….found my cleanest dirty shirt or bike trails worth riding
Then I fumbled through my closet for my clothes
And found my cleanest dirty shirt…… Kris Kristofferson
We have been on the road for a little more than four weeks now. We are running out of a few things, one of which is clean clothes. The ORV does not have near the storage needed to pack more than a week’s worth of clothes and it has been a while since the last laundromat. So, when it got time to kit up for the next bicycle ride it was a case of which jersey smelled the least bad. Oh, the joys of RV’ing.
As we went from one place to another this summer, we have tried to find bike trails to sample to help us keep up our year-long mileage goal. We are staying west of Des Moines in a KOA that is sort of close to the High Trestle Trail. A 25-mile paved path that crosses the Des Moines River valley making use of an abandoned railroad trestle. The trestle is one-half mile long and 130 feet high. This is one of the longest trail bridges in the world. To add to the distinction an art installation was incorporated. At night, a simulated tunnel is created with blue lights on the superstructure.
Being an “out and back” trail, the Princess and I decided to ride 12.5 miles from the eastern terminus then turn around to ride back to the truck. The next day we did the same thing starting from the western terminus. Then to get the full treatment, one night we came back to ride across after sundown. I expected to have the trail to ourselves because it is really out in the middle of nowhere but what we found that night was a party atmosphere. People walking with their families, trail riders like us, and a kids birthday celebration complete with balloons, music, and eight young girls on their decked-out bikes. I was amazed at how popular this trail is.
Another thing that draws people here is the several strategically place adult watering holes along the trail. We stopped for ice tea, really just ice tea at a couple of them, and then had dinner at a third. There must have been thirty bikes lined up outside of the Night Hawk Bar and Grill in Slater, IA. In Woodward at the eastern end of the trail, The Whistlin’ Donkey Sports Bar and Grill built a small RV park next to the trail. We are just so impressed with the quality of the trail and the level of use we saw given that the towns the trail passes through are very small. We will come back again.
We had also stopped in Bismarck a few days ago to ride one of their trails. A local bike shop owner directed us to the Riverfront Trail that connects to several other trails in the area. We enjoyed the part of the trail passing through a very nice park but it quickly turned into an urban trail that wasn’t all that interesting. We did manage to get another 20 miles in towards our goal but this trail is not on the list to be repeated. Looking back, I think there were better trails in the area but did not know about them at the time.
Earlier on this trip, we stopped in South Dakota to sample the George S. Mickelson Trail. I recounted our exploits there in an earlier post. If you are an avid cyclist, this trail is a must-do sometime. Check it out here.
The George S. Mickelson Trail
One more mention here of another trail complex. The MCT System in Southern Illinois. This is where we do most of our riding when not on the road. This system is unusual in that the trails are a set of interlocking loops that mostly flow along tree-lined reclaimed rail beds. I have found that most other trails are “out and back” or in the center of cities utilizing a lot of streets. The MCT trails allow riders to ride for miles without being in traffic and to wind up back at the beginning of the ride. The shortest loop is eleven miles and the longest is over forty miles.
There are 140 paved miles in the MCT System.
Dennis
Thank you for the comments. The photos turned out a little better than I expected.
Great narrative. Beautiful closeup shots.
We definitely are coming again. Hope we can meet up.
Brilliant! Perfect recap of the best event of my summer on a cold winter night. Can’t wait to see you…
I am glad you checked out my post. The RAP is a center piece of our trip West every summer.…
Enjoyed reading this blog. That Iowa trail bridge looks pretty high up over the river.
I am looking forward to us riding the River Road trail this fall. Should be nice in early October.
Thanks for the great share! Interesting to hear about the trail at night. Love the blue lights. Living near the Katy Trail now in Missouri and what we could find near us in Ocala, Florida, we still compare trails to the MCT system and we still miss those paved, looping, intersecting trails.
We are very lucky in the Glen Carbon area to have trails. So many people use them every day. Thanks for following the blog.
We are spoiled to have the great MCT trails for sure. I enjoy your posts on interesting trails in other parts of country. You are the scout who weeds out the less interesting trails from the “must do” trails.
Thanks for reading my post. We just have not found any trail system better than MCT. Some are in more interesting places but are usually an out and back with no loops available to return to the start.
I’m a little late reading this…. the bridge trail looked amazing.
i have a solution for your dirty clothes…. 🙂
Scrubba Portable Wash Bag – ( check it out on Amazon, highly praised by many of the vlogs I watch)
Hand Washing Machine for Hotel and Travel – Light and Small Eco-friendly Camping Laundry Bag for Washing Clothes Anywhere
That would work well for the cycling clothes and some of my shirts.