Reply to Help planning a trip around the J.C. area

My wife and I decided to try a trip on short notice for this coming Mon,Tues. I thought the J.C area looked like a good area. We were thinking of doing maybe a 40 or so mile trip with a few stops along the way, then staying at a hotel or B&B then riding back to our car the following day. Does anyone have any suggestions on a route? Good starting point (safe to leave car), and good place to stay Hotels probably rather than a B&B Thanks Mike

You could park at Rocheport, mile marker 178.3, ride 35 miles to the N. Jefferson City Trail head, mile marker 143.2, and then it is 3 or more miles to Jefferson City. In JC you can stay at: Cliff Manor B & B (since it is such short notice they will probably be booked, they are popular with bicyclists, but check anyway; you may be able to see on line if they have vacancies). If you are there on Mon., the closest restaurant, Paddy Malone's is probably closed on Monday (I'm not positive, again see if you can check online). They have good bar food. But you could still bike to downtown, and there are plenty of places to eat on High St., it's about 3 to 4 blocks from the Cliff Manor (it is unfortunately uphill). Other motels within biking distance: Capital Plaza, at corner of Missouri Blvd. and W. McCarty. They may have a restaurant in the hotel. The BayMont is an option, it faces the Whitton Expressway. There is a nice restaurant very close, Arris' Bistro (don't confuse with Arris' Pizza, owned by same family on W. High across from Capitol building). Also, the DoubleTree. It is definitely pricier, but worth the price. It has a restaurant at the top with wonderful view of the city. If you don't mind the price, that's where I would stay. They are on Monroe I believe.

If you need help with any directions, just post your question on here and I'll try to give you good directions on streets that are not as busy.

If you have a little time to spend in JC you could: get a tour of the Capitol, see the Thomas Hart Benton mural, it's amazing; check out our downtown, lots of places to eat there and bars, places with outside seating, there's a frozen yogurt place, Yo Yum's; go the Central Dairy, but they close at 5 or 6 so it's not open in the evening. The icecream is amazing and so are the serving sizes. You can also check with the CVB to see if there are any tours of the Missouri State Penitentiary (MSP), a very cool place - to visit if you get my drift. Bike