KY>ILL>MO>KANSAS!

Time to get going! Leaving Nashville on Friday, our trail took us back into Kentucky, cutting through the western part . . .

And then, a quick pass through the lower section of . . . 

About to cross the Missouri River . . .

And on into St. Louis!

This is as close as we got to the Arch!
We're mostly staying out of the big city centers!!

The plan had been to zip right on through Missouri AND Kansas on I-70 Saturday, all the way to Kansas City - a "long haul" for us! Did I say we are wanting to make tracks?

Well, while Harold was pumping our thirsty rig full of gas just outside St. Louis, I was thumbing through our "Guide to Scenic Highways & Byways" and found a new route - through the Missouri Valley Wine Country!

So just west of St. Louis, we veered off onto Missouri 94, and explored a most scenic and enjoyable drive from Weldon Spring to Marthasville along the Missouri River! And the pleasure-factor inched up a notch when we realized we were traveling on the Lewis & Clark Trail!  Plus - it was a bee-u-tee-full day!

Our first pull-over along this route was at an old railroad stop at Matson, one of many trailheads in Katy Trail State Park. Turns out we had just stumbled upon the longest developed rail-trail in the country! What luck!! Got our bikes unloaded and ready to ride the former corridor of the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad. The trail is an incredible 225 miles long!  Wow!

We only actually pedaled a couple of miles up the trail, the cool shade and light breeze blowing through the tunnel of trees gave welcome relief from the sticky heat of the day! We'd passed a winery a short ways back, and we headed in that direction!

Yellow Farmhouse Vineyard & Winery was bustling with activity when we arrived. Hopping off our bikes and following our noses (do I smell grapes?) we bumped into the vintner! Dale steered us into the winery where a crushing operation was in full swing - crushing of an "early grape", Edelweiss, for one of their unique wines ("off-dry taste with hints of peach and pineapple, slightly tart aftertaste!")

Then - in the tasting room . . .

Bought two bottles of a crisp chilled white - one to take home and one to enjoy in their Winegarden, where we kicked back and listened to a local guitar player sing and play some old favorites from "our day" - Johnny Cash, Credence . . . the Eagles and more!

Live music in the Winegarden? We're on our way . . .

After an hour or so it was time to be on our way, so we pedaled back along the rail trail to the RV. We stopped to bone up a bit on Daniel Boone, local legendary frontiersman, and then crossed the road to see the site of Boone's "Justice Tree", the giant elm under which, as District Magistrate in the late 1700's, he often held court!

A little history refresher!

Across the road there - former site of Daniel Boone's old "Justice Tree"

The day's delightful diversion drastically cut into our plan to make it 300+ miles today! By this time, all we wanted to do was find a place to "camp" for the night, so we moseyed on down the road a few miles and into the quaint little town of Augusta (Missouri). Harold just loves the challenge of maneuvering our rig through the side streets of these little villages! Anyway, day's end found us parked at the library!

Today, meandered along on the scenic drive for a ways, then headed back up to I-70 to continue our not-so-mad-dash west! Harold was determined to make up for our dilly-dallying in eastern MO by really putting some miles behind us today!

Some nice sights along our drive today . . .

So, bound to the Interstate (by Harold's stubborn determination) we made it to the western edge of Missouri.  Here's where Kansas City, Missouri . . . 

 Becomes Kansas City, Kansas!

In Kansas, what else but more corn! The cornfields here stretched on as far as we could see, acres and acres of corn - just now beginning to dry and change to brown.

And pressing on along I-70, due west, past Topeka, the sun burning down through a now cloudless sky, and the gently rolling hills and lush terrain of Missouri and eastern Kansas, gradually flattening out, trees fewer and further between, but remarkably still very, very green. 

So we're driving along when all of a sudden  - Ka-BAM !!!

And now we know what it sounds like when you have a blowout!!!  And here's what it looks like . . .

Well, at the end of the day, all that really matters is that you are SAFE!! And thank heaven for roadside assistance who got us going on our way . . . .

Plus, Harold is reasonably satisfied that, in spite of that tire trouble, we managed to progress over 300 miles today on our journey . . . here we are in Junction City, Kansas . . . 

And - tomorrow is another day!