Hello Friends, after an 8-day trek we have biked from Kansas City, through Missouri, down to Nashville. During this stretch we started on the Katy Trail, which is a secluded gravel path for bikers that runs from Kansas City to St. Louis. While the team enjoyed a break from traffic lights and cars, we missed the pavement of the roads. Days of gravel terrain vibrated our bodies and popped several of our tire tubes. With the trail being lined with beautiful trees, we did enjoy shade from the sun. A lot of the time, we biked alongside the Missouri river which was fun. However, at times the river flooded the trail and we were forced to hike ankle deep in water, with our bikes over our head. Also, we saw lots of wildlife including deer, owls, and even an albino peacock. Audio books have been a recent thing that a lot of bikers have started. The Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, and Maze Runner series have kept us entertained throughout this stretch. When we made into St. Louis on July 3rd. With a rest day on July 4th, we stayed at rider Kyle Allen’s uncles house where we swam, relaxed, and ate delicious “St. Louis style” steaks.
After a fun holiday, we headed down to Murphysboro, Illinois for a night. Next, we rode to Paducah, Kentucky for a benefit night at Texas Roadhouse. Many thanks to Team 6 rider, Jeremy Latham’s family for hosting us and planning an event for us! With news stations, raffles, and merchandise sales, the night was successful, and we raised over 3,000 dollars. On July 7th, we biked to Clarksville, Tennessee. On that day our route led us to “accidentally” trespassing on to military base Ft. Campbell. The team got stopped by military personnel who wondered how we got on the base in the first place. We stayed at the Austin Peay FIJI chapter house and enjoyed CiCI’s pizza buffet that night as well. The following day, we biked to Nashville and stayed in hotel rooms courtesy of rider Trey Sims’ family. In Nashville we had an event at Sonny’s Patio Pub where we sold merchandise and riders were able to see their families and girlfriends. Stay tuned for Kentucky blog as we go through our home state.
