July 2: Jefferson City

Missouri River View from Katy Trail

A warm and muggy day as I travelled from Bluffton campsite to the Missouri capital city. A soggy start to the day as everything was soaked from dew this morning. Probably something I will have to get used to.  My favorite stretches of the trail Are those in which the trail skirts right along the river. But in most cases there still is a band of trees or bushes which obscure good views of the river.  The view above is actually someone’s yard which the trail crosses.  They had cleared out all the brush and we got this beautiful view.

It seems that I see more critters from the trail than I would typically see on a ride in Wisconsin. An inventory so far: 🐢 including the beautiful colors which didn’t show up in the picture below, rabbits of course, a family of raccoons, a big white rat, a family of birds still in the nest, a garter snake, only one deer on the trail so far, lizards, and a small animal which might have been a weasel or a mink.  Trying to avoid a flat tire, I try to avoid sticks on the trail, and ride around them.  Sometimes the sticks look like snakes until I get close enough.  So it is surprising that I ran over the garter snake before realizing what it was!

Finally, I see the Missouri Capitol building from a picnic bench by the trail, which was sponsored by a former governor. In order to get across the river cyclists need to get up to the level of he US Highway 54 bridge. This is accomplished by climbing a three level bike ramp that connects to the bridge sidewalk.  This ramp was donated by Mrs. Ted Jones. Ted Jones and his wife donated $2.2 million to begin the transition of the trail from a railroad right away to the Katy Trail which is a 240 mile long but very thin state park. The Katy Trail was the longest rail trail in the country. Who are the Jones’s? They were the founders of Edward Jones - the financial consultants. So they could probably afford it.

Finally the last photo is from the Capitol grounds.  It is a famous sculpture which depicts the signing of the Louisiana Purchase from France by Thomas Jefferson in 1804. Also a shrewd businessman, the purchase doubled the size of the USA.  Later that year, Lewis & Clark left on this little trip to see what he bought.

Miles: 37

Elevations:  High: 621 on the Jeff City bridge; Low 523 on the trail

Max speed 25.7

Typical river view from trail

Turtle Crossing

 Capitol building from trail

Cottonwood tree

Elaborate triple level bike ramp to highway bridge

Capitol building from Missouri River Bridge

Fountain commemorates Jefferson signing Louisiana  purchase