{"id":358,"date":"2011-10-10T13:52:56","date_gmt":"2011-10-10T13:52:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blamming.wordpress.com\/?page_id=358"},"modified":"2011-10-10T13:52:56","modified_gmt":"2011-10-10T13:52:56","slug":"4-hermann-a-quick-note","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/ehomba.ro\/blamming5\/4-hermann-a-quick-note\/","title":{"rendered":"4. Hermann: A Quick Note"},"content":{"rendered":"

September 15, 2001<\/p>\n

Hermann, MO<\/p>\n

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September Cruise 1.2<\/em><\/p>\n

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Checking in quickly from a wifi caf\u00e9 at the corner of Schiller and 2nd<\/sup> St. Enjoying gourmet coffee and a superb<\/em> cheeseburger with cole slaw, chips and a pickle \u2013 all priced at well under ten dollars.<\/p>\n

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Lee told me when I visited out at Lake St. Louis two days ago that anti-German sentiment in the First World War caused this town to be bypassed and isolated. When my dad took us all to lunch here in the 1970s, on our way out to his cabin on the Gasconade River, I recall it as a sleepy backwater. Because it was left behind by progress, Hermann retained its historic character, and today it\u2019s a little gem of a tourist town. The place that Tom and Lee stayed at here on their wedding anniversary was voted the number one bed and breakfast in the whole state of Missouri.<\/p>\n

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I picked up the Katy Trail again, westbound, less than 15 miles south of Tom\u2019s and Lee\u2019s home on Lake St. Louis. The trail follows an old railroad line that continues on through Kansas to somewhere in Texas. It\u2019s one of the original \u201crails-to-trails\u201d projects, at least twenty years old, and draws 300,000 visitors a year. Yesterday \u2013 in the pouring rain \u2013 I didn\u2019t see any of them. The trail is absolutely gorgeous and idyllic. I\u2019m thinking of revising my plan to swerve south towards Springfield at Jeff City, and instead continue on to the trail\u2019s end at Clinton, MO, almost all the way to the Kansas border. I\u2019ll make up my mind tonight, after I\u2019m in my tent, studying my maps as I always do for the next day\u2019s ride.<\/p>\n

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I\u2019m going to keep this short because I want to get back over the Missouri River, crank out another 30 miles if possible, and set up camp as near as I can make it to Jefferson City.<\/p>\n

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I\u2019ll fill in the descriptions and accounts I\u2019m passing over now when I can linger for a whole morning in a place like this \u2013 probably not until I get to Springfield. I plan to spend about 3 nights camped in one spot outside Springfield, where I can safely leave all my gear while I explore the town and environs with my bicycle stripped down, lighter and fleeter.<\/p>\n

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Meanwhile, I\u2019m going to break my promise about compressing the photos. A bunch of my first mailings were returned, evidently too large for many mailboxes. A number of other recipients wrote back, saying they had no trouble downloading my photos. In any case, I\u2019ll only send several this time, and will wait until I\u2019ve got more leisure than I do this afternoon to teach myself to use one of those photo compressors my high-tech California friend suggested.<\/em><\/p>\n

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