water during the flood of '93.

We stopped for lunch at Rocheport for lunch... MM 178.3
This is the tunnel heading out of Rocheport
Some little house/hut built into the cliffs...
Nothing really significant here -- but just a beautiful background shot
Here we are at New Franklin -- MM188
And.... Finally at Booneville... (It's hard to see -- but that is the "Welcome to Booneville" sign in the background)
We went to the SteinHaus for dinner with John and Connie -- and this is "Bob"-- he is the town drunk (notice the Jim Beam bottle). He kind of freaked us out a bit...

Oddly, I seem to have not gotten ANY pictures of the camp site. But here is a little video about it...
And the next morning, we had breakfast at the Riverside Cafe -- quite possibly the best breakfast I have had in years. And this gentlemen came in a gave every kind in the place a half-dollar coin for their piggy-bank. Gotta love small town America (if I did that here, I end up having to register for some list!!!) BTW -- I am terrible for saying this -- but he kind of looks like "Bob"!!!

This was the view of the Mighty Mo as we crossed back out of Booneville.
And here is Zander on the bridge
This is the trailhead at Booneville (MM191.8)
Just a little break ...
And Zoe and Tracy meeting us there...
We found this little guy running across the trail... We also saw several snakes, some frogs, and a very curious groundhog... but this was the only photo we took...
Finally finished... we grabbed a quick bite before heading home, and this was Z-man, 10 minutes down the road!!!! When we got home Tracy, Zoe, and Zander all napped... sadly, someone had to mow the yard. :-)
I have a few more pictures still to be developed... I'll get them up in a week or so.

This was the first time this event has been held, and it was very successful -- we are already looking to next year.... get your bikes oiled, and join us!!!

D.