I took a new route through St Charles MO which unfortunately smelled like sewage. The bike path wound through some industrial areas and low-end redneck shanties. After several miles I was ready to head back when I came across this:
LOOKS HAUNTED
Its an island nature preserve that runs alongside the Missouri River, but everything looks dead to me.
I spun around the trail for a while. Some of it was impossible to trace except for some red spots painted on a few trees. Parts of it were steep and quite narrow, less than 3 feet in some areas. My narrow tires struggled with some damp leaves.
The payoff. This mediocre view consists mostly of slow-moving barges and a big riverboat casino. Still smelled like sewage.
While resting my legs on the bench (built expertly by Eagle Scouts), a large man appeared and asked me if I saw a kid in a red jacket. Apparently he misplaced his son who took off ahead of him.
He called out "JOEEEEELLLLL! JOEEEEELLLLL! JOEEEEELLLLL!" over and over into the woods without getting a response. I suggested that maybe his kid would appear if he waited around since the island probably has a trail that loops. This is of course assuming the kid didn't lose track of the trail.
It was 5pm and the sun was setting quickly so I decided to head back and wished him luck. On my way back to the main trail I saw his kid and yelled to him, then yelled back to his dad who was a third of a mile or so behind me. His dad gave him a stern lecture on taking off without him.
I got lost trying to leave the island after taking a few wrong turns, as did a woman I ran into. We traced the path back to where it forked (and I took a wrong turn) and got out of there.
My bike's little LED headlight is worthless. The light you see here is mostly from the flash on my Blackberry.
Crossing the Missouri River back to my quiet suburb where I parked the Saab. What a relief. Last thing I wanted was to be stuck in the woods at night during a full moon. We don't have bears, but I'm sure everything is haunted.
I went to Rib City with my brother to make up for the thousand or so calories I just burned.
NOW POST YOUR DAY IN PICTURES.
