Our daughter has moved to Columbia, Mo., and we went there last weekend to visit her and her man, Patrick, who owns Renew Missouri. This company advocates for more clean energy in our state.
Saturday afternoon Jan attended a yoga workshop put on by Sarah while Patrick and I headed out to do some of Columbia’s famous trails. I had brought the Steed along for this very purpose.

We got on the MKT Fitness Trail from a center city trailhead. This trail connects Columbia with the Missouri State Park KATY Trail.
This Fitness Trail is a rails to trails project. I fell in love with it. I don’t want to gush too much, but I applaud Columbia and their Parks Department for the work put into the trail system in the city. It reminded me of Colorado Springs.

I guess one can find these all over.
We turned off a few times to explore a secondary spur, trail head, or city park. One spur had a 100 foot climb that included a switchback. I thought of Gerry!

Once outside the urban center of Columbia, the trail turns to packed limestone. We saw no evidence of rain washed damage, but then it has not rained here for quite a while.
Twin Lakes Recreation Area was our farthest point west. It has a fenced in dog park that we walked through. Before going in I asked Patrick if it was wise for cyclists to go through this area! We thought about it and elected to walk. No incident.

On the way back in we stopped at the Martin Luther King Memorial Garden. The granite pillars are inscribed with various quotes from the Reverend.
We stopped at the yoga studio and brought chocolate covered strawberries for everyone at the workshop. They were happy.
Following that we went north to Patrick’s parent’s farm where we stayed for the night. They live about thirty minutes north of Columbia and west of Clark before one gets to Moberly.
Sunday morning breakfast included a quail egg omelet and homemade banana bread.

The neighbors across the road raise quail and supply Patrick’s parents with eggs. Tasted like regular chicken eggs.
On the return trip to Columbia that afternoon we stopped to enjoy Pinnacle Camp. My phone camera would not cooperate so you will have to just trust me on this one. The trees with their fall leaves were a beauty.
Possibly on our next visit Jan can bring her bike also and the four of us can do the trails. I certainly plan to.
Stay happy,
