DAY
5 - Thursday,
October 9
Bluffton to Augusta
Klondike Park
44.5 miles
Another
beautiful morning! Doug cooked up a scrumptious breakfast of french
toast with fresh homemade persimmon syrup made from his persimmon
trees. YUM!! We said a sad goodbye to Doug and hit the trail. The
plan today was a very reasonable 44.5 miles to Klondike Park in Augusta.
I'm looking forward to staying at Klondike for the first time. Everything
I've heard about it is very positive.
View
Larger Map
One caution
for fall riders, the Trail is covered with walnut minefields...
very bothersome on a loaded bike... good steering practice!
The bike
rider's view entering the walnut minefield...
What a
beautiful morning. Notice the mist rising above the river in the distance.
THIS is
that exact view that was the inspiration for my song "Under The
Poplar Trees" the first time I saw it in Spring 2007. It is a
much prettier spot when there are still leaves on the poplar trees.
I think
this is one of the prettiest sections of the Katy Trail. It is difficult
to tell in the picture, but the river is actually way below us and
the trail is high on a bluff. That grassy edge to the right is actually
a cliff edge that plunges perhaps 30 feet down to the river.
Riding
along the cliff edge. To one side the bluff drops down to the river.
To the other side, rocky cliffs rise up about 40 feet above us. What
a beautiful place.
At last!
Lunch at our favorite eatin' place along the Katy Trail, the Treloar
Bar & Grill.
Just look at that big fat juicy hamburger!!!
Cool old
buildings along the trail at Marthasville, MO.
We have
passed this neat old store building and barn many times. The sign
along the trail states that this is Nona, MO but these are the only
two structures anywhere around. It has always appeared to be abandoned
but today we saw a truck parked in the drive and heard sounds of a
wood saw coming from inside. We stopped to investigate and met Michael
Bauermeister, a quite amazing and accomplished wood sculptor, who
was working in his shop.
Michael
gave us a tour of his shop and his sculptures were stunning... his
pieces are so fluid and expressive that they do not appear to be made
of wood at all... yet his delicate treatment celebrates the medium
by exposing the fine wood grain of each piece (no I did not copy that
from a brochure... that is my own review of his work). I was very
impressed. And so are a lot of people. He sells his sculptures all
over the world. See more of his work at www.michaelbauermeister.com.
Our first
dry campground of the trip! Klondike Park was all we had hoped for.
Our spot was secluded
with a covered picnic table. Craig played his doumbek while I got
a nice warm shower at the showerhouse. AAAAAHHHHH!
Our previous
camps during this trip had been too wet for a campfire. What a fantastic
evening.
I
don't have much more to write about this day except that it was the
best day yet. Perfect weather, perfect riding, perfect food, perfect
travel distance, perfect adventure. This is what we'd been dreaming
of all the hours and hours we'd spent preparing for this trip over
the past year. We felt kinda' bad that our friend, Gerry, had only
gotten to experience the bad days with us...
We
got to Klondike with plenty of daylight time left to set up camp,
take leisurely showers and cook up dinner. Klondike Park gets completely
filled every weekend but on Thursday night, we had an entire section
completely to ourselves. We finally got to sit around a campfire and
I played my guitar and sang for a good long time. It was a magical
end to a perfect day.
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