Before we left Rocheport, we decided to take a short ride on the Katy Trail, a 265-mile-long rail trail along the old Missouri-Kansas-Texas railroad line. I rode the entire trail back about 19 years ago. Today, we went west and experienced another big tunnel. This one wasn’t nearly as dark or scary as yesterday’s tunnel. Then we went back east from Rocheport to explore. There, the Missouri River ran along one side and a rock cliff on the other side of the trail. We saw a place on the cliff side where a hole had been drilled to provide a waterspout. Above it was a carving railroad workers made in 1908.
Next, we loaded up and headed to Kansas City for a trail ride there. We consider riding at least 5 miles as riding in a state. We crossed into KS to ride at Leawood Park. Kansas City is a beautiful city. The park, greenway, and the surrounding homes were very nice. When we arrived, the radar showed rain moving into the area. So we didn’t change into bike clothes, grab water bottles, or anything. We knew we were doing a hurried 2.5-mile ride out and back for a total of 5 miles just to check it off our list. It was perfect timing. We got back to the car and were rolling north just as the rain started. We enjoyed their greenway but were content with the bit we saw, knowing better rides are ahead. From there we headed toward Omaha and Council Bluffs. Along I-29 we saw amber waves of grain. Thousands of acres, just like the song describes. We took many photos from a moving car through the windows with our phones, so no award-winning photos, but we still enjoyed the beauty and captured snapshots for the memory. We saw some RR lights flashing across a field, alerting us that a train was coming, so we jumped off the interstate to film it. The John Deere tractors here are quite different from the ones you see around home! Took some photos of those behemoths. Later we caught and passed the same train we had seen previously, as the tracks were back alongside the interstate. Eventually, we made it to Council Bluffs, IA, and rode along the greenway across the river from Omaha, then crossed a beautiful pedestrian bridge and rode in NE. Omaha has become a beautiful town since I was last there in the late 90s.
We can now checkmark IL, MO, KS, IA, and NE as states where we have ridden our bikes on this trip!
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