Directors and Coordinators of Connectivity

It’s hard to imagine all that goes into creating an accessible trail that spans a small unit of land, like a township or a city, not to mention one that spans an entire state, country or continent. A massive groundswell of support has to be fostered in order for any of the trails that any of us have ever used to be not only built, but subsequently maintained. The politics behind any trail system is extensive and the public perception of a proposed trail comes first and foremost: proponents and opponents will argue their points and it’s always a question of who prevails. Even upon general public acceptance of a proposed trail, there are real estate, legal, monetary, engineering and bureaucratic hurdles to clear. It is no wonder that it can take years and often even decades to get a trail built.

I only have a sense of the intricacies of creating the trails that I advocate for, and that inkling has me so appreciative of the state representatives, the state park workers, the nonprofit employees and board members and volunteers, the general supportive public and many others who all make something like the Katy Trail possible. So it was truly an honor today to meet people from a number of organizations and agencies behind the Katy Trail, and who are working to advance the Rock Island Trail system. We all gathered together this morning at the North Jefferson City Trailhead at 8 a.m. for some interviews and general chatting before an official list of speakers began at 9:30 a.m. But first, some details on what preceded our arrival at the trailhead this morning…

We had been thinking of starting on the trail at 6:30 a.m. as we typically have been, and putting some miles in before going to the North Jefferson City Trailhead, but we decided yesterday evening to make things easier on ourselves and to just sleep in to 6 a.m. or so (as opposed to 4:30 a.m., if not earlier). It being a special day and all with our planned meetings with so many important people, Dr. B and Jimmy stepped up their attire and were looking hella dapper. I donned my Great American Rail-Trail jersey from our 2022 adventure. We left our Jefferson City hotel at about 7:15 a.m. and drove to the State Capitol building. After snapping some Day 4 start photos, we took off from the Capitol initially on some surface streets, then onto the Pat Jones Pedestrian Bicycle Lane of the Missouri River Bridge. (This safe pathway was completed in 2011 and took 2 decades of advocacy and support to come to fruition.) After crossing the bridge, we made our way to the trailhead via some surface streets and some spur trails.

Doug Monieson, a board member of Rails to Trails, was one of the first people to greet us at the trailhead. We had the pleasure of having dinner with Doug the night before. I first met Doug in Port Angeles during a national Rails to Trails conference that took place on the Olympic Peninsula, and it was great to spend some time with him at Prison Brewing last night in advance of today’s festivities. Doug took the time to drive down from Chicago to participate in today’s gathering and ride, and we greatly appreciate his friendship and support.

Reps. Dave Griffith (L) and Bruce Sassmann (R) took time to attend!

Anthony Le was also at the event from Rails to Trails, leading a production crew in support of further work on the Rock Island Trail. (FYI, we will be ending this trip on the existing length of the Rock Island Trail which will bring us from Windsor, MO to Kansas City.) Anthony was one of a few people who interviewed me before the official ceremony began.

My crew and I met a lot of people today. We chatted with Kim Henderson of Kim’s Cabins, who is also a board member of Friends of Rock Island Trail State Park. Hopefully we see her again when we go through Windsor. Jimmy talked with Tisha Holden, Division Information Officer of Missouri State Parks, and Melanie Smith, the Deputy Regional Director of State Parks, and found out some details on how the Katy Trail is managed. I got to talk about access with Troy Balthazor, Director of the Great Plains ADA Center. Dru Buntin, Director of the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, greeted my team and asked us about the accessibility of the Katy Trail.

Talking about what rail trails mean to me.

We had the honor of meeting and chatting with Missouri State Representatives Bruce Sassmann and Dave Griffith, both of whom spoke during the ceremony that Katy Trail Coordinator Cassie Brandt did a nice job of orchestrating. After Representatives Sassman and Griffith spoke on the importance of the Katy Trail to the region and of the need to prioritize accessibility for all, Director Buntin spoke of the recent accessibility progress made by the state. I spoke last and provided a summary of my story and of what I have been working on through Ian’s Ride for the last 8 plus years.

After the talks, we were ready to hit the trail. It was about 10 a.m. at this point, and my temperature was 99 degrees already. Today was the hottest day yet, with temps hitting triple digits. My team quickly mobilized to pack some ice on me beneath my jersey and to spray me down with water. We then hit the trail, and Dr. B and Jimmy repeatedly sprayed me as we rolled on.

We had a nice little group as we rolled westward from the trailhead. Troy Balthazor and a woman by the name of Jenny rode with us for a while. Doug Monieson and a local named Jackson rode with us for all 26.5 miles of the day. Jackson is very familiar with the trail and dropped a lot of knowledge.

Very shortly after we started, I almost ran over a sleepy squirrel who escaped my wheels by inches. Immediately after that, we came upon an eastern box turtle at the edge of the trail. It felt good to get moving again, and the air movement on me eventually cooled my body temperature. At some point, a woman heading in the opposite direction let us know that a tree was down on the trail ahead of us. I worried because heading back toward the sun with a tailwind was going to be quite hot and wouldn’t help my temperature situation. Dr. B went ahead of us all to scope it out. The downed tree was a few miles from where we first heard about it. Dr. B notified us that the tree was not moveable and was indeed something that I couldn’t get around. Fortunately Celina had stopped at a perfect location for picking me up to drive me around the compromised section of trail. Jimmy, Dr. B, Jackson and Doug rode to the downed tree and made their ways under and over it. While I was in the van, which gave me a chance to further cool in the blast of its AC, I saw a scissor-tailed flycatcher for the first time in my life!

I quickly rejoined the others and onward we rolled. It was getting quite hot. Because of the late start due to the interviews and ceremony, we went a bit later today than we have been. We finally called it a day at the McBaine trailhead after 26.5 miles. So we only ended about 9 miles short of the intended terminus for the day; not bad given the late start, tree delay and extreme heat. It shouldn’t take us long to make up those miles. We may even be able to do it tomorrow.

At McBaine, a fellow on a bike by the name of Alvin called out my name and said “You’re famous!” He said that I’ve been showing up on his Facebook feed, and he was very enthusiastic about seeing us. While Alvin was posing with me for a picture, Jimmy got him a “Get Outside” Ian’s Ride shirt, which he promptly put on for another picture.

I want to end this blog entry by looping back to its beginning points. We’ve been having a fantastic time on the Katy Trail. We are aware that this trail is the legacy of decades of advocacy and work, and we want to thank everybody past and present who has ever worked on this trail. Efforts like these leave us with safe ways of moving through the world in manners that allow us to see and appreciate details that faster modes of transportation obscure. And these trails allow us to meet like-minded people who we connect with. And connectivity is what it’s all about.

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