It is Nils' birthday! It's too early to call him now, but we will call him tomorrow.
Stopped first at Washington, Missouri, where we walked along atop the levee. There was a lovely flower-covered B&B there, and a boat launch that Aron ran down to.
Then to New Haven, Missouri, where we walked along the Missouri and the old train tracks, and visited a Corn-Cob Pipe factory. They let the corn cobs dry for a couple of years, then cut and shape them, then impregnate them with plaster, sand, attach the stems, and voila!
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Washington, MO along the Missouri river: Arthur Luehrmann and Aron Cowen
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Washington, MO along the Missouri river: Aron Cowen
Dear Journal,
Today we went to a park (Washington) that overlooked the Missouri. The water looked so thick, I thought I could walk on it! Then we went to a town with a (corn-cob-pipe-factory). The whole concept is interesting. After that we went to a German town and learned about the wine business. When our guide invited us to pick a grape, I picked a bunch and handed them out. Then, we got bikes from our Bed and Breakfast (B+B) and biked a 4-mile stretch (there + back=8M) of the Katy trail! It was fun, but exhausting! After that, we hottubbed and went out to dinner. I had a whole bucket of fried oysters. After a brownie sundae to top it of, we went to our B+B and fell asleep.
Aron
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New Haven, MO along the Missouri river: Indians
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Washington, MO along the Missouri river: Aron Cowen
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Washington, MO along the Missouri river:
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New Haven, MO along the Missouri river: Missouri Meerschaum Co.
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New Haven, MO along the Missouri river: Aron Cowen in a caboose
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New Haven, MO along the Missouri river: Martha Luehrmann and Aron Cowen at a memorial to John Coulter
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New Haven, MO along the Missouri river: Arthur Luehrmann and Aron Cowen on the levee
On to Hermann, Missouri, a town settled by Germans funded by the German Society of Philadelphia. There we took a fabulous tour of 2 homes and a printer's shop. The printer and his wife were Rationalists and anti-slavery, neither of which sat too well with their religious, slave-owning neighbors. They were frequently threatened and harassed, but influential with their newspaper enough to be spared real trouble, and are credited with an influential role in the vote to have Missouri become a free state and stay with the Union during the Civil War. The docents had planted a flower garden and an herb garden with many of the heritage plants that would have been planted in the early 1800s.
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Hermann, MO along the Missouri river: kitchen spices of the 1960s
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Hermann, MO along the Missouri river: kitchen stove of the 1960s
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Hermann, MO along the Missouri river: spinning the flax threads
We went to Jefferson City, MO, the capitol of Missouri
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Jefferson City, MO: fountain at the capitol
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Jefferson City, MO: statue of the signing of the Louisiana Purchase
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Jefferson City, MO: capitol building
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Jefferson City, MO: capitol building with Jefferson statue
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Jefferson City, MO: capitol building
We then zipped over to our “Bed & Bikefest” on the Katy Trail. It was a cute pair of houses surrounded by flowers. We were going to stay in the caboose which is on the property, but the owner had just sold the property and had moved into the caboose, so we took the attic room, which was spacious and lovely, with old-fashioned furniture and a claw-footed tub. The bath area was divided from the bed area by a quilt-hung screen.
We got 3 bikes from the B&B owner, a nice girl who just bought the B&B with her husband and who was getting her graduate degree in hotel and tourism management. We rode our bikes down the Katy Trail 4 miles and 4 miles back. The Katy Trail is the old railroad tracks right of way, and it runs from St. Charles, Missouri, near St. Louis, all the way to Booneville, Missouri and finally to Kansas City. It's maintained for hikers and bikers and runs right along the Missouri River. The Katy Trail was named not for a girl called Katy, but rather from some of the initials of a railroad, MKT, the M being for Missouri, the K for Kansas and the T for Texas.
While biking on the Katy Trail we saw a cute round groundhog! It ran down the path ahead of us and then ran off into the underbrush. We've also seen deer, ground squirrels, lots of birds, and cute small multi-colored short-eared rabbits.
After we got back, had a quick hot tub at the B&B and walked to a nice trailside restaurant where Aron and I got a bucket each of fried oysters. Then a walk back in the dark to the B&B. Saw another bunny rabbit!
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MO: Aron Cowen on the Katy Trail
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MO: Arthur Luehrmann on the Katy Trail
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MO: bluff on the Katy Trail
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MO: Arthur Luehrmann and Aron Cowen on the Katy Trail