Day 80 ~ Blue & Craig

Mike chats with the ladies in downtown St. Charles, Missouri while Gregory and I buy popcorn.

Mike poses for me in front of the Creve Coeur Bridge. (Note the water markers.)

BLUE

Stopping near the St. Louis Lambert International Airport

Blue, Greg, Satchie, Mike and Craig

Greg & Satchie

FooFoo Kitty

Date: Oct. 7, 2009

From: St. Charles, Missouri

To: Ferguson, Missouri (Northern Suburb of St. Louis)

Route: The Katy Trail and back roads with Blue

Passes:

Miles Today: 25 miles

TOTAL MILES: 2,367 MILES

Top Speed on this trip: 54.1 mph

Weather: Glorious Day!

License Plates Collected: 5 Montana, 8 Wyoming (2 motorcycle) and 1 Idaho (found in WY), 2 Colorado, 1 Kansas (gifted from David of Baldwin City). 1 Missouri (To be sent to Grammy’s by our new buddy, Kansas City firefighter Shawn)

Flats: 7

Broken Spokes: 2

We started the day by having breakfast with a Ukrainian dance troop at our Quality Inn. Gregory commented, “They talk funny.” I had to say, “Honey they don’t talk funny they are from a foreign country and that is their language.” Not knowing myself where they were from I asked Mike and he hit the nail on the head. He said the Ukraine and later we found they were a dance troop performing in the area. I would have loved to see that show. Gregory’s comment just made me think how much I really want him to have an opportunity to travel in countries where the predominant language is not English. One of the goals of this trip is to broaden his horizons and introduce him to other cultures.

We pedaled through the charming town of St. Charles, home to the first Missouri State Capital. As you know, if you’ve read earlier blogs, the state capital was later moved to Jefferson City. In St. Charles we stopped by the bike shop and hung out on the cobblestone streets eating popcorn and visiting with the shoppers while we waited for a call from our escort Blue.

Blue offered to meet us about 5 miles back on the Katy and guide us the 20 miles or so to her house north of St. Louis. Though we had some confusion with phone area codes we did finally connect at the Creve Coeur bridge, that is after Blue put in an extra 8 miles trying to find us. She really got her exercise today! We really appreciate having a personal escort around these busy cities. We chatted on the bike trail and Blue enjoyed watching the reaction from people as our “train” came barreling by.

We lunched on creamy soups and fresh bread at the St. Louis Bread Co. and then rode the rest of the way following the outskirts of the St. Louis Lambert International Airport. We went by a neighborhood that was bought out by the airport and found it amazing how nature had taken back the land. They had removed foundations and everything so the only sign that homes had been there were the paved driveway entrances. Gregory enjoyed watching the planes take off and he and I put our arms out and did some flying ourselves. Blue’s husband Craig works for Boeing making F-15s and we also went by several Boeing complexes on our route. Craig actually got off work, went home to change bikes, and met up with us on the way. Gregory really put the hammer down trying to race Craig up the last couple of hills through their neighborhood.

Satchie, their dog, was happy to greet us and Gregory is thrilled to have a dog to play with. We got the warning up front that FooFoo kitty doesn’t like people much except for her mama Blue. We’re trying to keep our distance but it just seems so unnatural to not pet a kitty that is sitting right next to you! FooFoo even puts up quite the boxing match with the dog if Satchie gets too close.

Blue and Craig really made us feel at home. They have us set up in style with our own quarters in their basement. We have a comfy bed, fridge with drinks and snacks (healthy and unhealthy); access to laundry and hot showers and Gregory was thrilled to find a T.V. with football video games. (At home we don’t allow video games so this is a special treat for him.) For dinner we had a fresh salad with veggies from their farmer’s market and homemade chili made with organic sausage, also from the farmer’s market. We also ate the chili “southern style” with pasta noodles mixed in and it was delicious.

We’ve been in touch with Blue and Craig for some time and are so happy to finally meet them. We are becoming fast friends and look forward to our time with them.