ALL HAIL THE KATY TRAIL

The next time you visit the Katy Trail remember this story.

“It was a publicity stunt that will never be attempted again. The ‘Crash at Crush‘ was the intentional head-on crash of two Katy locomotives on Sept. 15, 1896, at a point just south of West, in Central Texas. The results were not what the railroad officials had planned.”

Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad (Katy Trail)

A highly promoted crash that that went horribly wrong. This train wreck makes me think of the time I went to the Katy Trail with some friends of mine. Everything that could have gone wrong did go wrong.

The Tuesday of Spring Break 2009 a band of us left for the Katy Trail and it went horribly wrong. A storm was brewing and there was an urgency to get moving. I threw everything in my pack, strapped up and headed to the pick up point. Once I get there I get word that our driver is delayed by a flat tire. “Sure no problem. He’ll be here soon.” Three hours later at 4:00 pm we finally loaded five bikes into the van and two on a bike rack, and headed off to Sedalia, Missouri.

Everything is going great driving down 50 Hwy listening to Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” when all of a sudden the driver looks back and see’s both bikes on the bike rack bounce like a baby down the highway as other cars swerve to keep from hitting them. We stop immediately on the highway get our bikes shoved and secured in the van and continue with a relief that no major damage occurred to the bikes.

Suddenly Sedalia, Missouri. “ALL HAIL THE KATY TRAIL,” roared when we started on the Katy Trail. A sign of a horse on a tall pole telling us to “get off our high horse” stopped us not even a mile down the road. At that spot there was a box advertising “rattlers.” Thinking I would see some snakes on a this trip I peek my head in and sure enough there were rattlers, Baby Rattlers. We leave with a sense that someone is laughing at us from their dining room window. Getting back on our “high horse” we continue and stop again for a photo op. and realize we need to burn some rubber on the trail to make it to Pilot Grove, our half way point to Rocheport.

Now it’s dark. We cannot see the road and actually run into some fallen tree’s slowing us down even more. We finally make it to Pilot Grove thinking there is an inn to protect us from the coming storm. NOTHING! Closest place to stay the night is another 10 miles down a pitch black trail in Booneville, Missouri. We were lucky enough to get a cab that would pick us and our bikes up and take us to a Motel 8 in Booneville. It took us two trips to get all seven of us in a cozy two bed, one cot room.

The next morning the storm was in full force. Looking longingly at the road ahead, we wait. Thinking that the storm has subsided we quickly pack everything up and break for the road. Not even two seconds go by when the rain pelts us back into the Motel 8. So we decide to stay another night to dry our shoes and wring out our clothes.

We had a great time checking out the local places of Booneville. It was 2:00pm before we were able to get out of Motel 8. By that time we were a little hungry and went into town to see what was open. The only thing we found open was a local bar. This was a great chance to meet the locals. We ate at a little Italian restaurant that opened. The next big thing that beckoned our call was the casino in town that could have easily been occupied by half of the town. I have never enjoyed casino’s and never will. Pizza and beer for dinner and card games topped the night off.

Determined to make it to Rocheport, Missouri we get back on the trail the next day. “ALL HAIL THE KATY TRAIL,” we cried. Checking our energy and time two miles into the soggy trail we knew we could not make it the 11 miles to Rocheport and the 50 miles back to Sedalia by the end of the day.

Tired, drained, and most of all soar we all arrived in Sedalia by 6:00pm. A final “ALL HAIL THE KATY TRAIL,” victory call gave us a sigh of relief. We made it back to Kansas City with a new respect with each other and ourselves.

This may not be a train wreck, but I really enjoy when things go wrong and picking out of that the good times.