LJWorld Reader blogs

A couple of years ago my husband and I decided to ride our bikes the entire length of the Katy Trail in Missouri, about 225 miles. The Katy Trail is a bike trail that stretches from Clinton, Missouri to St. Charles, Missouri. It was developed as part of the Rails-to-Trails movement in which railways that are no longer used are converted into bike paths.

I had seen several commercials where people would steal yard gnomes, take them on vacation and return them to their owners with pictures of them on their adventure. I thought it would be fun to take our neighbor’s yard gnome on our bicycling adventure. My husband thought a yard gnome would be pretty heavy to carry in our bicycle saddlebags.

Our then six-year-old son was creating what he called “paper guys.” There were hundreds of them. My office mate and I had them posted all over our bulletin boards and there were paper guys all over our refrigerator at home. We selected one hardy-looking Paper Guy to take with us. Much lighter than a yard gnome!

This is the account of Paper Guy’s Katy Trail Adventure.

Paper Guy allotted four days to ride the entire trail. The first night we stayed at the Hotel Bothwell in Sedalia, MO. The next morning we started on the trail and rode to Rocheport.

It started out as a lovely day but about an hour into it the rain started and it rained the rest of the day. We put on the rain gear that we brought but still got fairly wet and pretty dirty. Without fenders on our bikes, the chat from the trail splashed all over us. Paper Guy lost part of his left arm and his colors were a bit runny. He had to rest and have some chocolate when we arrived at the Yates House Bed and Breakfast.

It was so late when we arrived in Rocheport that only one restaurant was still open. After a much needed shower and change of clothes, our host, Conrad Yates, drove us to the Blufftop Winery and Bistro. We had a lovely dinner and glass of wine and then rejoined Paper Guy at the B&B for a good night’s rest before continuing our trip.

The next day was supposed to be the longest ride of our trip, about 80 miles from Rocheport to Hermann. My husband had a bike malfunction so we only made it as far as Jefferson City where we found a shuttle to drive us the rest of the way to Hermann.

From Hermann we headed to Defiance. We had a long stop in Marthasville where my husband replaced the 24-year-old ten speed that he had been riding with a brand new touring bike. He had to. The ten-speed was literally falling apart. Paper Guy was happy about the new bike!

I wish we had had more time to spend in Hermann. There are several wineries in that area that I would have liked to visit.

We were late getting to the Parsons House B&B in Defiance but they waited up for us and we were so grateful for the strawberry lemonade and fresh baked brownies that our hosts provided. Our room was lovely. The antique claw foot tub was right in the room and painted pink!

After a huge breakfast prepared by our Parsons House hosts we left Defiance and rode to St. Charles. There was a Lewis and Clark celebration happening in St. Charles so we participated in some of the festivities and then took a shuttle to St. Louis. We got there early enough that we had some time to ride around and see some sights. Paper Guy’s last night was spent in a chain hotel in St. Louis.

The next morning we boarded an Amtrak train that took us back to Sedalia where we had left our van. Then it was back to Kansas!

All in all it was a fun trip and, even though he was a little worse for the wear, I think Paper Guy enjoyed his adventure as much as we did!

If you’re interested in taking your own Katy Trail adventure, Paper Guy recommends The Katy Trail Guide Book.

Posted to: Citizen Journalism Academy, Community news, Lifestyle, Travel