Day 16 Escape from St. Charles

September 23, 2019

SPOILER ALERT!!!! My morning did not start well and did not improve as the day progressed. If you are not interested in the details, feel free to scroll down to the few images I got on this day's ride.

I made my escape from St. Charles at 7:00 am this morning. I woke up at 4:00 am and could not go back to sleep, so I got up and started packing. At 5:30 I wandered in to the dining room to get a cup of coffee from the machine, like I had done at breakfast the previous two days. Only, the staff person on duty this morning took exception to me getting coffee from the machine before 6:00am and told me to get coffee from the thermos in the lobby and was not very polite about it. Well, Excuse me! After returning to my room, and, not being able to access the internet, again, instead of checking the weather on line, I did it the old fashioned way: I walked outside. When I came back inside, I saw something in the lobby that I had not seen previously, and, while trying to figure out what I was looking at, this same, bad-attitude staff person came out and said something like: "can I help you?", like I was cutting in to her goof-off time. After "customer service" like that, I was ready to leave as soon as it was light enough to see. Not a good sign for a business when guests are in a hurry to leave.

When I got to the Klondike Park detour, I did stop and take some photos. When I was coming thru eastbound, I was following someone else on a bike and really did not have a chance to look around. I got turned around a couple of times, but, eventually found my way back to the trail.

I hit the trail and soon found out I was not the only one out for an early ride. I saw at least a dozen other folks on the trail before I got out of the St. Charles area. I also spooked up about 4 or 5 white tail deer. That was a surprise. I also saw the usuall suspects: cotton tail rabbits, squirrels, frogs and toads. One thing I did see this morning on the trail I had not seen previously were two terrapins. Lucky for them they were crossing the Katy Trail and not the local highway.

Ever since I got on the trail at Clinton, I have seen signs at every trailhead and even some highway intersections that all dogs must be on a leash. That is common sense. Just upriver from Augusta, I came across the one person to whom that rule does not apply. This woman was walking two dogs, a Labrador and a blue heeler. That really infuriated me someone would be STUPID enough to walk a blue heeler OFF THE LEASH on a path frequented by bicycle riders. That d*** dog came after me like a shot and first tried to bite one of my half gallon water bottles on the front of the bike, and when that did not work, managed to catch one of the straps on one of my rear panniers. I felt the bike hesitate for a second, and then I was rolling free again. I have been hoping that D***ed dog lost a tooth with that stunt. I made a very loud, extremely impolite exclaimation after the dog grabbed at the pannier so that stupid woman would know I was not at all pleased the dogs-must-be-on-a-leash rule did not apply to her.

I am gonna be spending two nights here in Hermann so I can visit two of the museums in town and take in some of the sights.

Tonight, I am going to bed early, and I am gonna sleep in to make up for it.

The westbound view of the detour sign directing riders into Klondike Park. The pink arrow was stuck up there sometime last week for a group of westbound supported riders. I had been seeing those since St Charles, and had seen quite a few of them last week starting at North Jefferson City trailhead when I was eastbound.

This and the above are more images of the gravel path to Klondike park.

A close-up of one of the pink arrows on the bike path just before getting going over the bridge to Hermann.

Today's ride: 66 miles (106 km)
Total: 751 miles (1,209 km)

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