Missouri -The Katy Trail

Our last stop before some solid driving to GA to work on Annie was Missouri and the Katy Trail.  The Katy is over 237 miles long and we had originally planned to visit several sections of this trail during the fall.  Since we were a bit earlier than planned, the weather was quite warm so we opted to tool around on just two sections this time around.

On our way to Missouri from Kansas we stopped off at a Conservation Area to wander around and spend the night.

We saw several familiar critters...

Red Admiral Butterfly

Red-spotted Purple Butterfly

Leopard Frog

Here is an as of yet unidentified (possibly new-to-us) hopper.

Red-headed Woodpecker

and a beautiful Zipper Spider doing its thing

We enjoyed our time at the conservation area.  If it hadn't been so darn hot we would have spent a few more days relaxing and exploring.

Our first day on the Katy Trail wound up being a short one with a late start.

When we arrived at the trail we discovered that Hop-a-long's slimed tire had gone flat and its battery had also drained completely.

After throwing an old school patch on the rear tire we set to riding.  With a late start, a serious headwind and no battery assist though we opted for a short trip this go round.  Thankfully, we later discovered that in running out burrito wrap on the bikes we had accidentally turned on Hop-a-longs headlight and that was the reason for the drained battery.

Our second day on the Katy Trail we started off from this awesome Depot in Sedalia.

There was some metal work and sculptures around the depot so we walked a bit.

Then it was on to riding...

It was a nice day...

We spotted this Three-toed Box Turtle hanging out in the grass on the side of the trail.

It is not often that we are quite distracted by fruit but we kept seeing these trees along the way.  The fruit on them was like nothing we had seen before.  So, we took some shots and did some investigating. 

These are Osage Oranges (Maclura pomifera).  The Osage tree is the sole surviving member of the genus Maclura.  It has a wide variety of uses with its wood being favored for the making of fences and wood bows.  You may want to do some research however before you decide to sample of its fruit.

A short side trail led to a lake where we sat and had lunch.

There were plenty of hoppers down near the water.

In the butterfly realm we saw all of the usual suspects like this Variegated Fritillary,

this Common Buckeye and

and this beautiful Question Mark Butterfly.

We also spotted Papillio polyxenes - a Black Swallowtail.

Back at the depot we made a new friend

We also spotted a new-to-us cocoon which we are pretty sure belongs to friends or family

of this unfortunate but new-to-us caterpillar (we did a quick edit to remove most of his guts).  They both belong to the Common Buckeye Butterfly.

We had a pretty decent couple of rides on the Katy Trail.  One day we may head back and complete some other sections.

For now though the thought of possible major repairs on our girl and getting her safely back to GA was on our minds and thus became our priority.

Since Annie was still acting up we thought it best to get to moving so as to not get caught behind the eight ball.

In our usual style we drove mostly two lane back roads and a few days later found ourselves (and Annie) safely in GA and ready to get our girl ship shape. 

Well, that just about catches you up on our travels from April to Sep.  We spent a couple of months in GA helping out Darlene's folks and working on Annie before zipping down to our present location in FLA where we are enjoying exploring and spending time with Nicole's family.   

Stay tuned...

Annie Acts The Fool... Again, Marysville, KS, The Blue River Trail and The Road To OZ

We want to begin this post by thanking our readers for sending emails and keeping in touch.  It is always nice to hear from you about our travels and to share in yours, as well.

The next stop on our 2018 travels was Marysville, Kansas - also known as Black Squirrel City.

We spotted one within a few minutes of arriving. 

These little boogers lead a charmed life in Marysville as they are protected by law (specifically Ordinance 1027).

Ordinance 1027 permits the black squirrel to trespass anywhere it pleases, to ignore all traffic rules and the right to first choice of all black walnuts growing within the city.  And, in case you think the law is just a silly gag, anyone who maims, traps or kills a black squirrel will have committed a misdemeanor and could be fined and / or imprisoned as a result!

Beautiful and sleek, the black squirrels found in Marysville are a melanistic form of the Eastern Fox Squirrel.

If you come to Marysville and don't see a 'real' Black Squirrel don't worry there are plenty of 'substitutes' located all around the city.

In the park...

In front of the Chamber of Commerce...

Outside of the car wash...

At the bowling alley...

The Golf Course...

and two personal favorites... this tribute to artist Frida Kahlo

and "Sam" who resides outside the local Wally World.

There are probably another 20 or so of these statues around the city and it makes for a nice scavenger hunt.   We did not continue to hunt though as our actual reason for visiting Marysville was to explore yet another rail trail on our two wheeled steeds.

The kids are ready to roll and so are we on this beautiful morning.

Looks promising!

Warning... our first critter sighting on this trail is eight legged and will not make some of you happy.  If so, zip past the next two photos!

This beautiful Funnel Weaver / Grass Spider had just caught breakfast and was working its way off of the trail when we spotted it.

A member of the genus Agelenopsis with its breakfast (a member of the order Lepidoptera).

Fowler's Toad - Anaxyrus fowleri blending in.  (confirmed ID pending)

The close up...

A relic from railroad times.

You wouldn't know from the photos that the mosquitos were thriving on this particular morning.

Photos had to be taken on the fly or quite quickly if we got off of the bikes to avoid getting eaten up!

A nice little covered trestle

with views of the river.

Ahhhhhhh......

There was a lot of critter crossings on this particular day.  Here we have Spadoptera ornithogalli - the Yellow-striped Armyworm.

We had some wind on our ride.  It was windy enough to blow caterpillars over!

Recent rains had brought about the preservation of some really great critter prints.

We haven't begun to study the ID of prints so if you happen to be in the know drop us a line.

The Silver-spotted Skippers - Epargyreus clarus - were out in high numbers loving the thistles.

The frequently seen Pearl Crescent (Phyciodes tharos) Butterfly.

We were loving this trail despite the constant barrage of skeeters.

Gobble, Gobble, Gobble.

Slitherer Crossing...

For our return trip the mosquitoes gave us a bit of a break and the path became an unexpected stroll down Caterpillar LIFER LANE!  There were so many crossing the road that we stopped riding and walked a good portion of the trail to avoid hitting them.

Check out this beauty!  What a wonderful find - the Snowberry Clearwing Caterpillar - Hemaris diffinis.

Still working on the ID of this new one but pretty sure it is a member of the Armyworm group.

Another new beauty - the Smartweed Caterpillar (Acronicta oblinita).

Gorgeous! 

Not sure but it may be yet another variation of the Saltmarsh Caterpillar.  Still looking into this one.

Of course there were plenty of Saltmarsh Caterpillars that had the typical look we were used to.

This cute little inch worm was having some trouble inching along on all of those tiny pebbles.

Front legs on one pebble and back legs on another, inch your body up and.... over you go!

We were easily distracted by so many different crawlers but we also managed to see the beautiful jumpers

and flyers like this beautiful Eastern Comma Butterfly.

Before we wrap up our tales of the Blue River Trail in Kansas we should ask our readers if they remember our story of buying green tire slime in preparation for potential flats on the Cowboy Trail in Nebraska? 

After such great success in riding the Cowboy Trail without any flats we considered returning the slime but hadn't gotten around to it before riding the Blue River Trail.  It has been said that everything happens for a reason and when Nicole came down with a flat during the most buggy portion of our ride and we needed a quick fix we realized why we hadn't gotten around to returning that slime just yet! 

In searching for a possible cause of the flat we realized that some of the locust tree branches (with some really daunting thorns) were mixed on the ground with all of the fall leaves.

We had a nice ride on the Blue River Trail

and added 10 miles to the tally.

After riding the Blue River Trail we headed on down the road.... not just any road, though... it was The Road To OZ!

Wamego, KS has much to offer the small town explorer.

On this day though we were making tracks.  You see, a few days back Annie had decided it was time to throw another "I want more presents for my 30th Birthday!" fit. 

It started in southern Nebraska with a noise we hadn't heard before and in a matter of minutes had progressed to a strong vibration between 30 and 45 mph.  Our first thought was u-joint.  We are not unfamiliar with this issue having already replaced them twice in our short time with our girl.  However, all of the usual checks showed us nothing in the way of a failing u-joint.  This then led us to transmission concerns.  All of this time we were in contact with Adam, the best friend and mechanic three girls on the road could have.  When we had sufficiently stumped ourselves and the usually un-stumpable Adam we decided that a shift in travel plans was a good idea. 

Although we would still enjoy a few stops we had already picked out, the more sporadic wandering we had planned would be cancelled in exchange for a more direct route to GA.  Once there we would be in a position to complete any major repairs (we were still thinking transmission at this time) and, in the event that we needed his expertise in person, Adam would be within spittin' distance.

Since we had moving and repairs on our minds, we opted to save our $ for Annie and skipped touring the Oz Museum in Wamego.

We did see a couple of Toto statues outside of the museum and there are more around town if one was inclined to hunt them.

There is even a yellow brick road to walk down.  Not the yellow in the picture.  That is just a yellow brick wall.

Next up on our September journey back to GA we head into Missouri for a couple of stops.