recent ride comments - Sedalia to Mokane

Had a nice Amtrak ride from Kirkwood to Sedalia.
The Casey's in Pilot Grove opens at 6AM and has good coffee and donuts. The city park
has nice soft grass for a tent, talk to the chief of police nearby, not far from Casey's -
friendly guy. Some loose dogs north of Pilot Grove looked scary but just wanted company
as they ran along the trail. Franklin is nothing- New Franklin is better, get there by noon
to eat with the seniors at the seniors' center - we missed it. Mike Cooper at Cooper's
Landing was accomodating, but the camp ground was full of dog poop. You really don't
have to get permission from anyone to stay in the Lions Park in Mokane. The bar and grill
there is a good place for a burger and the store nearby is nice.

Doug,
Was there a lot of traffic in and out of the Mokane park? Did it appear to be a safe place to camp?

Good question. I don't want to dis Mokane, but the park, which is just south of the trail
head, had a dicey feel to it. There was a rowdy horseshoe game in progress just north of
the park when we arrived that went on for several hours. However the guy manning the
general store north a block assured us we'd be fine there. When it got dark, around 10:00
everything quieted down. We did hear a little scuffle between two guys around that time
not far from us though. There was a good chance of rain that night, so we set up our tent
in a picinic shelter that had some sides to it for protection from any wind, and felt it gave
us some visual protection too we felt. (we did need to sweep away some broken glass) No
problems occured that night.
I'd say, go to the store (closes at 8), maybe the bar and grill (closes at 1AM) for dinner,
make yourself known, and I'd say you'll be fine. But that's just my opinion. Truthfully,
going that way again, I might do it differntly.
Frankly, we passed up the Katy trail shelter, just west, in Tebbetts, because we were the
only ones there, and it had a musty smell to it. But I'm sure it would have been fine - it
had a very full book of signatures of people who had stayed there. Though Tebbetts has
no store or resturaunt.

I've stayed in the Shelter at Tebbetts on several occasions. I've always found it to be fine and, although Spartan, clean and tidy. Never had problems with a musty smell. At it's worst, it's better than a tent. Although there is no resturaunt in Tebbetts, there is a small store and bar and grill next door.