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Tree hugging Stewarts

Day 2 - We woke to a glorious blue sky, crystal clear day. It was great sleeping weather in a warm sleeping bag. We debated before the trip whether to bring our warm 20 degree bags or our lighter weight 50 degree bags. I sure am glad we elected to go with the warmer bags. We were pedaling before 9:00 AM and we reached the north outer road of I-70 within an hour. At the very first overpass, we found an all-you-can eat breakfast buffet. Sometimes things just workout right! Great weather and full bellies!! Soon we reached the Katy Trail outside of Boonville, MO. and left the Labor Day weekend traffic behind as we pedaled through a canopy of shade from the vegetation on both sides of the bike trail. We stopped in Boonville to get some groceries and met Jasper, the boss of my boss, from the USDA office where I work part time, walking down the sidewalk. It's a small world! We continued on the Katy Trail to Rocheport, MO. and had a snack. We met a fellow from Germany who was in his 15th month of a 2 year bicycling tour of the world! He has already pedaled across Asia!! That makes our little 6 week trip seem pretty unimpressive. The bike trail was crowded with cyclists around Rocheport, but as we headed south the people thinned out as the population of squirrels thickened up. We made several stops as we continued south, including a break to hug the largest oak tree in Missouri. We reached a very crowded campground at Coopers Landing by 6:00 PM with one bathroom for nearly 100 campers. I wonder if that violates any city codes! We covered 51 miles today and averaged over 10 mi/hr. We're looking forward to another nice day tomorrow as we continue pedaling down the Katy Trail.