Oct 14, 15 and 16

Day 27
We left the hotel early and crossed the road to MacDonald for breakfast.  The place was crowded and but the service was fast.  One of the first things that made the stop noticeable for David was the fact that they got the order correct a first for David on this trip in McD's.  As soon as we had the food a Red Head ask us where we were headed.  We explained it and she was so pleased she introduced us to the regulars and 30 people greeted us and made inquires as to where we from and what we had seen.  Hopefully some of them will follow the blog.

Dave and I followed the directions though St. Louis with out problems.  There are however, problems with the book directions some of the turns were labeled backwards, or incorrectly as turns when it is more of straight through, and distances are a little messed up.  With all this said there is enough information to get through the city.

The route took us right in front of the Casino boat that Dianne and I took out at  during the Mississippi River paddle trip.

Dianne called and was at the Chain of Rock bridge a little early.  So rather than just sitting down and waiting she took her bike off the car and started down the river towards us.  Sure enough she found us and we rode back to the car together.

Once back together we took off for St. Charles MO.  The chosen route was up the river past Alton to Grafton and then ferry ride across the river.  The view on this road is great and brought back all the memories of the canoe trip.

Saturday we  started the Katy  Trail Ride by driving out 60 miles dropping the car and biking back to St. Charles.  We finished back in town just before 5 and I glad Dave knew where the hotel was as he saved us a couple miles of riding in town.

Sunday we rode back out to the car.  The views from the trail are fantastic, with Huge bluffs on one side and the river on the other side.  The trail is busy with most people being polite and sharing space, there were one or two rides that had no idea of how to ride single file and they crowded trail while talking with their companion.  The big attractions appear to be brew pubs and wine tasting stops along the way.  Another interesting note is early in the morning the serious riders and runner are out.  Somewhere around 11:00 this changes to the weekenders who are out for a short slower rides.  For me this means in the morning the bikers are whizzing by and in the afternoon I am trying to pass the slower weekend sightseers.

On another note when did Dianne get so fast on the bike, I know I used to be faster than her.  Not now she zips up the hills with out stopping, often rides way up front, stops gets off waits for me and takes a picture, then hops one and catch up to repeat at will.  All I can say is that I have no hope of keeping up and I am considering attaching myself to her bike. 

Thankful for Today
I am glad Dianne is here (even though is faster than me, at one stop I told the waitress to switch her to decaf but even that did not help.)  She has resupplied my blood pressure med and antibiotics, as well as underwear and compression hose.  I guess as I said at the end of the book I am lucky to have her and should be grateful.

Love and Kisses and to all good night.
Allan and Dave.

PS Pictures will be posted later I am too tired to do it tonight.