Dickie-Doo Bar-B-Que, Sedalia Missouri

One of the first BBQ restaurants I remember eating at was Dickie-Doo BBQ in Sedalia.  It goes back more than thirty years.  At the time I was a principal in a rural district near Sedalia.  Frequently on the way home from a ball game I would stop at Dickie-Doo more for the beer than for the sandwich.  The principals, coaches, referees would all congregate for some lies and replays of the evening games.  It was a fun time. 

The years have gone by.  The restaurant and lounge remain the same as in my memory.  I stopped there a couple of years ago, and again yesterday.  It is a nice friendly atmosphere.   Nice waitress, reasonable service. I liked the decor....the BBQ not so much.   I don't know what it was but it was not BBQ from my perspective.  I got the three meat plate, beef, ham, and pork.  I did not think the pork and ham had been smoked.  I did not use sauce, and I did not taste any flavor associated with the bbq process.  It was ok, it was what it was slab of ham and a pork chop.  It tasted ok, but it was not BBQ.  The brisket was more like an old piece of shoe leather.  It had no flavor, was stiff as the sole of a shoe, dry and hard, and only one piece.

Work had taken me close to Sedalia and I decided to go on over for some BBQ.  There are at least five BBQ restaurants in Sedalia....

Dickie-Doo, 

 Kehde's Barbeque, 

Bar-B-Que Pit Stop, Bandana’s BBQ,  and a new place

 Little Big Horn Cattle Company.

 In my biking of the Katy trail a few years back I used Sedalia as a staging point.  It gave me the opportunity to try several restaurants.  I really liked the Little Big Horn Cattle Company, it had the best food.  Kehde's Barbeque had the most unique atmosphere with the regular restaurant as well as the old railroad car.  The food at Kehde's was ok, hampered by the fact the place was very busy and the service was slow.  Once again Dickie-Doo had not done much for me, I was frankly disappointed.  So in this trip I knew I had several choices.  I choose Dickie-Doo for the nostalgia factor...a mistake.  Next time I will go for the quality of the BBQ, not reliving my youth....

Broke Down on the Road!

I was out for a bike ride today, and I broke a spoke.  The wheel went out of true and started to rub on the chain stay.  I haven’t broken a spoke in several years.   Given my weight, and the general rough nature of the roads it is amazing that it does not happen more frequently.   I went through a spate of them a number of years back.  I finally just re-spoked the entire wheel, and the problem was solved.  Today I opened my bag to get the tool kit, and it was not to be found.  I had taken it out, and had not replaced it.  No spoke wrench, no screwdriver, nothing….

It was a beautiful day.  I had gone to my parents’ house to check in on my dad, who just had a cataract removed.  At the last minute I decided to take my bike, intending to leave the truck and ride home.  Sunny and 75 degrees with a mild south breeze was just too much to pass up. It certainly started as a nice ride.  Things are starting to bloom.  I think this is going to be a year where everything blooms at the same time.  We already have the daffodil and crocus blooming.  The bradford pear trees are going to be blooming by the weekend.

I had gone about 13 miles when I hit a rock on the road wrong.  I heard the twang, and then a thump.  I thought that I had flatted, but when I got off the bike I realized it was a broken spoke.  A few moments of contemplation,  the search for the tools, realization that my choices were pretty limited.  I choose to call my parents, who came and picked me up.  Moral of the story…always carry the tool kit.

Beauty in the eyes of rural Missourians....

 It is also time for the purple fields!

I am not at all sure that it is time to mow the grass.  This is not the first person I have seen mowing, but he must really like to cut grass.....

On a sad note, I saw a dead mink on the road today.  Like most bike riders, I have gotten accustom to road kill.  It is almost a perverse attraction to look and identify what we see on the road. Today I passed a form that I did not immediately recognize, so I stopped and took a picture....

After I came home I looked up pictures and I think it is a mink.  I initially thought it was a river otter, that have been restocked in Missouri in the last couple of decades but they have webbed feet.  This does not appear to have webbing between the toes.  I know it is not a muskrat.  After some searching I have decided it is a mink.  I know that mink were plentiful in this area up to the early 1800's.  I did not know they were around now.....I would welcome any opinions that others might have..... 

Moose Bros BBQ

Talk about out of touch.  I had intended to eat at Johnny's Butcher Shop Bar-B-Q in Jefferson City.  This was an older BBQ restaurant located off Hwy 54 when I first noticed it. It was located as part of a motel.   You had to see the sign painted on the wall of the motel to even know it was there. Years go by, and the motel is torn down, and Johnny’s builds a new restaurant about a mile east of 54 on the road to Wardsville. Near the same time they build a interchange with 54 and 179, which makes it easy to get there.  To be honest, I was not a huge fan of Johnny’s.  I don’t even exactly remember why, what I do remember is that they had a BBQ smorgasbord at lunch.  I did not like the way the brisket was thick cut, and my memory was that french fries were not part of the smorgasbord.  I went several times to the new location probably 5 years ago.  This was at a time that I was going to, or driving through Jefferson City at least once a month.  There were a number of BBQ restaurants in Jefferson City at the time.  One that was near the East Elementary, and another by Lowes.  Lutz’s (the one by Lowes)  just captured my attention and I quit going to Johnny’s.  

Well today I was going to try it again.  I was south of Jeff City, and decided it was a good time to check back in.  I fully expected to find it closed.  Instead I found a new operation called Moose Bros BBQ,( 2314 Lorenzo Greene Dr. Jefferson City Missouri).  It is associated with a business in Russellville of the same name.  I did not realize it until I left, but I ate in the bar, rather than the restaurant.  Looking in the restaurant I saw more traditional red checkered tables and I assume the same menu that I had.  When the building was Johnny’s the bar was to the left and restaurant to the right.  Now it is reversed.  The bar had big solid natural wood furniture, which was ok but not particularly comfortable.  All of the seating was either at big tables or tall tables.  Since I don’t like the tall tables I took up a big table.  Since I was after the normal lunch period this was not a problem.

I liked the menu. I had the brisket and sausage as week as fries and cole slaw.  The fries were weird, brisket cut thick, and the cole slaw had a touch of horse radish.  None of that is quite to mike liking, but oddly I was not put off.  I certainly want to go again.

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!