Rock Island Trail Forum

The Hotel Frederick is now open for business. Across the street from the trailhead in Boonville, this property has been restored to a new level of excellence. If you are looking for a hotel that offers comfort and hospitality in Boonville, please try it!

Suites with whirlpool baths, custom designed linens, flat screen tvs, all tile bathrooms with heated towel racks and floors.

Glenn's Cafe for your dining pleasure and much more. All trail riders will receive $20 off any room. Call 660-882-2828 for more information or for reservations. hotelfrederick@sbcglobal.net

Not to nitpick, but the trailhead is on Spring street between First & Second street. I remember the Hotel Frederick at Main & High streets, next to the approach to bridge.

How much to stay here...not on their website ?

Not on trailhead but trail goes right past the hotel. It is at the the base of the bridge where the trail enters Boonville. Had a wonderful evening here! VERY cold beer served and food at Glenn's can't be beat. Such a nice treat after being out all day! Whirlpool tub and plush towels really helped gear me up for day 2. Can't wait to bring my buddies for round 2!

One Queen bed starting at $100.



Two Queen beds starting at $250.

We just spent the weekend at The Red Brick Inn in Augusta Mo (7/28/07) and it was such a nice time! Corrine and Gary make you feel at home there and they are so friendly and down to earth. The home itself is beautiful and the back deck,hot tub, pond,arbor, garden and yard are gorgeous! the room we stayed in (the blue room) was decorated wonderfully and a large suite with a very comfortable bed and the jacuzzi tub was a nice end to the long day! the whole experience there was memorable and we will definately return! stop in the Augusta Brewery while you are in town at have lunch or dinner. Molly is very helpful there.

We just spent the weekend at The Red Brick Inn in Augusta Mo (7/28/07) and it was such a nice time! Corrine and Gary make you feel at home there and they are so friendly and down to earth. The home itself is beautiful and the back deck,hot tub, pond,arbor, garden and yard are gorgeous! the room we stayed in (the blue room) was decorated wonderfully and a large suite with a very comfortable bed and the jacuzzi tub was a nice end to the long day! the whole experience there was memorable and we will definately return! stop in the Augusta Brewery while you are in town at have lunch or dinner. Molly is very helpful there.

I forgot to include the wonderful breakfast we had in the morning...Corrine and Gary work together to make it beautiful and delicious and give you great conversation over the meal.

I forgot to include the wonderful breakfast we had in the morning...Corrine and Gary work together to make it beautiful and delicious and give you great conversation over the meal.

We found great camping at the Truman Lake, "Sparrowfoot". It's about 3-4 miles south of the trail head. Too bad it's not advertised.

Did you start at Clinton and how far did you bike? I am new to biking we were wondering how flat the trail is to Sedalia?



Thanks!!

Where is the first grave of Daniel Boone and is it on the old

Boone fort?

Good question! From Boone's wikipedia entry:



Boone died on September 26, 1820, at Nathan Boone's home on Femme Osage Creek. He was buried next to Rebecca, who had died on March 18, 1813. The graves, which were unmarked until the mid-1830s, were near Jemima (Boone) Callaway's home on Tuque Creek, about two miles (3 km) from present day Marthasville, Missouri. In 1845, the Boones' remains were disinterred and reburied in a new cemetery in Frankfort, Kentucky. Resentment in Missouri about the disinterment grew over the years, and a legend arose that Boone's remains never left Missouri. According to this story, Boone's tombstone in Missouri had been inadvertently placed over the wrong grave, but no one had corrected the error. Boone's Missouri relatives, displeased with the Kentuckians who came to exhume Boone, kept quiet about the mistake and allowed the Kentuckians to dig up the wrong remains. There is no contemporary evidence that this actually happened, but in 1983, a forensic anthropologist examined a crude plaster cast of Boone's skull made before the Kentucky reburial and announced that it might be the skull of an African American. Black slaves were also buried at Tuque Creek, so it is possible that the wrong remains were mistakenly removed from the crowded graveyard. Both the Frankfort Cemetery in Kentucky and the Old Bryan Farm graveyard in Missouri claim to have Boone's remains.[26]

Link if you're interested:



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Boone

I am researching the Kennedy family who had a fort next to the

Boone fort. Daniel Boone loaned money to one of my Kennedy

ancesters and we have a copy of the note signed by James Kennedy

that he borrowed this money from D. Boone. Some Kennedy's are

buried in the Wright City Cemetary, but I have known there are

more graves closer to their fort. Thanks for this information.

Hello all!



My mom and I are going to ride from the KATY to the arch. I have looked at all of the routes suggested, but I have no concept of what the streets are like, what traffic is like there, etc. We would like to take the least busy route possible with regards to traffic. Which of the three routes would you suggest to avoid traffic? Also, can we ride on sidewalks through some of the busier places? Thanks!

By the way,



I want to add that we would be willing to add upwards of 10 miles to the route through town to avoid traffic. We will be used to riding 40 miles a day by that point, so we really don't care about distance as much as avoiding traffic and feeling safe. So, if anyone has any alternatives that are by far less busy with traffic, I am definately open to suggestions. Thanks again for your help...

rick, if you can find a way from st. charles to alton illinois (there is a ferry i beleieve that crosses the mississippi around west alton, i think), then you can take the arch green way trail all the way to with in 1/2 to 3/4 miles of the arch without any traffic at all. check out trailnet.net i beleieve the green way trail goes all the way from just north of the arch, crosses the mississippi on the old chain of rocks bridge, and continues on to alton, ill. the trick is gettin from st. charles / machens area to alton, ill. good luck. i do not know the routes through st. louis county and into st. louis. ask the web master, he may know better routes than this. he knows his stuff pretty well. anywhich way, have fun.

Thanks for the idea. I am definately going to explore this...



Can anyone tell me about the traffic on 94 out of St. Charles. Is this a safe road to bike on?

rick, the ferry is at portage de sioux. hope this helps

Yes this definately helps! Thanks so much for checking that out, as I was planning on going further on than portages de souix. I am going to start a new thread about Alton, Ill.



Any other ideas for avoiding traffic?

FYI: It appears that the new bridge is open between Hermann and McKittrick. It looks like they now have a crane on the old bridge and might be starting to do some work toward getting rid of the old bridge.

anybody ever try the Cowboy Trail in Nebraska? Very long---what condition in the trail in?

I've been searching online for information about the Cowboy Trail with little success. They really need a website as good as this one. I'd really be interested in hearing from anyone who has ridden the trail.

Below are a couple of useful links on the Cowboy Trail.



http://www.ngpc.state.ne.us/parks/guides/trails/cowboy/cowboy.asp



http://www.trailsfromrails.com/cowboy_trail.htm



I have not ridden this trail but I believe it is substantially complete between Norfolk & Valentine, NE(170 + continuous miles). There may be a few stretches that are still incomplete when you get up towards Valentine, but you can get around this by going out on the highway, which pretty much follows the trail. The surface looks pretty much like the Katy, but the reviews I have read indicates that there are some very rough sections(ie. poorly maintained) to transverse through, so I would use a mountain bike on this trail, at least the first time around. Not that you see a lot of traffic on the Katy, but I believe you will find much less traffic on this trail as the State of Nebraska does nothing to promote this trail. I am going to try to bike this trail sometime this year, but I have been saying that for 2 years now.



A much more interesting trail to me is the Mickelson Trail(114 miles), which gets up into the Black Hills and Badlands of South Dakota. It has some very looong 2-4% grades, which can wear a person out, but will definitely give you much different scenery than the Katy Trail.

yeah it looks like a hell of a trail. definitely have to check it out some day.

Just returned from a trip to Nebraska where we rode portions of the Cowboy Trail between Norfolk and Valentine. It's not as nice a trail as the Katy. The surface is much softer and not well maintained in some parts of the trail--don't take your road bike. Since this board is about the Katy, I'll leave it at that. If you want to know more, email me at preaves@gmail.com.

This past week NASCAR driver, Carl Edwards, rode his bike from Columbia, MO to Madison, IL. He and some friends started at Columbia, spent the first night in Jefferson City, and the second night in Defiance. They did not have reservations - just winged it. What really impresses me is that Edwards also rode his bike through St. Louis and East St. Louis to the Gateway International Speedway at Madison, IL. Then he got into a race car and drove 250 miles at 170 mph!

He must have been the guy that nudged me off the trail.

Thats just racing!

Then after the Katy trail and a NASCAR race-



OMAHA, Neb. (AP) -NASCAR driver Carl Edwards was released early Monday from an Omaha hospital after being injured Sunday night in a dirt track race in nearby Greenwood, a hospital spokeswoman said.



Details of the injury were not immediately available. Edwards' younger brother, Kenny Edwards, told the Omaha World-Herald it could be a dislocated thumb, caught in the steering wheel during a crash.



Edwards hit the back of another car that had spun out in the third lap, starting a 10-car pileup that battered his car. Edwards left the 25-lap race at I-80 Speedway in the back of an ambulance.



A prior rain delay of 45 minutes had left a slick surface on the track.



Lora Ullerich, a spokeswoman for Lakeside Hospital in Omaha, confirmed Monday that Edwards had been treated and released, but did not give further details, citing confidentiality rules.



Roush Racing spokeswoman LeAnne Howell said Roush officials had no comment.



Edwards, ranked fifth in the Nextel Cup standings and leading the Busch standings, was scheduled to be in Milwaukee on Monday for performance testing.



He raced in the late-model event with his brother and father, Carl Edwards Sr.



Edwards finished sixth at the Busch Gateway 250 on Saturday night, leading for seven laps but rubbing against the wall late.

I've never rode Amtrak. Can you buy tickets at the Kirkwood depot? OR do I need to purchase tickets online?

Tickets can be purchased on line, but tickets cannot be purcased at the Kirkwood station. The Kirkwood Station is manned by volunteers and do not handle money.

Also, they limit the number of bikes on each train, so if you are taking your bike, you definitely want to make that reservation ahead of time.

You can buy your tickets on board the train. Not recommended if you're taking your bike as pointed out by ET.

My Great Grandfather ,William T. Hensley, helped build the Katy through Texas. My Grandfather, Ersel Ray Hensley, helped tear out the track, atleast in the central Texas area. My father, Ersel Ray Hensley Jr., brought three of the original crossties to Hilo Hawaii because the Katy was such a big part of his growing up. Now my father is buried under those same crossties in my brother's yard here on the Big Island of Hawaii. By the way, the original depot for the Katy in Albany Texas is still there and is being used as a museum. I can remember playing under the depot landing in my childhood days. We used to put coins on the track to get smashed by the Katy. Thanks for listening.

We just visited Green Ridge and so broken-hearted fool spraypainted the exterior of the bathroom with a nasty comment. I hope that gets cleaned up quickly.

Did you report it to the DNR so someone could get it cleaned up quickly? Probably none of the poster here will take care of it.

Thanks, I just called DNR and they are sending someone to fix it today.

After a long bike ride we took our RV to "Lakeside Resort". It's about 30 miles south of Sedalia on the Lake of the Ozarks. It was worth the drive to enjoy the swimming and friendly campers.

I remember hearing that someday the trial might be extended to K.C.

Does anyone know what railroad line that would be since the Katy did not go to KC?

From this site's homepage...scroll down to: Katy Trail Kansas City Extension.

FYI, the Rock Island Corridor from Windsor to Pleasant Hill that AmerenUE now controls seems the most realistic at this point. If you follow the links on the home page, there are several other routes that have been studied. Assuming Rock Island happens, something will have to be worked out between Pleasant Hill & KC. Another problem with the Windsor to Pleasant Hill route is that the 50-55 miles it runs will probably be more limited in services than any of the comparable stretches on the current trail.



You can fairly easily trace the railroad on Googlemap, but from Pleasant Hill to Windsor, I found only two towns, Leeton, MO & some place called Chilohwee, MO on the Rock Island route.

We stopped for lunch at Jim's over Memorial Day. His menu was VERY limited (he has a sign that says "I gots what I gots," but he is in the process of putting in a full kitchen, supposedly to be ready soon. Then he will expand the menu. A highlight of this stop was his old Model T parked out front--he gave all of our kids rides around the block in it! Behind the store he has a large garage containing 4 or 5 other historic cars in various states of restoration, and he let us wander around and have a look at them.

Jim's was a hoot, a real throwback. I asked what they had to eat and he turned and looked in

the fridge. "Well, I got some ham and there's some pizzas in the freezer." There was plenty

of cool Gatorade, though, so I was happy.

I have looked forward to reading other's 2007 trip reports or journals here on the bikekatytrail.com website. Where are they?? Come on everyone, those of us who haven't been able to ride the trail yet this year would love to read about your experiences!!

Here is a trip report of the entire trail.



http://paltnether.blogspot.com/

I did my trip this weekend. We went from Huntsdale, camped at Steamboat Junction and

went on to Weldon Springs today. We had planned to do the full thing, but schedules

didn't allow. I'd have to say Lucy's in McBaine, Steam Boat Junction in Bluffton and

Trailside Bar and Grill in Rhineland were all great. I recommend each one.



For beginners, I'd have to say 60 miles/day is a good way to start. The one thing that

bothered us the most was our butts. Don't underestimate this. We started the trip staying

at Katfish Katy's, also recommended. It's a good, clean campsite. We went on to have

Lucy's in nearby McBaine and the food there was great. We were disappointed how much

ATV use the trail had between Mokane and McKittrick. It gets regularly used after hours

mostly by people on ATVs. Both Katfish Katy's and Steamboat Junction have food and hot

showers. SJ had food available 24 hours at a self-serve counter with lots of snacks and

drink.



Riding into Weldon Springs was pretty dang sweet. Next time I'll notch it up to 180 miles.

Hi again. I love this forum. It is so helpful. I was wondering about handlebar bags. I would like one to keep a cell phone and camera close at hand. Any suggestions on types/styles of handel bar bags? I have looked at the Navarro bag that is about $20. It has a clear front that I like for puting in my phone and even my gps, but it is not handy because it has a double zipper to get to it, and it is very large. Ideas? Suggestions?? Thanks again!

I'd vote against the handle bar bag and for a bike jersey with rear pockets. I dislike the the bar bag because it obscures your view of where that all important front tire is. You can get jerseys that are functional, but still loose fitting and in modest colors and designs. In addition, you can get mountain bike style shorts that have both normal front pockets and velcro closures on cargo pockets.

I use a handlebar bag so I can carry a windbreaker, sunblock, clif bars and a map--along with a cell phone and a camera. If you don't need to carry that much, I would buy a smaller cell phone holder. Otherwise the handlebar bag is in your view and can make the bike "twitchy," if you put too much in it.

Topeak makes a good line of bike products.....front bags, rear racks and trunk bags that slide lock onto the rack. Yes a front bag, overloaded, can effect the balance of your bike. But I only notice that when I'm stopped and off the bike. The trunk bag can have the same effect....and the rear panniers.....and the front panniers.

My wife and I both use the Topeak "Tour Guide Handlebar bag" and love em. They are just the right size that you can carry what is needed for ready access but not easily overloaded. Google Topeak and drill down till you find their bags. Mine houses my sun glasses wallet, cell phone, camera, compact bino's, dog spray, and lots of extra room for bars or gels.

Have wanted to ride the KATY for several years. Recently noticed a five day KATY ride sponsored by Elderhostel (I'm in my early 60's) that interested me...good, but seemed a little over-organized. Any thoughts or suggestions on Missouri area touring companies that I might look into for a similar small group ride? Thank you. CES