June's June Ride

Our day didn't begin the way we planned...but if we've learned anything over the last several months, it's that it's not about our plan...it's about God's plan. And, as always, he knew what he was doing.

We were to ride from Clinton, MO to Windsor, MO on the historic Katy Trail. The trail runs from Clinton to St Charles, MO, 225 across the state. June and I rode the entire trail last June in 5 days.

Donna and I had talked about how we wanted this to be a stress free day, we wanted to honor June by not having a schedule and just enjoying the day as it unfolded.

It's a good thing because we woke up to rain and my coworker who had agreed to come in early so Donna and could leave around 6:30...forgot and didn't show up until 7:30. Then I got the runaround from the Home Depot guy (and I didn't do so good a job of not getting stressed) when I stopped to get a simple bolt for my aero bars.

Donna has some wonderful oatmeal ready when I FINALLY got to her house and we lingered over coffee, waiting to see what the rain would do.

After consulting the weather we decided to head out. Our only goal for the day was to ride, be together and scope out a mile to adopt for June Marie.

It's about 80ish miles from Kansas City to the trail head in Clinton...about an hour and a half in the car. The bikes were packed with our cameras, sunscreen, extra beverages and lunch. We wanted to be free of schedules and not tied to a destination for eats. We did have a Dairy Queen stop in mind but we didn't have to ride that far if we didn't want to. As Ed says "lets just see what it all brings". We were on the trail by 11:30am.Hedda was along for the ride as was the Chicken...it just seemed right. Hedda was on the front of my areo bars...leading the way.I have a picture of June and I in front of this Clinton sign on the wall at home...there wasn't anyone around to take a picture of Donna and I together. Donna also has some great photos on her post.And off we went. We lunched on a shady bench with the chicken near the trail head in Calhoun. The miles we liked for our dedication are just to the east. Making access for all very possible. Donna did great on the ride even though it was her first time out this year. The first part was nice and cool but in the late afternoon it warmed up and Donna found her wall at about mile 26. She pushed though and we rode a total of 34.Mile 255 has a 'J' sign...we took it as a 'sign'. Mile 254 and 253 are the miles we think would be best but we're not sure which one we like better.
254 is close to the trailhead and offers quite a bit shade with a great view of a field with flowers and some cows.
Mile 253 is over a mile from the trail head in Calhoun, meaning that those who wanted to visit June's mile would really need to commit...something I think June would like. This mile is more secluded with less of a view but a little more shade. Both miles had great bird noise, no road noise and are just so beautiful.
We hope to choose a mile to adopt to honor her and place a bench for resting and remembering.

There was a lot of remembering.