68 miles from St Charles, and a little backtracking east to get some of the Old Main Street and riverfront sights, to the bottom of the big hill just past city hall of Hermann MO. (For some reason, again, Cyclemeter did not autostart after one of our stops, losing about 7 miles, which I edited back onto the recorded total upon ride completion (so the 68 miles is correct).
Below we are leaving our motel in St. Charles to ride to the Katy trail:
Leslee took a selfie:
Carol and Rosie, the Smartest Dog in the World, recorded our departure:
This was a very long, hard day of biking, necessitated by the absence of suitable overnight spots short of the city of Hermann. One would expect that a former train route would have lots of small towns with services of all kinds. However, here, when the train service began at the beginning of the 20th C, many towns boomed; but those booms did not last for most of those towns. So the Missouri parks department provides frequent (5 to 10 miles for the most part) mini-rest stops, there are no stores, restaurants (with one exception), or motels except at the few major towns.
Images are below. Videos follow all the images.
There were many iron bridges for the train as countless streams flowed down from the north down into the Missouri river. Most of the bridges remain, though a wooden inner bridge (as seen below) suitable for biking was added for the trail. The iron bridges were all made using rivet construction, not welding.
There are frequent stopping points along the Katy trail, most of them at former train stations. All the original stations are long gone, but there are period reconstructions and in some cases where there is no town remaining only a station-like facility with signage and a bench, sometimes also with restrooms, sometimes with flushing facilities.
About every 10 miles there was a self-repair station with a pump, all nicely chained so the equipment stayed there for all us bikers.
On the bridge to the town of Hermann, looking west above the Missouri river at sunset.
Videos are below:
Leg 2, Day 3 is here.