We'd spent the past few days in Oklahoma attending a wedding and visiting Jana's family. It was the wedding that determined the dates for our bike trip, because it made sense to ride Missouri's Katy Trail on our way back to Tennessee. With the dates set, lodging reservations were made months in advance, with our fingers crossed for good weather.
From central OK, it was an easy 350 miles to Clinton, MO, the westernmost town on the Katy Trail. Due to the combined trip, we now had the chore of reorganizing our gear in order to live out of bike panniers for the next week. The car was completely stuffed with stuff, so it was a big job!
Cool mural, complete with cyclist
Lodging: Parkfield Inn, Clinton, MO, an extremely small chain of only 2 hotels. The king-sized bed gave us plenty of room to sort through our gear, and a hot breakfast in the morning would give us a good start for our ride.
We had dinner at El Camino Real Restaurante before visiting Clinton's historic town square. Clinton, Missouri, with a population of only 8,800, boasts the largest town square in the state and the fourth largest in the entire country. You'd need a drone to photograph the square, but it had some cool buildings and fun murals.
Baby chick capital? Who knew?
Former Henry County Bank
Clinton's Olde Glory Days