Day 1
Sedalia to New Franklin 40 miles. Highlights: Ag fields, rain, crushed limestone Jello
Disembarking the train in Sedalia, it immediately began to rain. OK, not immediately, but pretty much. We pulled in to the station at 12:30 and had a nice ride through Sedalia's quaint downtown. We even stocked up at the local bike shop, Pro Velo. We bought a few tire tubes plus a tail light for my wife and chatted up the local shopkeeper about the trail. We pulled into a pub - a "brewpub" though they didn't make their own beer - for a hearty lunch and some liquid bread and then it started raining. The rain just stewed over us. The radar showed no sign of it blowing over. We couldn't stay at the pub all day. After a few Schlafly Oatmeal Stouts I got the courage to head out despite the rain. We donned our complete rain gear from head to toe and hit the "trail." Here in Sedalia the normally sectioned off Katy Trail bike path passes through the town, over the now flooded streets. It was a wild ride.
The Katy Trail - God bless it - is not paved. Instead it is covered in crushed limestone, oh Joy! Which is usually not an issue, but in the rain and wet it turns into quick sand. It cleared up about a hour after we hit the trail and from there it was quite enjoyable. It was at about this time that we found our water bottles nearly empty. We were very relieved to arrive at a water station in Pilot Grove, 20 miles from Sedalia. 
Finally we hit Booneville. It sneaks up on you at first. It seemed like miles and miles of nothingness - ag fields and manure, broken up only by crossings of small highways and waterless trail heads, until - Suburbia. I reckon Booneville is no metropolis, but like any town that establishes itself near the Missouri river, has Highway 70 feeding into it, and a one-time rail road hub it must has some money. As we crossed the Highway the scenery changed quickly. The limestone was more compacted and solid, the trail was decidedly downhill, and the familiar sights and sounds of driveways and basketball hoops could be seen and heard not far from the trail. Civilization!
We exited the green canopy to the former Booneville Railroad terminal, now their Chamber of Commerce, and right around the corner was Booneville's new commercial powerhouse, The Isle of Capri Casino and Resort. Though we did not stop there I hear their buffet is excellent. Just passing through town, we stopped at the local In and Out for supplies - beer, tuna, and beer. Booneville was a cute little town and I would have loved to visit for a spell, but we were already late because of rain and our campsite was on the other side of the mighty Missouri River in New Franklin.
We biked around Booneville's river front, slinking past downtown before ascending a mad hill to the foot of the river crossing bridge. It had a dedicated pedestrian path sectioned off with concrete and fencing, but it was being used by pedestrians when we tried to cross. The nerve of those guys! So crossing was a little scary, but exhilarating. We would cross the mighty river 5 times through our voyage, but the first time was the most exciting.
On the other side of Booneville the scene was similar to what it was outside of Sedalia. Long, flat, treeless expanses of nothing. After the bridge it took a minute to get our bearings and find the trace again. We only had 5 or 6 more miles until our campsite for the evening at Franklin's Katy Roundhouse just outside of New Franklin.I don't know what the cut off was for Franklin/New Franklin. Near as I could tell New Franklin was a small town a mile or two northeast of Franklin. We didn't see much of New Franklin, but I am told they have fine dining and and several inns. The Roundhouse itself is in Franklin proper along with trailers and dogs and more trailers. We weren't sure we were in the right spot. We didn't see a soul. We heard dogs - lots - throughout the night but never laid eyes on a person. The only non mobile structures were old brick buildings from the railroad days and a run down blue house, The Katy Roundhouse.
When we arrived, the Roundhouse seemed deserted. In fact it was, we were its only guests and the administration was out. We wandered around the grounds which included a "beer garden" and restaurant, both of which seemed closed, and filled out the registration forms to deposit into an honor box along with $6 per person. We registered at Campsite 18, but 12 seemed prettier so we stayed there.
From what I gathered from the random pamphlets and memorabilia scattered about the grounds, the Roundhouse was named for this structure. It turned the locomotives around to head to different parts of the country, hence Roundhouse. From what I gather some folks who live around there maintain the grounds and even open up the kitchen/beer garden on the weekends during peak season. We were passing through the first Tuesday of the start of the season in early April.
But no worries. We made dinner and polished off a six pack between the two of us - no one seemed to mind - then used the facilities. The roundhouse is full furnished, complete with hot showers and sinks. The bath house was locked with a key pad but the establishment had sent us the combo when we sent an email to make the reservations weeks ago. All in all the Roundhouse was safe and comfortable and we were very pleased with it. Although I think because it was so early in the season the ground water filter wasn't 100% so the water was a little brown. Tasted fine though...
