Just A Sunday Walk- Katy Trail July 20th

The weather has been very nice for July in Missouri. The temperatures this morning were in the high 60's. Vicky was going to go to the gym to work out which left me with nothing to do. I asked her if she would rather just go walking on the Katy Trail. The Katy Trail is a 200+ mile abandoned railway line that has been converted to a walking/biking path.

 We started from the Weldon Springs parking area and were going to walk 3 miles to Defiance, MO and back. A total of a quick 6 miles to stretch the legs

The first/last part of the walk has some great limestone cliffs lining the trail.

The old wooden bridge that was damaged in a flood of the creek has been replaced by a giant concrete one that will last a thousand years!

The trail crosses the Femme Osage Creek. This is one of the camp sites for the 1809 Lewis and Clark Expedition  that came up the Missouri River.

The town of Defiance would appeal to our friend Alan Sloman from the UK. (it appeals to us as well)  The trail passes right through town and there is the Yellow Farmhouse Winery, the Defiance Roadhouse and the Defiance Bar and Grille, one on each corner. Great for a relaxing stop at the half way turn around point!

Can't miss Vicky in her bright gym cloths on the trail- actually she fits in as usual

More bikes today in the nice weather.

The only animals we saw today- a turtle in the Femme Osage Creek, and our little catepillar friend getting out of the direct sunshine. 

A very nice way to spend the morning.

Test Post from iPhone 7.19.14

This would be the way I would send posts from my iPhone on the trail

Just A Walk In The Woods- July 19th

This is actually the first walk I have taken since returning from Scotland. Besides taking a Trainer class with my :wife, which took me 5 days to recover from, I have been back an work travelling and doing all the other "real life" stuff. So while Vicky went to the gym this morning, I headed over to Lost Valley to do the 12 miles loop trail. It was a perfect cool morning and I got their just after 6:30 am. I wanted to get a good start and get up in the woods before the mountain bike crowd arrived. I manage the 12 miles in 3 hours and 10 minutes

 Early morning trail to myself and the bluebells are in full bloom along the trail (below)

 the beaver pond below in the sunshine as I am still in the shadow of the trees

It didn't take long for the bikers to catch me and I had to step aside for about a dozen this morning.

I collected a biker water bottle, a CO2 cartridge and some allen keys along the trail. I guess they don't hear or feel them fall to the ground.

 (Below) my timing was good as it appears that the grass had just been cut on either side of the trail. No bugs or ticks to mess with in the usual tall grass of summer today.

TGO Challenge 2014 Video Part 3- Day 5-14

The final part of our 2014 TGO Challenge. Ft Augustus through Vicky's injury and rehab and our changed route and finally making it to the sea and down to Montrose for the end.