Day 37 – Eudora to Lawrence, KS
This is the fourth time in my life that I’ve crossed the US on the ground. The first came when I was a kid, on a family trip back east to see clumsy, extended family members, visit cemeteries, and attend cultural sites. The second took place in college, when we did a band tour across […]
Day 36 – Olathe to Eudora, KS
Today’s walk felt like a rebuttal from the Katy Trail. “Don’t like all those shady trails, huh? How about you try walking on the nearly-non-existent shoulders of well-traveled roads for the better part of 27 miles, with only one chance at a break?” After one car whipped past with about a foot of space between […]
Day 35 – Kansas City, MO to Olathe, KANSAS
Walking “through” Kansas City was actually quite nice! Again, I’m not actually anywhere near the center, instead skirting the southern edge between Raytown and Olathe, but I see why the ADT designers took this approach. There’s shade-a-plenty through here, starting first with the Blue River Road past Swope Park and the zoo; as an added […]
Days 33 and 34 – Windsor to Kansas City, MO
I feel like I have emerged from a labyrinth. For more than a week, each mile of each day’s walk has been largely indistinct from every other mile. I’m sure botanists and ecologists would recoil in horror at that statement and I acknowledge my damning ignorance of flora and fauna, but on a sensory level […]
Day 32 – Sedalia to Windsor, MO
I finished the Katy Trail today, or at least the sizable chunk of it that the ADT follows. Not to worry, though, I won’t be losing the security of long straight-aways and flat gravel tracks quite yet, as I transition here, in Windsor, to the Rock Island Trail, following the old Rock Island Railroad. The […]
Day 31 – Boonville to Sedalia, MO
A running diary of today’s walk: 5:30am: The alarm blares and I spring to life. I can’t claim that this happens every day, but I know this will be a long one and I’d love to finish by 4pm if I can swing it. I pack everything with moderate efficiency, swig some coffee, and hit […]
Day 30 – Huntsdale to Boonville, MO
The Katy Trail’s historical bonafides extend beyond the railroad. Frequent placards along the way chart Lewis & Clark’s expedition through here. I appreciated the chance to read about their first aid kit’s contents: “Rush’s thunderclappers (laxative), calomel (fever), laudanum (pain, sleeplessness), tartar emetic (induce vomiting), mercurial ointment (venereal disease), Glauber’s salt (laxative), jalap (laxative), and […]
Day 29 – Jeff City to Huntsdale, MO
This was the 29th day of walking. It started like other hotel mornings do, with me trying to force down ~1500 calories’ worth of food from the breakfast buffet. I’ve sworn off the “real” scrambled eggs at this point, avoiding the cereal and pastries as well, unless I need some quick caloric filler. Fresh biscuits […]
Days 26-28: Katy Trail through Marthasville, Bluffton, Jeff City
The Katy Trail follows the old Missouri-Kansas-Texas railway line, alongside the Missouri River. In local parlance, it became known as the K-T variant of the Missouri Pacific, and in time K-T became Katy. The most memorable story I could find about the Katy centered on a railway agent named William Crush and his crazy idea. […]
Day 25 – St. Louis to Weldon Spring, MO
Today was my first full day of walking in Missouri, bringing me through miles more of St. Louis sprawl before finally leading me across the Missouri River and onto the Katy Trail. I didn’t appreciate prior to departing how much of this trip, through these stages at least, would be defined by America’s great rivers, […]