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Missouri Tour Day 13 – Rest Day in Jefferson City

04 Saturday Jul 2026

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The problem with taking a rest day on a bike tour is that you are still on a BLEEPING bicycle.

Ok, only 5 miles today. Breakfast at First Watch, them a trip to CVS. I got bug repellent and Benadryl gel, Dana bought new sexy nerd reading glasses.

We rode here on a local bikway, and what did we see (and hear) but pickleball! We watched for a few minutes, that was enough. As for breakfast, Dana had candied bacon, and a pancake bigger than his head. I’m not trying to kill him, but First Watch seems to be. (If I kill him, it will have to be after this trip, because, alone, I could get lost on a bike trail.)

We went to the Missouri State Penitentiary, which is now a tourist attraction. We got a tour of the surviving buildings, with a warning to NOT close any of the cell doors because sometimes they will NOT open. I know they make these rules for people like me, so I was very careful. We saw Pretty Boy Floyd’s cell, and James Earl Ray’s. Dana thought I was nuts wanting to go there, but I think he enjoyed it, too. 

After lunch at Prison Brews – their restrooms are called Gas Chambers, we went to the Penitentiary Museum, also fascinating. But after a while, Dana found a chair in the AC more fascinating. So we Ubered back to our hotel (1.7m). We Ubered this morning too, because it’s hot, and why sweat on our day off. Now we are sitting in our air conditioned hotel room, doing absolutely nothing, and loving it 

So we both just looked at our phones and said “yeah, 7:15 is bedtime”. We are worn out. Dana had left over Prison Brews pizza for dinner. I’m not hungry. I’m looking forward to a lot of Gatorade tomorrow, even if it’s heavy and bad for me. 

So right now the only thing I’m really unhappy about is all of my BLEEPING bug bites. And when I showed them to Dana, he said “yeah, I have those”, and then we competed over it for a few seconds. Tomorrow we will use the bug repellent, and keep the Benadryl handy.

And it’s going to rain tomorrow! 😂 But at least I’m not worried about it killing my button. 

Missouri Tour Day 12 – Rocheport to Jefferson City

03 Friday Jul 2026

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8:30 AM

I’m sitting in the bike cafe where we had lunch yesterday, waiting for Dana to maybe put yesterday’s wet stuff in the dryer in the Lewis (and maybe Clark) building next to the boxcar. Last night was the first night in forever that Dana was hot and I was cold. You just never know. 

Today we will ride 40 miles to Jefferson City. It is the capital of Missouri. I believe I learned that in 8th grade, then  promptly forgot it after a quiz. Now I will remember it. Maybe. 

7:30 PM

We are in a Mexican restaurant in Jefferson City. We had to walk through some questionable intersections to get here. We’re watching a Spanish soap opera. Since I didn’t have to bike here, I am happy. 

Drumroll please ..

The BLEEPING button broke!

BLEEEEEEP!

It must have been the rain. If we’d only spent more time touristing yesterday. 😡

So we’re going to see if it dries out, but I think it’s dead, at least for now. So I put on my big girl panties and rode 40 miles today on chat (that’s the actual name for gravelsand). At a whopping 9.1 mph. And Dana didn’t accuse me of meandering once. ❤️

Once I got over the BLEEPING button and we both accepted my slug pace – slow enough for every biting insect in Missouri to find us – we had a nice ride. We saw Boat Henge, and met a dog. The cyclist sitting at the trailhead with the dog said, “he’s not mine, and whatever you do, don’t throw him that stick”.

So you know I threw him the stick, right? And I threw that stick a whole lot of times (thanks to my bionic shoulder), and eventually the stick disintegrated, and I got him another stick. Then Dana brought him to the dog fountain at the trailhead, but he much preferred the stick to hydration. So finally we had to leave, and we felt terrible, but just then a car pulled up on the bike trail (probably a no-no, but whatever), and it’s the dog’s owner. She said whenever he gets out, she knows where to find him, because he loves playing with cyclists. The dog’s name is Gus.

We made it to Jefferson City, but to get on the bridge with a bike, you have to climb a BLEEPING structure. And it’s like 12 levels of 3% grade with sharp turns and … just no. Not for me. So I walked up the thing. On the plus side, the button wouldn’t have helped, because I am a wimp. 

So we got to the hotel through some questionable intersections, and we did the laundry. And I seem to have lost a bike outfit, and it may be in the bike room at the boxcar, but if it isn’t, oh well 

Tomorrow we are taking a day off to check Jefferson City off our bucket lists, and then we’ll have two 40-mile days, and one 24-mile day, to St. Charles. I still have 3 outfits left. 👍

And what with the dead button and the oozing knee and the lost outfit and the broken shifter, we are having a WONDERFUL time. And thanks to our generous cat sitters, Sally and SuzAnne being 2 of them, we aren’t rushing through this. And as strong as Dana is, he’s tired too. I could tell because he was stopping at every historic marker today, suddenly fascinated with Lewis and Clark and the Missouri River. 

Missouri Tour Day 9 – Windsor to Sedalia

03 Friday Jul 2026

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  4::00 PM

Thank you all for your concern for Dana. He was a little shaky this morning, but now he’s feeling great And he can shift gears. (That’s much more important to him than his slightly oozy knee.)

11:00 AM

My two biggest complaints for today are that the Wagon Wheel was out of orange juice, and we didn’t see any prairie chickens on the prairie. 

It’s been a good day.

Only 20 miles of hard pack to Sedalia.

We passed through the town of Green Ridge, and read their trailhead,. There’s a trailhead about every 10 miles, always a nice stop, usually the site of an old station. And we get to learn the history of all of these little towns.

So it turns out that Pearl White was born in Green Ridge in 1899. And my mother used to sing me a song about Pearl White, because my parents were OLD. 

We stopped at a beautiful lake and met a nice lady with a nice little hyperactive dog named Ruby. We ate a candy bar and drank some Gatorade looking at the lake. 

2:30 PM

This may be the first day in forever that walking was harder than biking. We checked into the Bothwell Hotel, a beautiful 99yo super fancy hotel. Harry Truman stayed there once. We will dine there tonight, because he ate there once, too.

But we’re not there yet. We’re in Taqueria Chilango, on the outskirts of Sedalia. When I looked at the map, I saw this place right next to Bud’s Laundromat, and I had an idea. We walk down Main St., check out the quaint (at least from a short distance) town, eat some tacos, and do the laundry. 

If we had turned right out of the hotel, we would have been on Main St. But we had to turn left. This isn’t quaint. This is just rural poverty. Nobody goes for a stroll here with one very heavy pannier for no good reason. So half-way through the walk, Dana says “I’ll bet both places are closed.” So I was feeling guilty, and my knee hurt (no pain on the bike). And Dana’s sugar was low and his knee was oozing. And I was wondering if we’d had a good reason for this stroll.

They were both open! Phew! So we started a load, and walked to the restaurant. When we left the laundromat, Dana actually had to remind me where the restaurant was (across the street). I can get lost in the outskirts of Sedalia, MO. 🫩

Anyway, the restaurant was air conditioned, and the game was on TV, and the tacos were delicious 😊 But we didn’t eat a lot, we’re looking forward to dinner at the hotel.

Now we’re sitting with an empty pannier, waiting for dryer #18. The air conditioning is better here than it was across the street. I think the walk back will be much more pleasant. 

5:00 PM

Turns out there’s a guest laundry in the hotel. 🤣🤣 Oh, well. I’m glad we had the adventure and got some more exercise. And the tacos were totally worth it