A nice start to spring!

On the 22nd, Theron and I decided to test out the trail (The Katy Trial, that is). Although the going was rough for some of the way (thanks to those who cleared the trail of fallen trees and left large chunks of wood) due to debris on the trail, we huffed and puffed through it. We went a total of 28 miles, which, compared to last year is excellent! By the end of the season last summer, we hit a total of 24 miles, I believe. That is what a cyst, a herniated disk, and being fat and out of shape will do to you. I am glad to say that all my time at the gym has paid off in longer rides, and much more endurance. There is Theron pumping up the tires before we leave (started at about 11:30 - I know, a pretty 'late' start). We started in Augusta and went west.

This is a horrible picture of me. After the first 9 miles, we stopped at our favorite (and only) restaurant in Dutzow for some home-made lunch. Yum!! Just what we needed to refuel and start back out, going further west. I didn't realize it until last time, but we were already in Warren County at this point!


Here is a nice train tussle, there are many of them on the trail, but what makes them so unique is that they were all built during the Great Depression, which I imagine the metal cost a lot back then? I wonder if these were part of the WPA works? Not sure. At this bridge, however, we thought we saw a body in the water (two real criminologists for you!) and so Theron went down to check it out. Come to find out it must have been a wolf (the skeleton had legs, knees, and what looked like feet!) However, the skeleton had a tail (!) almost 2 feet long, so clearly it wasn't a person! Thank goodness!!




There is Theron checking out the "body!"



Next, we got back on the bikes, and rode another 2 miles where we hit Marthasville (named for Daniel Boone's wife). I must say there was a lot more there compared to when the trail first opened almost 12 years ago. The last time I had been there, there was a silo and a Katy Trail informational pavilion. Now there was a gas station, houses, an antique store, even more silos and this cute little cabin.

I thought it was "real," but then I saw the sign saying it was a replica from 1806, when Lewis and Clark stopped at this area which was a French, fur trading town. This is the type of cabin they stayed in at the time. Notice the poles go vertical, instead of the common log cabin built in pioneer times. Back then, they built a bit shoddy, because they did not know what the outcome of the Louisiana Purchase would be, so they did not know if they would be staying there long. Pretty cool!


Over the next bridge, we saw something that resembled a car. So, of course, we had to go down for a closer look. By this time it was 5pm and we knew we would only have time for a quick look before we had to head back. (Riding bikes in the dark is not much fun out there!)


We had to ride our bikes to the next farmer's field, park them, climb down a small embankment, then walk across the field, to the creek bluff, which we promptly slid down because it was sand. We got down to the cars, and wondered what was in the car. Unfortunately it was upside-down and we couldn't do much but dig with sticks at the river mud that had built up around it. We couldn't tell

what kind of car it was, although it was HUGE! Very long with a very large front end. Surprisingly from this picture, my grandpa (who was a tool and die maker for Chrysler) was able to tell from the picture that it was probably a 1957 Chevy. He is possibly correct in that assumption. Anyone know what kind of car this is...?

Although we were hoping for a car that was from Prohibition times with shotgun holes in it, we instead, think we stumbled upon a farmer's junk pile. Here is a steering wheel in the water, it was connected to some "part" of a car that was submerged in water. Although we both wanted to keep the steering wheel, we knew we didn't want to wade into two feet of water and pry it off of whatever it was connected to...so a picture will have to suffice.

We also came up with our own theory about the cars, maybe they fell off a train that was going over the bridge! Highly unlikely, as I think the bridge would show some evidence of being struck by three vehicles falling off a train. Oh well!







We accidentally spent an hour digging at the car (no identifying markers, no VIN, no licence plates...hmmm) so we had to run back up the two bluffs and get our bikes and start back. Only 14 miles with dark coming on fast..no biggie. Ha!


Finally after going about 9 miles, I stopped to take a picture of the setting sun. I just had to. Even though by that time we both knew dark was going to come faster than we could get back, I just had to. As we both gulped Gatorade and water, the sun went down in the 1 minute we stopped to look at it. By that time we were very tired as you can probably tell. We got back to Augusta at 8:00, about 30-40 minutes after sundown. Four deer ran across the trail, the bats started coming out of the bluff caves to our right. I wondered if we would see a monster wolf like we saw in the water, but luckily we did not. Although a man dressed in dark clothing walking on the trail scared us a bit, we thought he was a large animal stumbling around, but he was apparently tipsy and walking to the bar in Augusta. Nice!





After that, we drove out to Wildwood to go to the branch of our gym that has a hot tub. After relaxing our bodies and muscles, we went home for the night. Very good day! An excellent start to spring break. Can't wait until the summer when we get to go on a new adventure every weekend!