Washington to Hartsburg
For some reason we woke up early and were ready to go by 7:30. We rode about a half hour on a busy road to get from Washington back to the trail, but thankfully there was a decent shoulder. Next time we do the Katy Trail we will only stay in places right on the trail because there are so many and it’s less stressful.
Our original plan was to ride 60 miles to the shelter we had stayed at on our trip east. By doing this we could break down our trip to Kansas City into four roughly 60-mile days. However, we got to the shelter by about 4 PM, decided we still had energy, and chose to continue. We rode until about 8 PM (85 miles total) and stopped in a little town called Hartsburg where we are camped in the city park. The city park is about the size of the lot in which our house sits. There is a gazebo right in the middle of the city park and because there is rain in the forecast tonight we chose to roll our bike up in the gazebo and set our tent up in the gazebo too. This will allow us to sleep without a rain fly, and have maximum ventilation. It will also make it easier to pack in the morning. It is a pain to pack a wet tent.
Overall the ride was very good. There was a lot of rain in the forecast, but it only rained lightly in the morning. We picked up our trailer about 30 miles into our ride.
We are indebted to some nice barkeepers today. Not many places are open on Monday around here, but both in this town and in an earlier one we were able to get cold sodas, ice water, and a bite to eat, which were greatly appreciated.
Tonight we clean up in a trailside bathroom. It was the lovely experience one would expect, but they had running water and we had a washcloth. It feels so much better to lay down when you are not caked with sunscreen and sweat.