Going to bed early means that you get up very early the next morning. Today we woke up around 5am, had some leisurely coffee in our tent and eventually made our way. Of course we couldn't leave the fairgrounds until I found the final geocache, which was only about a hundred and twenty feet from where we were camped.
The first day took a lot out of us, and it was clear that Therese was not eating enough. So as we rode out of Sedalia, we stopped at the Burger King for her to have a second breakfast. From there we passed by the Katy Depot and then took the detour which the lady at the Depot Museum had told us about. It added an extra couple of miles to our journey which we were not expecting, and they were hilly. Rolling hills through farm country; I will say that I was not particularly thrilled at this point in our ride, because I definitely did not sign up for hills!
When Roz, our neighbor and friend, asked if we would be traveling through Pilot Grove, she told us that she had a dear friend who lived in an historic home in the area. After a few e-mails back and forth, we found ourselves set up to visit her friend Vicki who lives in the historic Burwood home and Vicki's neighbor Winky who lives in the Pleasant Green plantation house. So we set a date for 10am this morning. We arrived about 10:05am at the little church right down the road from their houses, locked up our bikes, hopped in the car with Vicki and rode up to see Winky.
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| Therese takes advantage of a red light in downtown Sedalia to eat more breakfast. |
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| View from the bridge. |
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| The road to the little church. |
Winky was a delightful hostess! She had prepared little snacks and coffee for us and we all sat around chatting and having a wonderful morning. After our visit, Winky shared her home with us, giving us the history and showing us a number of artifacts. It was very interesting; she also showed us the little house where the enslaved people had lived. We said our goodbyes and she sent us on our way with pockets full of apples and bananas and good wishes for our trip.
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| Perfect riding snacks...sweet and salty. |
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| Pleasant Green Plantation House |
From there, we went to see the Burwood home. Again extremely interesting, with very high ceilings and 8 fireplaces! Vicki also showed us the little house out back where the enslaved people had lived. One of the rooms had been restored, while one had not. You could see how the walls had been constructed where the plaster had fallen away. One of the things I found most interesting was that the plaster had hog hair in it to give it some strength. Vicki took us back to the little church where we hopped on their bikes and were on our way.
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Slave Quarters |
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New friends at Burwood. |
When we arrived in Pilot Grove, we stopped to read the sign at the trailhead, where we learned that we would be coming up to the part that some people considered the most difficult part of the trail. It was interesting to ride that portion of the trail; we thought that there were parts yesterday that were much harder. For the most part the trail was slightly uphill with some slightly downhill sections. Overall, we would probably rate it as a flat trail. We took some time to look around Pilot Grove, including the old jail, had snacks and drank chocolate milk.
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| Trail Art |
Arriving in Boonville around 4:15pm, our first stop was the YMCA, where we took $5 showers and then pitched our tent out back in Kemper Park. We cooked up our dinner, which consisted of chicken breast, potatoes and broccoli and then took a two mile bike ride around town. All told, our day ended up being 42.7 miles.
It was a good day.
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| Camping at Kemper Park |
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| YMCA and the old Kemper Military School |
Cyclist TIP: Contact the Boonville Visitor Center and museum to get a permit to camp at Kemper Park. It's free, the bathrooms are great, and you can take a shower at the YMCA for just $5.
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