More Katy Trail :)

We decided to make sure we enjoyed the Katy Trail to the full extent, meaning no rushing, reading the depot signs in the different towns, and exploring whatever caught our interest. It was no surprise that the first thing to catch our interest this morning was breakfast. We definitely deserved it after reaching 2,000 miles yesterday, so we indulged at a little cafe (Paula Jeans Cafe) on the side of the trail in Sedalia.

Sedalia was formed around 1860 in the middle of the prarie and became a major transportation and distribution center. Railroads began operating in Sedalia in 1861, first the Pacific Railroad Company and then the Katy in 1873. The original Katy depot in Sedalia now has a number of exhibits on the history of the railroad as well as a gift shop and visitor's center.

Sedalia itself is full of grand commercial and civil buildings, stately homes, and much history. We took a few photos of some of our favorites and included them below with a little history (thanks to a Sedalia's Heritage Trail pamphlet).

Below is the Trust Building which originally housed Missouri Trust Co. It was built in 1886 in a Romanesque Revival style.



Diagonally across the street is the Pettis County Court House. Though the original court house was built in 1884, it burned in 1920. The building below was built in 1924. Though we didn't go in, we found out later that there are 36 murals in the building from 1924 that were commissioned at the time of its restoration that depict the history of Sedalia. I'm a bit sad we missed that.



Surrounding the court house are many memorials including the statue seen in front of the court house (above), the replica Statue of Liberty (below), and a retired Army artillery on the South side.



Also at the same intersection we spotted the seen below. There is the nice EXCELLENT COFFEE SHOP sign and hanging below it is a yellow and black sign saying Fallout Shelter. This is on the front facade of the Hotel Bothwell.



Dedicated in 1901, the building below is the Sedalia Public Library. It was built on a grant from the Andrew Carnegie Foundation.



Here is a view of Main Street. It looked like something out of a movie. the only thing its needed were some appropriately aged cars.



This fantastic structure is the Sacred Heart Church. It is absolutely stunning and the photo does not do it justice. It was built in 1893.



We took a last stop at the Sedalia Katy Trail Depot to see the visitor's center before heading back on the trail. In case anyone else is interested, I learned that the Stealth Bomber is a regular object in the sky. Whitman Airforce Base is nearby and the training base for the stealth bomber.

We hadn't traveled very far on the trail before we made a very insistent friend. Kitten! We really wanted to put her in our front bags and bike off, but we realized that would not be the best nor smartest of ideas. Instead we gave her some tuna and hoped her owners or a local in want of a kitty found her soon.



We also made many butterfly friends. This particular species seemed fascinated by Chris' black bag.






The scenery and land is constantly changing. Today we entered into the Ozarks and were very happy to be on a Rails to Trails path. Trains do not like climbing steep inclines, so all ups and downs were very gradual - ideal bicycling grades! We passed through numerous sections of the trail where the hill/mountain had been blasted to create a gentle incline for the train.



We have seen many more creeks, rivers, branches, ponds, and streams since entering into Missouri. We've also crossed a lot more bridges. The bridge below was built in 1910.



All of the depots have information boards telling about the current depot, the town's resources and amenities, and the trail leading to the two surrounding towns. We had seen a photo of the Boonville Depot from the late 1800s and were very amazed when the current depot looked exactly the same. It is built in a Spanish style and is the only Spanish styled depot still standing on the entire Missouri-Kansas-Texas line.


We crossed over the Missouri River. Wow is it big! We haven't seen a river this wide on our entire trip.


The river was so wide, its entirety didn't fit in the photo with our 18mm lens:



We continued on the trail a bit farther, looking for the Davisdale Conservation Area which was supposed to have primitive camping. We found it! only to realize that we couldn't actually get to the designated camping area because the path was flooded. We decided to set up camp on a grassy ridge before the flooding.
Currently we are sitting in our little tent on the ridge surrounded by fireflies, croaking/ribbiting/peeping/belching frogs, buzzing mosquitoes (who are thwarted by our tent), and illuminated by the full moon.

Location:Sedalia, MO to Davisdale Conservation Area, MO