Reply to Katy Trail

Another Memorial Weekend, another great ride. We started in St Charles this year, shuttled by Gary Creason of Creason shuttles. He will talk you ear off, but is full of good information about trail businesses, and goes out of his way to be helpful. We thought we had done all of the trail over the years, but had not actually made it to the place where it becomes an overgrown railroad bed, so that''s where we started this time. We had a good lunch at The Canoe (?) in St Charles, then rode to Das Gast Haus Nadler in Defiance--boy, were we glad to spend some time in the hot tub! This is a great place, where all of the rooms open onto a big shady porch with wicker furniture. We had supper there of sausage, bread and cheese that we had brought with us, plus Jacquie had a complimentary bottle of wine for us from a local winery. She generously put our children into separate rooms for no extra charge as there were no other guests. We have had several similar experiences of generosity from B&B owners over the years. Breakfast was fabulous--individual egg casseroles, fresh-squeezed orange juice, strawberries and cream, homemade blackberry coffee cake and sticky buns, and more! Then she sent the extra baked goods with us! We were glad to have a lot of water (we bought another camelback and water bottles in Defiance), as there are long stretches at the Eastern end without water at the trailhead, and it was HOT.