Happy girl, heading back to the Katy!
Getting back worked seamlessly today. The cab was on time, and we got on the train with no problem. We knew enough this time to sit on the more scenic (river) side of the train, and no chattering guy right behind us. The train made good time and actually got us into St. Louis about 15 minutes early. It was interesting that over half of the passengers disembarked at the station before downtown, presumably because of the protests, but in fact everything was quiet downtown and we had no problems there either. From downtown we took light rail to the airport, and Ubered from there.
When we went to bed last night we were treated to a fantastic lightning storm that went on and on, and we have no idea when it finished as we fell asleep to continuous flashes and constant rumble. We hope we got it out of its system. It was still raining when we got up this morning, and for quite a while on the trip, but by mid-state the rain had largely disappeared, and by the time we got close to St. Louis, it was looking dry. Keeping our fingers crossed!
Our view for the first half of the trip
Nice place to watch the river
When we got back to the hotel we were reunited with our bike suitcases, and from our higher room (21st floor this time) got a better look at the hotel/casino relationship to the river. We understand that in Missouri casino’s are required to be floating. Probably goes back to the riverboat days. There is one casino in town that was actually built in its own pond. Anyway, looking down, you can see that we are located on a mudflat RIGHT next to the river. There is even a small stream channel going right under us. Clearly when the river comes up we are over water, and I guess that counts.
Our casino/hotel almost in the river
We spent a couple of hours putting the bikes together. It shouldn’t take that long, but we ran into a few issues. There was one bit with Tami’s front bag mount that required consultation with the bike mechanic in the group. Of course the solution was one of those forehead slapping moments. DOH!!
Bikes suitcases
Mike working on his bike
At 5:00 we got to meet the other riders as well as Bubba and team. I don’t think there was a rider under 50, and quite a few over 70. Quite a few of them are hard core riders, and many have done tours with Bubba before. This is NOT an inexperienced group. We meet for breakfast at 7:30 tomorrow morning, and ride from there. We are only doing 35 miles, so it should be an easy day. At last, the Katy!