Day 20. After the storm, our last day on the Katy, St. Charles, MO

9am start from Peers with a 3pm arrival in St. Charles, our final point on the Katy Trail. A good day with a nice lunch stop in Defiance and end of the road liquids and solids in St. Charles. 

Ready to ride, this group of nine at 9am.  The previous nights storms had passed and we had a cool, damp and cloudy morning to complete our last 44 miles on the Katy. Dan and his vintage Indian motorcycle would say good bye here and take the shortcut home to his house. 

Our ride started almost immediately dealing with the aftermath of the nights storms. Here Steve, myself and Bill Amos (barely pictured) clear limbs that were completely blocking the trail. 

Most of the trail was fairly firm and dry with only a few washouts but our local boys knew of an area that was consistently challenged by washouts. Here we dismount and push our loaded bikes through the soft gravel. Mr. Garrett, the cycling machine, consistently refused to dismount or unclip from his pedals and would slog through unabated!   Way to go John. 🚴

John once again refuses to dismount to ride underneath a downed tree limb,,,

 

...while Bill Amos and the rest of us walk our bike underneath the limb. 

Angela poses for me on on of the creek crossings that has suffered some damage from a blown over tree. 

I'm realizing now that the pictures I captured today may make it seem like our last day was a day spent riding in the aftermath of a hurricane. It was not. We had less than a dozen areas we needed to dismount to deal with the storms impact. The rest of the ride was almost a normal ride, just keeping an eye open for fresh ruts or other smaller washouts. 

 

No Panniers!

We had a great break in Defiance at a bar right off the trail where Buck's wife Gene, and high school friend John, visiting from Washington joined us say hello and pick up Buck for her brothers college graduation later that day.  We also lost Steve there so he could be dropped off at his house by Buck and return to pick up Angela and I at the trails end to spend the night with him and his wife Clair. However, Angela and I will be forever grateful to Steve for suggesting he take our bags with him to allow us to ride the last 22 miles without our gear.  After over 1,000 miles it felt great to lose 40 or 50 lbs. and "fly" along the trail with much ease. 

From the "Nasty Nine" this morning to the "Hateful Eight" into Defiance, now the   "Solemn Six" as we pose in front of the Lewis and Clark monument for our last trail picture before a celebration at a local brew pub in St. Charles. 

It is a bit sad to end our Katy Trail ride with our friends but we know we will have another adventure together again.