Katy Trail 2012: Day 4

Day 4
McKittrick/Hermann to Augusta 35 miles
Highlights: Tin Mill Brewery, Sausage, Augusta Brewing Company, Augusta Beer Garden 

We awoke the next morning slightly groggy from the night before, but Maggie Meyers had the cure.  She and Eldan had  a full pot of coffee ready to go, as well as a wonderful breakfast.  Maggie's pancakes are famous, and deservedly so.  Eldan showed us the story about them written up in National Geographic Traveler.  They are made with oats, topped with bananas and filled with all kinds of goodness.  I have a theory about pancakes, that one cannot finish all the pancakes on one's plate regardless of how many there are - that no matter the quantity you will be unable to finish the last one.  In other words if you want to eat 2 pancakes you must order 3.  Well that theory did not hold water in Maggie's Kitchen.  My wife and I ate up all three of our powerhouse pancakes followed by scrambled eggs and cheese and ending with almond teacakes.  It sure beat the energy bars we had been eating for breakfast the past few days.

So my wife and I are pretty much in love with Hermann, MO.  That morning we left our bags in McKittrick and headed back into the city, this time planning to tour their downtown brewery and enjoy the sunshine.  We got there at 11, when it was suppose to open, but I guess they too were a little groggy that morning as the sign still indicated closure.

The Winemakers of Hermannhoff Welcome You

So we biked around the downtown unencumbered and got more coffee and tea.  We visited the river front and the Amtrak station we had passed earlier on the train to Sedalia.  The Hermanhoff Festhalle is where their festivals take place.  They have Oktoberfest there every weekend in October as well as wine stomping and sausage parties.  It turns out, in keeping with German tradition, that Hermann houses a world class sausage house, though sadly we could not partake due to unfortunate timing with a Lenten resolution.

We did not visit any wineries - I don't care much for the stuff - but we did see the rolling vineyards and sunny tasting area.  The brewery finally opened up and we had beer and snacks all afternoon.  In addition to the Red Caboose and Midnight Whistle the brewery had Skyscraper Pilsner, First Street Wheat, and two specialty beers - the Imperial Pilsner and the Hopplebock, a hoppier interpretation of their Dopplebock.  We stayed in their beer garden and enjoyed the beautiful day snacking on sour kraut and other German fare.

 

Unfortunately we couldn't stay in Hermann all day.  We returned to McKittrick to gather our things and hit the trail with new found vigor and enthusiasm.  My leg wasn't even bothering me.  The air was crisp and still a bit chilly, but when the sun was out it was glorious. 

We followed the river for  a time and enjoyed ourselves immensely.  It was already late in the day but somehow that didn't seem to matter.  The first part of our voyage was a lot of pavement pushing - well, crushed limestone pushing - but our time in Hermann left us with a new sense of enjoyment and satisfaction;  That perhaps the most enjoyable part of the Katy trail is not the trail itself, but the amazing places on the way.  That maybe here or there is better than between here or there, and we should stop and smell the roses more often.

The day dragged on into dusk and we were overdue to check into our campsite at Klondike Park, two or three miles past the town of Augusta.  The town itself was strange, almost as strange as the ghost town of Franklin/New Franklin.  Whereas in Franklin there were trailers and the howls of dogs, in Augusta there was only houses on a hill and the roar of dirt bike engines.  Augusta seemed like quiet little settlement but the people there must have been in a hurry because nearly all of the vehicles peeled out with outrageous tire squeals and tore off into the night.  Really the prize at the end of the Augusta rainbow, the reason we intended to stop here - and this should come as no surprise - was the Augusta Brewing Company.

The town of Augusta, MO sit atop a large hill.  We did not traverse that hill instead we remained at its base, right where the Brewpub's beer garden was.  We started with the idea of buying a couple of growlers and taking them back to camp, but after examining their menu we decided to stick around for food and suds.  The food was wonderful and the beer was world class.  If Herman's brewery encompasses the German tradition, this brewery embraces the new world style of brewing - the anything goes style of American craft ale. We had their pale ale, their IPA, their award winning stout, their aged farmhouse saison, and the uniquely American Pumpkin Ale.

Betraying the quality of their brew, I believe the town of Augusta is named for that patron saint of St. Louis suds, Augusta Busch, founder of Busch Beer and Budweiser.  My friend Marty noted that he and his St. Louis Brewery University have a long standing history in the area because "hey, not just anyone can make shitty beer."  Be that as it may I discovered a unique fact about Augusta beer while reading the Saison beer label, it's not brewed in Augusta.  It's brewed in the neighboring town across the river, Labadie, a city whose claim to fame is a coal power plant.  Perhaps its the extra charge in the air or the soot gives Augusta beer its wonderful flavor.  At least the plant is not nuclear, then the beer might glow in the dark. 

In addition to their wonderful brew their food is excellent, gourmet even though I am no expert on that matter.  I had veggie stir fry with wild rice and my wife had seared tuna salad, fresh as I've ever tasted.  I was incredibly surprised with the excellent food, beer, and hospitality of a town as tiny as Augusta.  It truly is a culinary oasis right off the trail.  The restaurant, an open air dining hall, closed for the night, but even after closing they allowed us to stay in their beer garden and enjoy their fire.  We did end up getting those growlers and enjoying the libations all through the night while tending the fire.  I couldn't imagine a better way to spend our last night on the trail.

Katy Trail 2012: Day 3

Day 3

Tebbetts to McKittrick/Hermann 30 miles

Highlights: Cold, Meyer's Bed & Breakfast on the Hill, Joey's Birdhouse, Hermann, Tin Mill Beer

God bless Tebbetts and the Turner Katy Trail Hostel.  This shelter was a former grocery store around the turn of the (twentieth) century.  It has now been restored and maintained by the Conservation Foundation of Missouri Charitable Trust.  It is a functioning hostel with hot showers, a fridge, toaster ovens, microwaves, and various mugs, plates and silverware.  It houses over 40 bunk beds, and though they operate on a first-come first-serve basis they have never all been filled.  Someone commented on how much the rows of bunk beds resembled the illustrations in the children's books Madeline, only with less nuns. We made it to the hostel past 9 o'clock that night.  Though it was locked, we had instruction as to where to find the key; outside, available for anyone who knew where to look.

We arrived cold and wet and tired.  We took a few minutes to explore the place and I confess to totally geeking out about how neat it was.  Granted it was a little spooky being there alone at night.  If any of us would have had unprotected teenage sex and/or drugs I'm sure a guy in a hockey mask and machete would make us pay for it, but we were too tired for debauchery that night so no homicidal maniacs. 

In addition to the furnishings listed earlier there was a large picnic table inside and two more outside.  Aside each bunk was a lockable cabinet to store your stuff should you decide to leave the hostel unencumbered for a time, we of course didn't need it as we had the whole place to ourselves.  Upstairs there are more bunk beds and even a ping-pong table!  Nice.  There is a spacious balcony good for enjoined the sights of Tebbetts;  You can clearly see both grain silos from there.

But without a doubt the best feature of the hostel is their bike room.  It has a ton of tools, some donated bikes available for day use, and even a bike stand to prop your bike up with while you work on it.  We stored our bikes here overnight and the next morning spent several hours getting them back into working condition.  We removed the caked on limestone crud, oiled our chains, and tightened our shifter cables.  All of this plus a luxurious breakfast caused us to get a very late start, not leaving until 1 or 2 in the afternoon.
 

Farther down the road we spoke to a B and B operator who was voicing concerns about the hostel.  It's openness could possibly lend itself to unsavory characters.  I can see that possibility.  All the websites and guidebooks I've read recommended bringing ear plugs in case there is some wild party going on.  Alone, I'd be a little concerned about my safety and I certainly wouldn't leave my wife there by herself.  All and all though I'd say this place is great.  Tebbetts didn't seem like a big place, but the presence of this oasis at the half way mark of the Katy makes this town a milestone that I will never forget and will continue to visit every time I ride the trail.
 

Even at one in the afternoon, it was cold that day.  We had originally intended to do another 60+ miles and head from Tebbetts all the way to Augusta to all but end our journey, but with our late departure from the blissful bunks of the hostel plus my new leg injury and a cold front settling in we compromised.  We opted to used our wiggle room day, Easter, and divided the 60 miles up into two days.  We would make it to Augusta after a night in Hermann, MO, an interesting town we heard a lot about.  It seemed fitting that we go there.  One of our close friends, Mr. Kirk Herrmann - two "r"s and two "n" - helped me begin another hobby of mine.  His name bears a resemblance to an attraction in that town, the Hermann Brew Company.  While the brewery has changed it name to Tin Mill Brewery it seemed worth investigating.

So Hermann is 30 miles down the Katy and then 3 miles off the trail, over the Missoruri river at a trail spur near McKittrick.  We bundled up and headed out of the Hostel to the wide open trail.


It wasn't long until we stopped, however.  We didn't make it but a few feet out of the Hostel before we realized we needed more clothes.  We bundled up more so, some with socks on their hands, and looked into accommodations for the night.  There didn't seem to be any formal camping anywhere near Hermann, but just outside the hostel we saw advertisement for some B&B's in McKittrick.  We called up two of them and our friend's got a place at Joey's Birdhouse, my wife and I at Meyer's Hilltop Farm.  Although it seemed a shame not to camp and to spend all that money, it was a weekday so it'd be cheaper and the low that night was 38!

The trail that day was more of the same.  I'm not saying that it was mundane but after a few days of the same scenery and a leg injury to dull your senses it becomes difficult to appreciate.  We made good enough time and warmed up with our blood moving.  The rock faces seemed more eroded around the river's bend, plus the steel railroad bridges were more frequent.  We were in the Missouri river delta and markers could be seen marking various floods over the years, some over half way up this rock!



We passed through many small villages with their own grain silos, but one that stood out was Rhineland.  It wasn't particularly hospitable, no trail head or water service, but it did have a glorious church, a baseball diamond and a strip mall.  For those of you with a keen eye and close attention to detail, just past the strip mall in a cave in the bluffs near a small farm, you might see this little guy:

Hullo

Partially because I stopped to take 80 pictures of this guy and partially because I was injured in the first place I fell behind the front runners in our pack.  I really pushed some pedal to catch back up but after 15-20 minutes of this my leg started to remind me what a bad idea it was.




Our party was often split up, but usually for a good reason.  It turns out McKittrick was just around the corner from Rhineland and the sun was setting.  A few of us pulled ahead and met up with Rich, who opened up Joey's Birdhouse, a one room converted store house with a kitchenette, a claw foot tub, and a Murphy bed.  My wife asked Rich if he knew where Meyer's Farm was and he pointed to a hill.  Go up that hill, he said, take a right and when you see another hill go up it. And up and up and up, he said.

Meyer's Hilltop Farm, is a Farm on top of a hill.  If that's not descriptive enough then I should note that at the highest hill in McKittrick, is another hill. Yet another hill that sits in the middle of that one marks the start of the hill Meyer's Hilltop Farm is atop.





After desperately pedaling the first hill, my wife caught the Meyer's sign at the entrance of the second hill.  She switched to her granny gear and took it.  I said "nope," got off and walked.  Halfway up that hill is a hollowed out trunk of a massive tree.  Six bikers could fit in it!  My wife was still pedaling when we passed it, though I was walking faster than her.  At this point she dismounted and we both pushed our bikes up the hill, wheezing, as Leon the Donkey looked on.




The Meyer's were lovely people, but at that point we weren't.  We entered their gorgeous home and after only a short conversation this morning via cellphone, they welcomed us with open arms.  It was a little intense at first; meeting new people in the condition we were in and seeing their warm sunny smiles while our miserable countenances betrayed our graciousness.

But without much ado we were led to our rooms.  We both felt better after a shower although I still had to limp up and down the stairs.  Maggie, the kindly matron of the establishment - originally from New Jersey - welcomed us once again with an assortment of menus for the evening.  The menus were from a variety of restaurants in downtown Hermann, across the river.  We picked an establishment from the menus and Eldan, Mr. Meyers, drove us into town and picked us up when we were ready.  It was great to be ferried across the river and Eldan was even so kind to give us a tour of his fine city.

As you might have guessed Hermann was settled by German immigrants.  It's downtown was filled with large brick buildings ornate with gables and pillars; fine masonry only a German's meticulous hands and could build.  There were shops and hotels, large festival hall, an old mill, and the former Concert Hall, now a tavern. In fact it is the Oldest Operating Tavern West of the Mississippi!

If you were wondering how Germans got to mid-west Missouri, then fear not I have an explanation.  A large population of Germans settled in Philadelphia, PA.  Some of the more well-to-do members of the community made their way out here on the railroad and admired the rolling hills and winding path of the river.  It reminded them so much of the fatherland, they brought many others from PA to settled the area.  Passing though Rhineland, MO earlier it all suddenly made sense.  The Germans were so in love with the area and optimistic they built the streets of Hermann twice as big as the streets of Philly, thinking it'd grow to twice the size.  I guess they couldn't stand the inefficiency of street congestion.

In Hermann, the German traditions remain, and unlike more conservative areas of the mid-west, their attitudes towards good times seem to be positive.  Their festivals are supposed to be quite a spectacle, and the fact that it is attached to a bike trail lends itself to a safe good time for everyone.  There are two wineries in town and a third not far away as well as a brewery, Tin Mill, in the heart of downtown that makes wonderful, traditional German beer.  We were only in Hermann for a night and another afternoon, but you could feel the sense of community through the town.  At dinner they served the local beer and wine.  The aforementioned tavern's wine cellars were filled with local vintage, and though they had Bud and Coors in cans, their draft was strictly Tin Mill.  My wife particularly enjoyed the Midnight Whistle Dopplebock and I their Red Caboose Amber lager.  Gotta admit that was the best full flavored lager I've ever had, sorry Abita Amber.

Eldan picked us up at the tavern around 10:30 and was happy to drive us home to a warm bed and rest.