Okay, by the looks of the advice given, we should be able to get north of Troy with no problems to Rt 143 to Edwardsville. Then work our way through Edwardsville to the Watershed Trail which goes over to East Roxana. We can then go south on Wanda Rd to New Poag Rd then going west for 3.5 miles we will get onto the Confluence Trail to make our way north to Alton and Grafton, where we can catch a ferry (is there just one?) over to Missouri and finally to St. Charles and the Katy Trailhead.

How does that look?