Sept 22 KCMO – St Louis, MO

September 22, 2012

Mississippi River Trail – The Journey Resumes

Had time for one quick picture before getting in line to board the Amtrak

St Louis to South St Louis distance 5 miles in less than 35 minutes.
Total Expenses today $85.71

What a short night, didn’t manage to get to bed before midnight and had to get up at 3:30 AM in order to make it to Kansas City, MO in time to catch the Amtrak “River Express” train to St. Louis at 7:00 AM.  Ms. Vickie volunteered to drive Spirit and me to Union Station in downtown KC.  I’m grateful for her deciding to shuttle Spirit, my bicycle, and me as it gave us a couple hours to visit before being separated for almost a month.

It was 6:40 by the time I rolled Spirit into the massive foyer of Union Station. Kansas City is doing a great job of maintaining the station in pristine condition.  The city and various benefactors renovated the Station to its original grandeur several years ago.  There is a museum at the station and many events are held there, too.  It’s a great place to stop and visit for a few hours if you are ever in KC.  Today I barely had time to stop for a potty break before time to board the train.  Amtrak, at least this train, I was able to load Spirit onto the passenger car I was riding in.  Turned being able to have Spirit and my gear close at hand was a blessing.  The Air Conditioning in the car must have been on high and I quickly began to chill as I was wearing my riding clothes.  Thus I was able to retrieve first my fleece shirt still being cold I pulled out my fleece sleeping bag liner and wrapped it around me for the duration of the ride to St Louis.  My only other complaint was not being able to nap during the ride as every couple minutes the train’s whistle was blowing to warn folks at crossings we were coming.  I suppose on longer rides one gets use to the whistle and able to nap or sleep on overnight rides.  I’ll find out when I take the Amtrak back to KC from New Orleans, LA.

I was surprised and pleased to know Spirit got to ride in the same train car with me.

Only six hours to travel the 200 miles from the west to the east side of Missouri, not bad considering we made about a dozen stops and slowed many times for road crossings.  Plus the view of the countryside along the Missouri River is great.  I have to say riding Amtrak was a lot more enjoyable than when I rode the Greyhound Line bus from St Louis to Joplin.  Guess I’ll be traveling by Amtrak to reach future adventures whenever possible.  Since airlines began charging outrageous prices for transporting a bicycle that mode of transportation is prohibitive for the old guy.  Amtrak likes bicyclist as they charge a flat $10.00 to transport a bicycle and most of the time it doesn’t have to be boxed, just roll it on and it might even be within arm’s reach in the passenger car.

Arriving in St Louis it was a quick and easy to disembark from the train roll Spirit though the station, which I might add is much smaller than KC’s station.  Having ended the first stage of this adventure here in St Louis I knew my way out of the station and was quickly on my way heading south through the city following the Mississippi River Trail “MRT” route signs which the State has posted at every turn before and after.

In addition to the many “MRT” signs there were signs for bicycle trails throughout the city. Why doesn’t St Louis get higher ratings for being a bicycle friendly city?

My Warm Shower’s host Larissa’s home was a short 5 miles from the Amtrak station and only a mile off the route.  Larissa met me at the front door of her home and helped me unload and surprised me by having me bring Spirit into her home for the night.  James, her significant other came downstairs to introduce himself and then retired back upstairs as he had some work to get done. The rest of the afternoon and early evening I spent resting as I was pretty much exhausted from the long day.  No problem getting comfortable on the bed in my room as it is a Temper-pedic, one of the most comfortable mattresses I’ve ever had the pleasure of sleeping on.  While I rested, Larissa went grocery shopping for fresh veggies and bread for tonight’s dinner.  I must have been sound asleep when she returned as I never heard her come in.

At dinner I learned besides being an excellent cook Larissa is a science teacher and cycling coach at one of the high schools.  For dinner she prepared a wonderful pasta dish and I had a huge helping.  Larissa agreed I needed all the carbs I could to meet my body’s need for tomorrow’s ride.  We then spent a couple hours visiting about each other’s riding adventures.  Poor James mostly got to just sit at the table and listen to two touring bicycle enthusiasts go on and on.  Larissa had just finished riding across America on the Northern Tier route on August 12^th.  She’s an animal as the group she went with rode nearly 3,500 miles in 48 days.  She admitted they did several “Centuries”, riding a 100+ miles in a day.  Ah, to be young, strong and full of boundless energy.

We called it a night early as I wanted to be on the road by about 7:00 AM.  But before going to bed James did the honor of taking a picture of Larissa and me which I have posted here and will post to the Warm Showers website along with a hardy recommendation for bicyclists passing through St Louis to stay here.

My first night Warm Showers host Larissa in St Louis. She’s a great cook and an animal on a bicycle.

As we were going to bed James and Larissa told me their cat likes to enter and exit the house through the bedroom window in the room I was sleeping.  I told them no problem I’d be glad to keep the window open as I like the cool air of the night this time of year.  Having the window open also allowed me to hear the street sounds of inner city St Louis.  Sometime in the middle of the night I was awakened with a loud Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam!  Three five round bursts in quick succession.  Whoa!  I thought to myself nightly shootings really do happen in big cities but I never thought I’d ever be close enough to hear gun shots.  I said a quick prayer that the shots were some sort of celebration shots and not that some poor soul had been the recipient of those rounds.  Oh yea, if you don’t already know about my past, I was a gun trader/Shootist for a good many years and definitely know the sound of a firearm going off versus fireworks.  What a first day!

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