From a crummy morning in rain and heavy traffic to a delightful coast onto the Katy Trail
Now in Missouri, my day starts in Warrensburg, along a very busy US-50 into Sedalia. My day ends well into the Katy Trail, with friends who I’ll spend the next couple days with at a leisurely pace along this national treasure of a rail trail.
- I’m once again impressed by the warmth and friendliness of Midwesterners, as a young woman stops her car in the rain and offers to help me as I fix a flat.
- Breakfast at the Sunrise Cafe reminds me that I’m entering a part of the country where cigarette smoking in a diner is socially acceptable.
- A missed shift causes me to get help, taking me back to a bike shop in Sedalia before moving along to Hartsburg.
- I meet Dan and Susan who’re traversing the Katy Trail on their Tandem, and we chat about careers and marriage, and what it takes to make either last.
- Arriving at The Globe Hotel, I meet Rick, who doesn’t have a thing for cats, and for whom cats likewise have no thing.
- I’m pleased to recall the story of “please” in Cincinnati… Please, you say?
- It’s Thursday, so no food is available in town. Well, except the pizza. Because it’s Thursday.
- Did I mention the cats?
A cross-country bicycle adventure is the canvas for this tale of discovery along the winding backroads of America’s heartland. The second book in the “Cycling Reflections†series, Pilgrim Spokes tells the story of the eastern half of the trans-American trek, continuing the saga begun in Neil’s award-winning previous book—Pilgrim Wheels—which reconnoiters the western half of the journey.
More than just a journal of a bike ride across the country, Hanson’s delightful and beautifully written story takes the reader on an engaging pilgrimage of observation and reflection. Often hilarious, sometimes poignant, and always inspiring, it’s a must-read adventure that will stir your soul.
