Bicycle Adventure: Hermann and Augusta

This is the last bike trip post (for this trip, at least!).

We pulled into Hermann, MO after a beautiful early-morning, 50-mile ride. The view coming into Hermann was one of my favorites. White church steeples peek out of the hillside of green. (I don't have a photo of that.)

Here's a typical campsite, minus the other tents around us. In Hermann, we managed to find a campsite to ourselves. The rest of the time, we were setting up camp snugly with the neighbors nearby. The semi in the background is the shower truck. It traveled along with us, providing hot showers to the 300-plus cyclists.

We had lunch at the Stone Hill Winery restaurant. A yummy German-style onion tart, salad with German hot dressing and a side of spatzle. Here's the view from the winery. Hermann was founded as a German community, and still holds onto that culture. After lunch, we toured the winery, including the amazing limestone cellars that took 22 years to carve, by hand! There is a very active wine scene going on here. The Stone Hill Winery, if I recall correctly, was once the 2nd-largest in the US. Prohibition came and knocked it flat. They grew mushrooms in the cellars to get by.

The next day, we camped in Augusta, MO. Augusta is a town of 200. The Katy Trail is flat getting to it, but you have to ride up a very steep hill to get into town. (That was fun! I was missing the hills by this time in the ride.) We ate supper at this church.

And here's the sunrise as we ride the final day, back into St. Charles, MO. It was definitely a trip of sunrises (and hot tents!). Lots of good memories. In another week, I'll minimize the hot tent part and be ready to do it again.