Lizzy got in to Clinton, Missouri early on the morning of May 14, and I got in at about 11am after taking the Greyhound from Minneapolis. We stayed in the Westbridge Inn and Suites, and our check-in time was 3pm so we had a bit of time to kill. We wandered around Clinton for a bit, ate lunch and then headed over to the hotel.
We decided we wanted to get an early start, so rather than going out for dinner, we had a pizza delivered, which would quickly become a theme of the trip. After some last minute bag-packing and nervousness, we hit the sack at 8pm with our alarms set for 4:30 am. In the morning, we woke up, brushed our teeth, put on sunscreen, and hit the road. The Westbridge Inn is approximately two miles from the trail head. If we had to do this all over again, we would splurge on a more expensive hotel closer to the trail. Two extra miles on the day weren't that bad, but we were raring to actually get on the trail and get started. After a few pictures at the start of the trail we were off!
Part 1: Smells Like Honeysuckle
If you look at the Strava link above, you can see that we started out with a strategy of running five miles and walking one mile, with a pace of 10-11 minutes per mile for the running miles. The pace felt fine even with packs, but the run/walk balance was WAY too aggressive as we would learn by the end of the day. The temperature early in the morning was cool, and this entire trail segment was nicely shaded. We stopped at the Calhoun trail head for a short break to use the bathroom and refill water, but otherwise we didn't stop much the entire morning.
As the title suggests, the scent of honeysuckle was the most striking thing about our morning run. For me, honeysuckle is a scent that carries a lot of memories. The first heady breath of honeysuckle wafting through the air signals the start of summer and brings back childhood memories of plucking flowers off honeysuckle bushes to get at the drop of nectar within. There's not as much honeysuckle in Minnesota, and it doesn't get as warm as early here as it does in Missouri, so until I smelled the honeysuckle on the Katy Trail I didn't realize how much I missed the smell that means a magical summer lies wide open ahead. Lizzy made the remark that this is what perfume is trying to smell like.
Part 2: A Hop, Skip, and a Jump to Windsor
Not much to say about this segment. We decided to stop for lunch and realized we were only a little ways away from the Windsor trail head, so we decided to head there instead of lunching on the side of the trail.
Part 3: Channeling Chris Traeger
After a break of about an hour for lunch, we hit the trail. We felt really good in the morning and the first part of the afternoon, but we soon came to a long, un-shaded section of trail. By this time the sun was glaring and it was a warm 84 degrees. (Not actually that warm as far as Missouri summer temperatures go, but we also hadn't really acclimated to hot Missouri summers yet.) We quickly realized the run 5/walk 1 approach was too much to handle, so we backed it off to run 4/walk 1, then run 3/walk 1, then run 2/walk 1, and by the end of the afternoon had devolved into `shamble forward in any manner possible.'
If you've watched the show Parks and Recreation, you know the character Chris Traeger. If not, he is upbeat about EVERYTHING, even hard/sad/negative things. We were trying to channel Chris Traeger, "This is LITERALLY the best mile I have ever run in my life. That is LITERALLY the best tortilla I have ever eaten."
Physically, we were absolutely destroyed by the time we got to the Sedalia trail head. Our plan was to camp at the Missouri state fairgrounds, about a half-mile up the road from the trail head, but we LITERALLY couldn't fathom moving any more at that point, so instead we laid on the concrete floor of the little shelter at the trail head for almost an hour. Finally, we picked ourselves up to head over to the campground.
This is the most ridiculous part of the day. We walked up the road until we saw a field with bathroom buildings and a bunch of RV hookups, which we thought was the campground. We thought it was a little weird that there seemed to be no one else camped out for the night. We plopped down in the grass and ordered a pizza for dinner. See, I told you it would become a theme.
Eventually we got up to investigate and realized all of the bathrooms buildings were locked. Earlier in the day, we had talked to someone on the phone at the fairgrounds office, but it was now past five pm so we couldn't reach anyone. We were feeling revived, and saw some other bathroom buildings across the road so decided to investigate. We crossed the road to the actual fairgrounds and found an open bathroom as well as more RV hookups, so we thought this must be the public camping. We showered, finished dinner, set up our tent, and crawled inside ready to pass out.
Not long after, a super friendly park ranger pulled up and informed us that this was not, in fact, the public campgrounds. They were about a quarter mile further up the road with a GIANT SIGN. We just hadn't gone far enough. So, we packed up our tent and finally made it to the right spot and settled in for the night.
Total recorded mileage: 36.6
We decided we wanted to get an early start, so rather than going out for dinner, we had a pizza delivered, which would quickly become a theme of the trip. After some last minute bag-packing and nervousness, we hit the sack at 8pm with our alarms set for 4:30 am. In the morning, we woke up, brushed our teeth, put on sunscreen, and hit the road. The Westbridge Inn is approximately two miles from the trail head. If we had to do this all over again, we would splurge on a more expensive hotel closer to the trail. Two extra miles on the day weren't that bad, but we were raring to actually get on the trail and get started. After a few pictures at the start of the trail we were off!
Part 1: Smells Like Honeysuckle
If you look at the Strava link above, you can see that we started out with a strategy of running five miles and walking one mile, with a pace of 10-11 minutes per mile for the running miles. The pace felt fine even with packs, but the run/walk balance was WAY too aggressive as we would learn by the end of the day. The temperature early in the morning was cool, and this entire trail segment was nicely shaded. We stopped at the Calhoun trail head for a short break to use the bathroom and refill water, but otherwise we didn't stop much the entire morning.
As the title suggests, the scent of honeysuckle was the most striking thing about our morning run. For me, honeysuckle is a scent that carries a lot of memories. The first heady breath of honeysuckle wafting through the air signals the start of summer and brings back childhood memories of plucking flowers off honeysuckle bushes to get at the drop of nectar within. There's not as much honeysuckle in Minnesota, and it doesn't get as warm as early here as it does in Missouri, so until I smelled the honeysuckle on the Katy Trail I didn't realize how much I missed the smell that means a magical summer lies wide open ahead. Lizzy made the remark that this is what perfume is trying to smell like.
Part 2: A Hop, Skip, and a Jump to Windsor
Not much to say about this segment. We decided to stop for lunch and realized we were only a little ways away from the Windsor trail head, so we decided to head there instead of lunching on the side of the trail.
Part 3: Channeling Chris Traeger
After a break of about an hour for lunch, we hit the trail. We felt really good in the morning and the first part of the afternoon, but we soon came to a long, un-shaded section of trail. By this time the sun was glaring and it was a warm 84 degrees. (Not actually that warm as far as Missouri summer temperatures go, but we also hadn't really acclimated to hot Missouri summers yet.) We quickly realized the run 5/walk 1 approach was too much to handle, so we backed it off to run 4/walk 1, then run 3/walk 1, then run 2/walk 1, and by the end of the afternoon had devolved into `shamble forward in any manner possible.'
If you've watched the show Parks and Recreation, you know the character Chris Traeger. If not, he is upbeat about EVERYTHING, even hard/sad/negative things. We were trying to channel Chris Traeger, "This is LITERALLY the best mile I have ever run in my life. That is LITERALLY the best tortilla I have ever eaten."
Physically, we were absolutely destroyed by the time we got to the Sedalia trail head. Our plan was to camp at the Missouri state fairgrounds, about a half-mile up the road from the trail head, but we LITERALLY couldn't fathom moving any more at that point, so instead we laid on the concrete floor of the little shelter at the trail head for almost an hour. Finally, we picked ourselves up to head over to the campground.
This is the most ridiculous part of the day. We walked up the road until we saw a field with bathroom buildings and a bunch of RV hookups, which we thought was the campground. We thought it was a little weird that there seemed to be no one else camped out for the night. We plopped down in the grass and ordered a pizza for dinner. See, I told you it would become a theme.
Eventually we got up to investigate and realized all of the bathrooms buildings were locked. Earlier in the day, we had talked to someone on the phone at the fairgrounds office, but it was now past five pm so we couldn't reach anyone. We were feeling revived, and saw some other bathroom buildings across the road so decided to investigate. We crossed the road to the actual fairgrounds and found an open bathroom as well as more RV hookups, so we thought this must be the public camping. We showered, finished dinner, set up our tent, and crawled inside ready to pass out.
Not long after, a super friendly park ranger pulled up and informed us that this was not, in fact, the public campgrounds. They were about a quarter mile further up the road with a GIANT SIGN. We just hadn't gone far enough. So, we packed up our tent and finally made it to the right spot and settled in for the night.
Total recorded mileage: 36.6
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