Planes, Trains and Bicycles

Day 6
Odessa, Missouri to Kansas City, Missouri
32 miles

We stayed last night at Sunset Acres Bed and Breakfast in Odessa, Missouri.  After supper we spent an hour going over maps to find the least hilly route into Kansas City.  There were few options and all hilly.  So I had to mentally prepare myself for another hilly day.  I am really hoping Kansas will be flat! 

Clay got up early this morning to go fishing in the pond at the bed and breakfast.  He caught a catfish, two bluegill, and two bass.  What a great way to start his day.  Our hostess, Brenda, served us a delicious breakfast full of carbs for those hills we will climb today. 

Clay, Tom, and I got a later start than normal but that was OK since it was a short bicycling day.  We ended this part of the journey at the Amtrak station in Independence, Missouri.  We had an address where our 1911 relatives spent the winter, but unfortunately the street is no longer there.  The Amtrak station isn't far from where that street used to be, and since they spent a lot of their journey following the railroad, we thought that a railroad station would be a good place to finish.

Today was bittersweet.  Sweet that we accomplished our goal to bicycle from St Louis to Kansas City, and bitter that this part of the journey is ending.  It has been so much fun sharing this experience with Tom and Susan. 

After loading our bikes on the truck, we drove Tom to the Kansas City International Airport so he could fly home.  He had some pressing business that needed his attention back at work.  We are so glad he was able to finish the bicycling with us. 

We are already looking forward to the second part of this journey that will take place sometime in 2012, going from Kansas City to the panhandle of Oklahoma.  If you are one of my Craig or Goldsby relatives and would like to join us next year, we would love to have you participate in any way you would like.