Katy Trail mm 153-143 Hartsburg to North Jefferson

February 2^nd and I am riding my bike in shorts on a 65 degree day!  I put in 6 hours at work, and then made my way to Hartsburg Missouri.  The wind was out of the southeast so I rode from Hartsburg to North Jefferson.  Ten miles one way, not long miles, but oh so pleasant!  This is a stretch of the Katy that I have ridden a lot.  Not as much as Hartsburg to McBaine, but almost as much.  It is a trail with more riders and runners than many stretches of the trail.  Even in the middle of the day there are a number of what appears to be retirees riding.  It is fun to have others about.....

You get bluffs, and views of the Missouri river.  It does not have the spectacular bluffs that are near Rochport or the high bluffs near Portland.  It does not have the prairies that are between Sedalia and Clinton.  But it has a nice combination of all of them.   

 It passes Claysville, where the Claysville Store (restaurant) will feed you a really nice family style meal of fried chicken and country ham on Friday, Saturday evening and Sunday noon.  It is not BBQ, but it fine food!  

I am always interested in the benches along the way.  Wish I had more knowledge of the people they commemorate.  My brothers and sisters joined together to buy a bench close to Cooper’s Landing for my parents 50^th anniversary.  I often ride my bike to the bench and sit and watch the river.  Paying attention to the benches has led to me taking pictures of the benches name plate, and the view that is available from the bench…..

A couple of the benches commemorate Governor Mel Carnahan,  He was a good governor, who died too young in a plane crash.  He left quite a political hole. There are many things that commemorate him, but these are a couple really nice benches that are not hard to get to.....and a picnic table that has a nice view.  During the summer I think there is a group of older men that meet here most mornings to shoot the breeze far from their wife's ability to find them.....

 I understand the need to remove graffiti.  I spent a lot of years dealing with adolescent males need to show they were here on earth.  At the same time it is hard to find the poor job of painting out the graffiti was better than the graffiti.......    The picture below was taken today.....

These were taken in 2008.....

One of the reasons I like Hartsburg is that it had restrooms that were open most of the year, even in the winter.  There is something to be said for pit toilets, they are open year round.....This is the first year that I have found the restrooms closed for the season in Hartsburg.  It is routine for them to close the restrooms in Rochport and North Jefferson.  I don't mind the loss of the restroom, but I sure wish they would give me a place to change clothes.  I  have yet to resort to exposing myself, having thought ahead to putting on riding shorts before I leave work.....still it is so much more convenient to dress at the point of departure since I am often leaving a meeting and coming to the trail in business attire....

I am very happy that the park is regularly patrolled.  Gives me some hope that after I die of a heart attack on the trail some day, they will find me.....not to mention that the truck driving on the trail packs the trail and gives a nice firm path to ride on....

Right in front of this truck was a man on a bike riding with a radio on,  I don't know if he knew the truck was there, or if he was just choosing not to let the truck by, or if they were somehow together with the truck sagging for him.....never-the-less it was an interesting moment!