Double Smoked BBQ

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469 Booneslick Road, New Florence, MO 63363

Not really a free day, but as close as they come any more.  I saw Friday on the calendar with no significant activities, and decided it was a good day to go out and about, looking for a new BBQ restaurant.  I first considered going toward the Lake of the Ozarks.  Wobbly Boot has moved to a new location, and there is a new BBQ that I had been told about.  Since it was going to be a nice day, I could even go to Ozark BBQ and eat out on the dock and look at the lake.   But as usual work intervened.  I needed to observe a student teacher.  Luckily it was to be first hour of the day and some distanced from Jefferson City.  I thought that I might just go on and swing by the lake after the visit.

 The weather has been hot and humid, typical for Missouri, but not typical of this summer.  For the most part it has been cooler and very nice.  I have even been able to ride my bike several times in August!  But the last three weeks have been the hottest of the summer.  I hold to the fact that in Missouri we need three weeks of hot summer.  Now that we have had it, it can cool off.

After the observation I started to turn toward the lake, and instead turned north and east.  I found myself traveling through the back roads toward Frankenstein…..

I had never taken the time to drive along the river on the south side.  I had driven the north side many times, often associated with riding my bike along the Katy trail.  I had driven HWY 50, but never HWY 100 on the south side.  So I found my self driving east toward Herman.  I intended to eat at one of my favorite BBQ restaurants, Montague’s.  My timing was off and I was too early, a common problem of mine.

So I continued north, and ended up at Double Smoked BBQ at the intersection of HWY 19 and I70.  I had eaten there once before, on my birthday a few years ago.  I decided it was time to try it again.

I had the combo plate with pulled pork and brisket.  They did not have French fries, so I had the potato salad and cole slaw.  Double Smoked is a nice place.  Certainly not fancy, but it has “country charm.”  The people are nice, friendly.  I wish I liked the meal more.  It is a certain statement  when the potato salad was the best part of the meal.  The meat is good, and I expect it is well received by most people.  It just is cooked with a hotter sauce than  I find enjoyable.  I guess it is part of the “Double Smoked.”  The pulled pork was ok, the brisket a little tough.  You do not get tough brisket very often.  It is priced very well, and it is certainly a place you should try for yourself.

Katy Trail mm 169-162 McBaine to Easley

My wife and I took advantage of a beautiful late June day in Missouri to ride a nice section  of the KATY trail.  It is between McBaine and Easley through the Eagle Bluffs Conservation Area.

McBaine is very close to the intersection of the MKT trail coming from Columbia and the KATY coming from Huntsdale.  The McBaine trail head is at the end of HWY K coming down from Columbia.  In college I use to really enjoy a ride down K then back up KK to Green Meadows Road.  A few years ago I tried to replicate the ride and found that the roads and terraine had changed so much that I could not even tell where I was once I got back into the subdivisions.  What once was a nice peaceful back road was now a road with significant traffic.  Lots of cars is not good when there is nothing on the side but a ditch.  They added a few more feet to the road bed a year ago, and it is better, but not great.

I did see an eagle along the trail.  It was sitting on a large rock.  As I tried to maneuver for a better picture it decided to leave...I should have taken the picture I had, not the one I wish I had!

This section of the trail also has a strong connection to the Lewis and Clark Expedition.  The KATY trail has many signs commemorating the Expedition, but this section was important because it was at the site of the natural arch.

There are several other interesting things along this section of the trail.

Missouri's own Boat Henge!

And the renown Coopers landing!

Coopers Landing is a nice place to camp, has good food and on occasion good music!

The trail has good scenery

This was an interesting spring that was quite remarkable in how loud it was!  It reminds me of when we were on our recent vacation trip.  We stopped to see Falling Waters, Frank Lloyd Wrights remarkable house.  I had always assumed that it was named because of the falling water that was under the house.  Instead it was the sound of falling waters that was always present on the property.  You could not get away from the sound.  I know some like the sound of water falling, and so do I.  I just don't appreciate that sound when it is constant.....

I do not know what the reason is but I have ridden the entire trail, and many sections many times, but have rarely seen snakes on the trail.  I often think a stick or weed is a snake, and it is not until I am on it that I realize that it is only a stick.  But I have seen big black snakes a couple of times, each was close to this section of the trail...

 This section of the trail is also where Providence Road ends.  A central road in Columbia, it was originally a plank road that ran from Providence on the Missouri River to the new community of Columbia, that I think was called Smith at the time....probably wrong on that, but it came out of the mind as if I was correct.... :) need to look that up...

There are a number of benches along this section of the trail....

John Drew has one of the best set benches I have seen on the trail.  It has a nice view, and is set in flagstones.  Good thing, since this portion of the trail near Coopers Landing is prone to flood.  In fact during times of high water the locals use the trail as the road, since the road is lower than the trail....

This bench has particular importance to me....

The high water this spring has just about made this bench inaccessible.  To the credit of the DNR this is the only time I have seen a bench that was not accessible....

Firehouse BBQ & Blues

Firehouse BBQ & Blues

400 N. 8^th Street

Richmond Indiana 

On my recent vacation I was able to take a stop at the Firehouse BBQ in Richmond Indiana.  It was a nice vacation, but it lacked BBQ.  I really ate BBQ only twice, on the first and last day of the trip.  We had stopped in Richmond on the trip out, and had tried valiantly to find the White River Gorge Trail, and failed utterly.  On the trip home it worked that we were passing again through Richmond at a time when it would be nice to get out of the car, so we tried again to find the trail.  This time we were successful.  After a nice, though relatively short ride we went in search of a lunch meal.  We were actually in search of a cafe that the GPS said was close by, when we ran across the Firehouse.  It was an immediate decision to change plans, and to eat there.  The Firehouse was an interesting place, an older building re-purposed.  It was tastefully decorated.  It had a large bandstand on the main floor, and I am sure has some good music. It was certainly a nice upscale BBQ.  It had a nice comfortable atmosphere.

I had the usual BBQ brisket sandwich.  It was interesting that the menu listed the sandwich only as a "lunch" option.  The regular option was a plate with two sides.  That is an option that I normally take, but I was being prudent, so opted for the smaller portion of the sandwich.  When I made this choice in the recent past, I was very disappointed, but not this time.  It was a good sized sandwich, a solid bun.  The Firehouse followed the lead of many restaurants that have decided not to offer fries as an option, always a disappointment.  Instead they offered cheese potatoes, served in a nice little glass dish.  They were superb!  The coleslaw was also very nice, fresh and crisp.  The brisket was more of a pulled brisket, though it was in larger pieces than the term "pulled" normally brings to mind.  It came with sauce applied.  It was moist and the quantity was good.  Taste was good, but not exceptional.  I guess I am always suspicious that brisket served this was is cooked in a roaster rather than smoked over coals.  My wife had the pulled pork on a baked potato, and I think got more meat than I got on my bun!  She liked the flavor.  It was a more traditional "pulled" pork.

 

The service was very nice, and food was delivered quickly.  I would recommend the Firehouse if you are in the area!

Three Rivers Heritage Trail, Pittsburgh Pennsylvania

I took a short vacation to Pittsburgh Pennsylvania…..why? Never been there!  Wonderful experience!  Nice place to bicycle.  Friendliest drivers I have ever seen, whether I was crossing four lanes of traffic in a car or stopping suddenly on a bike!  

There were a variety of bike paths.  

Some followed the rivers.  I rode on the Three Rivers Heritage Trail, as well as riding through downtown.

I had intended to ride part of the Great Allegheny Passage, but it rained all of Thursday and Friday so I choose to sight-see instead.

Katy Trail mm 39.5-29 St. Charles to Machens

It was a lovely day in Missouri, perfect temperatures and a light wind forecast.  I decided to go east to St. Charles and see how the construction on the east end of the Katy Trail was progressing.  I rode the entire trail in the spring of 2007.  At that time the trail ended officially a few miles east of St. Charles.  You could go a few more miles riding the levy, but that was not recommended or encouraged.  I had checked back a couple of times, the last in fall 2011 and little progress had been made.  I kept hearing of that progress had been made, so it was time to check back in.

I wanted to ride to Machens mile marker (mm) 26.9.  While it is mm26.9 it is mile 0 on the trail. I am not sure if they plan to take the trail on further to the river, but I hope they do.

It was an interesting ride.  St. Charles is such a lovely town! Tourist yes, but well designed with ample parking and a culture that accepts bicyclists.  Many of the Bicycle Across Missouri rides that were sponsored by the Division of Natural Resources (DNR) started or ended in St. Charles.  I expect similar tours still do.  

If you ride the entire trail you find that you ride through fields and bluffs and trees and flowers…nature.  It is in only a couple of places that the trail approaches an industrial tableau.  I mean, for much of the trail you are riding along a river, a major artery for commerce and only in a couple of places do you see evidence of that commerce.  You see it in Sedalia….you see it in St. Charles, you ride by numerous MFA  farm supply operations.  You see also see the evidence of the commerce when the tug boats pass.

But the river use to be lined with factories and storage buildings that took advantage of the river. In St. Charles  you get to see a few of those buildings. This is not the grimy industry of the 1800’s this is the ever so clean industry of today. In St. Charles you see the casino next to the old factories, next to the auto recycle yard.

It is interesting because you are riding with other riders as well as walkers and school groups.

So many times I ride the trail virtually by myself.  In St. Charles I know that others will be on the trail.

It was interesting to see how the trail was extended.  In many places it left the old rail bed to forge a new path.  Not sure why it needed to leave the old rail bed.  Some of the comments talked about frequent flats from thorns in this area of the trail, but neither my wife or I had any problems.

The new path allows the rider to continue a few short feet from the river for much of this stretch of the trail.

This is a pretty time of year, with many wild flowers in bloom.

And the chance to see the fields recently planted.

I kept hearing a model plane, and then I saw why they have a flight club located just off the trail in the river bottom.  I don’t know if they are called “model” planes anymore in this era of drones….

I like to pay attention to the benches along the trail.  They are often situated with a very pleasant view, and the plaque notes a person or sentiment that should be remembered.  This stretch had five interesting benches…in fact at this time they are the only benches along this stretch.  At first I thought there were two benches in placed in memory of the same person, then I realized a much sadder fact, all five benches were from the same family. All five plaques had the same date.  There must have been a serious accident, probably involving a car.  I feel for the parents that had to face such a devastating loss.

While the St. Charles stretch of the trail is not as scenic as other stretches, it does rank in the top ten that I enjoy riding….if for no other reason that at the conclusion of the ride there are multiple BBQ restaurants to choose from!