Day 5 - Thursday May 24; Louisana, MO to Marthasville, MO (78 mi)

I got up pretty early, loaded my bike and had biscuits and gravy at a Shell convenience store across from the motel. I was rolling by 7:00 AM. The first 11 miles were along the Mississippi River to Clarksville, MO. There was one convenience store in Clarksville where I inquired about the Adventure Cycling route and an alternate that I came up with last night while studying blogs and Google Maps. I ended up riding the first five miles out of Clarksville on the AC route. There was a long hill out of Clarksville but it was comfortable spinning in granny gear. The road had a canopy of trees and the views from the top were great. After five miles I took a route that ended up on US61 which is a four-lane divided highway with an eight foot shoulder. The route change was spurred by not wanting to climb any more hills than necessary. The road over to US61 was flat and a nice ride. It was very windy all day with the direction out of the south, the direction I was riding most of the day, at probably 15-20 mph with gusts to at least 30 mph. Once on US61 the headwind was fierce with nothing to break the wind except an occasional convoy of semis going 80 mph. 17 miles later I exited at Troy, MO. It was only 12:30 PM so I ate lunch at McDs then headed 15 miles to Wright City, MO which is an I-70 town. Because it was still early, and because I'd heard that the Cuivre River SP was already full, I rode on past. This was my intended camping place for tonight. I was in Wright City by 3:30 PM, drank a Diet Coke at a small convenience store then headed the final 20 miles to Marthasville. The afternoon riding was along a high ridge line; winding and not especially hilly. Sometimes there were trees to block the wind which was very welcome, but occasionally it was very hard riding into the headwind. Between about 4:30 and 5:00 PM it got a little “harry” traffic-wise. The road was very winding with no shoulder and limited sight distance   I’m guessing people were returning home from work and (maybe because this was Friday afternoon) they had little patience for slow-joe bicycler. After 5:00 PM there was hardly any traffic. I did get chased by what appeared to be a Pit Bull. It was late in the day and I was tired so he got pepper sprayed in view of his owner. I’ll do that if they are charging straight at me and growling ferociously.  I figured they guy would run me down in his pickup but I never saw him. I must have gotten a little pepper spray on my finger then my upper lip because I had a mild burning sensation. I stopped down the road and washed it off with water and the burning was gone. I exited the highway onto the Katy Trail around 6:30 PM. Right on the trail in Marthasville is the KT Caboose. They were still open and serving pizza and ice cream. I ate dinner there and asked about camping. They directed me to the city park/ball diamonds within view of the KT Caboose. They have showers but I have to wait until the ball games are over – which right now is likely to be around 11:00 PM. It is supposed to T-storm around 11:00 PM so they said I could camp under the large pavilion which is where I am now. Two Katy Trail riders just showed up to keep me company for the night. Joe and Nick Stewart (father and son) are headed from St. Charles to Columbia, MO for the annual "Peddler's Jamboree". Joe is a Baptist pastor from Peoria, Il and is on sabbatical while getting his doctorate. Nick works at a coffee shop in downtown St. Louis. A few photos from the day follow.



View after the climb out of Clarksville, MO; my last view of the Mississippi River



The nice part of my alternate from Clarksville to Troy, MO



The not-so-nice part of my alternate; US61 four-lane divided highway for 17 miles into a 20 mph wind!!

Arriving at the intersection of the Great Rivers North route and the Katy Trail in Marthasville, MO

Pizza and ice cream at the KT Caboose (very good after a 78 mile day - especially the ice cream!)