Day 4: Friday

Tm: 4:57:06
Dst: 56.43
Avg: 11.3
Mx: 25.6

When I woke in Hermann it was cold, down in the 30s, and foggy.  I took my time with prayer and breakfast at the cafe.  Then it had warmed up a bit and the fog began to lift.

I crossed back over the bridge and got back onto the trail around 9:00.  The ride was beautiful!  Perfect weather, for a change.  Soon I was in Rhineland.  This whole area is full of people of German descent.  The settlers in the area apparently moved here from Germany because it reminded them of the Rhine River valley back home.

There were more bridges along the way, and other remnants of the railroad.  Along the route I saw a deer, a cow (right on the trail!), a snake, a turtle, a bunch of lizards sunning themselves on the rocks, and a few crazy squirrels.

As I pedaled along I was caught by surprise when I came upon a huge sandstone rock, freestanding next to the trail.  They call it "standing rock," unrelated to the Sioux Nation in the Dakotas, I assume.  It was once part of a bluff that was made of softer material that is now gone.  On the side of the rock, a century of flood levels (7 floods) are recorded, though they are only faintly visible.

I stopped in the village of Mokane (population 188) for lunch at the grocery store/deli.  The senior citizens were gathered there, chatting.  A yellow lab waited outside the door, staring in the window.  I had a slice of pizza, some gatorade, and a banana.

While I ate, I noticed another biker in the place, snacking and typing on his blackberry phone.  He's riding a mountain bike, towing a bob trailer -- yikes!  It must be heavy, I thought.  All told, I saw about 22 bikers today, all but one heading East.  Richard, a retired gentleman who rides 1800 miles/year, rode alongside me for the last few miles to his house, where he turned off the trail.  It was nice to visit with a local biker on the trail.  I met him while I was reading a marker about Lewis and Clark's camp nearby.

When I arrived in Hartsburg, I quickly found the Globe Motel, a B&B run by a friendly cat-loving woman (at least 7 cats roam the property, and a couple of them live indoors).  There are six rooms in the motel, and four of them are rented tonight.  The woman told me that 96% of her business is from bikers off the Katy Trail.  One of the guests, John, is already checked in.  He's a retired electronics sales rep.  He and I talked for quite some time both at the motel and at the cafe during dinner.

Hartsburg is a tiny town of 108 people.  There is a bar, a cafe, motel, a winery, and a post office.  I think that's about it.  I noted that the Adventure Cycling Map indicates there is a bike shop in Hartsburg, but it has closed down.

Tomorrow I am planning to ride to Marshall, 71 miles from here.  That section of the route leaves the Katy Trail, which is disappointing.  I've been enjoying the trail a great deal.  Tomorrow I will pass through the only tunnel on the trail, near Rocheport.