Katy Trail Bike Trip

 A couple of weekends ago the kids and I piled into the truck and hauled our bikes out to Missouri to meet my family for a long bike ride along the KATY Trail. We've done this before, maybe three years ago, and decided to go again. This time Greta wanted to come along which was fun. She hasn't been a very confident bike rider up until this summer and I was excited she felt she could do this long of a trip. Honestly I think the hotel is what made her come along, she loves staying in hotels and swimming. But that's ok. 

We met my parents, my sister and her family and my dad's cousin and his wife at a campground along the bike trail. They all brought campers and tents while the kids and I stayed at a local hotel (we're not much for roughing it). Since we met at the campground it meant fun evenings around the campfire. It was a bit cold with the evenings in the 30's but we brought winter gear and the fire did a decent job of warming every one up. 

The next day we set out for a day of bike riding along the Katy Trail. It is an old railroad right of way that has been turned into a very nice bike trail. It's 237 miles long and is part of the "rails-to-trail" project. It's quite beautiful! We've now ridden it in spring and fall, both times equally beautiful. I believe we rode 20 miles and I was feeling it at the end. We had some bike problems along the way and I let Greta ride my bike to see if she liked it. She really liked it and took off leaving me to ride the remaining three miles back to the campground on her 24" (knee killing) bike. It was brutal on my already screaming knees and I ended up walking it mostly. It's time to get my tall girl onto an adult sized bike. I'm not sure my creaky old woman knees are going to allow me to do that bike ride anymore.

 

We came upon a closed section of the trail where the bridge washed out. We were afraid we would have to turn around but instead found a path that had been created across a low water bridge. It was down a rather steep embankment and was quite the detour but we were able to get back on the trail and continue the journey.  Wesley was excited that we bent the rules a bit to get around the washed out bridge.

 

The cousins loved these giant hay bale pigs they had all over the town of New Franklin, MO.