Gus Riley

First let me thank all those who had great advice concerning routing to St Charles, MO from the Scott AFB base area. With that valuable information we have been able to route ourselves to the Katy trail with confidence.

Now, we need to approach a route from Clinton, MO back to the TransAm route in Kansas. We have tentatively looked at traveling directly south out of Clinton (western Katy Trail Trailhead) on highway 13 to the Osceola area and picking up highway 82 to El Dorado Springs area. Then Highway 54 to through the town of Nevada, MO and then follow that road into Kansas until we pick up the TransAm route again.

Anyone out in those areas have better recommendations? We sure appreciate the advice.

Thanks
Gus

jkmartin

The Mobikefed maps aren't bad.

https://www.mobikefed.org/mobikemap20...map2004d07.jpg

You'll need to find the map that shows what all the different colors mean.

Kansas has something similar. Click on Bicycle Map.

https://www.ksdot.org/burrail/bike/biking/KsBicyGuid.asp

If it were me, from Clinton I'd aim for Ft. Scott, KS (about 20 miles west of Nevada). From Ft. Scott you'd be about another 20 miles from picking up the transam route north of Girard. I don't know what mileage you're planning on, but Clinton--Butler--Ft. Scott--Chanute should be doable.

The Mobikefed site also has traffic count maps. Depending on the shoulders, riding no 54 and 13 could be suicidal.

https://www.mobikefed.org/files/d7trafficcount.pdf

Gus Riley

Thanks for the information! We didn't include Ft Scott because it is on RT 54 which eventually dumps us back on the TransAm route.

Looking at our tenative itinerary, we're leaving Clinton from a day on the Katy trail and stopping for the night at Osceola RV park, then riding to Candle Creek RV park, we think that is 48 miles, the following day we get beyond Ft Scott to Moran, KS which is 52 miles.

As a tandem team we could easily double these daily miles, but we will be accompanied by our 7 year old niece who will be pushing us on her Piccolo (Tag-along bike attached to our tandem.) So we have to keep our miles down each day. 90 days is our planned time frame. We might find that on many days our mileage estimates are totally wrong, either long or short, hopefully short We'll have to deal with that as we go.

catfish

Hey Gus,
Nice to see you out there.... Last year I rode through Messouri and rode most of the Katy trail and I remember staying in Clinton overnight to clean up the bikes drive train. i started out on the main Hy out of clinton and i remember a shoulder but the traffic was too much for me I got out the state map and got off on to some back roads. A long days ride got me back on the Trans Am in a town i forget the name but ther is a nice bike hostle in that town and a very friendly restraunte famous for pie amoung other things.

Im on the road now and dont have access to my journals If i can remember the name of the topwns and route Illget back to you... One thing i remember aabout that state was the shoulders were a lot of times all toren up so i ended up on the road way a lot of the time but the roads i stay3ed on were light traffic.

happy pedals
catfish

Gus Riley

Catfish it's good to hear from you again after what seems like a long time. I was looking at some of the information that jkmartin provided and I can see what you are talking about concerning backroads out of Clinton. We will have to re-look our over night towns, but that is doable.

Be safe out there.
Gus

scoana

Stay on the backroads and you will be fine.

13 has shoulders but is highly traveled.

54 has many areas of no shoulders. I don't even like towing my boat on it in some areas. Very dangerous.

Gus Riley

Thanks scoana. Rt 54 is used for quite some time by the TransAm into Kansas, is it bad before Nevada or after or the better part of it while in MO, or does that continue into Kansas?

We appreciate the info
Gus

catfish

Hey Gus,
I remember now I left Clinton on hy 13 but the shoulder was so bad i had to ride in traffic. and ther was a lot of traffic. I got off on Hy 52 I believe then caught another road that took me south and ended up back on the Trans Am just east of Golden City if you look at your map it may make sence.. Golden City ios a very friendly place and a bike hostle. Thats the best I can remember without being home to look through my Journal
Catfish

jkmartin

The part of the Transam on route 54 in Kansas is the worst part of all of Kansas. The shoulder is at most 3 feet and the speed limit is 65. Trucks on this road seem to have devolved their brakes and do not slow down. The suction they create as they pass makes controlling a bike difficult. If I were to travel that way again I would find a different route just to avoid 54 - even if it meant riding on dirt. The Kansas bicycle map I provided earlier shows most of Rt. 54 in red - high traffic volume.

I cannot overemphasize how bad Rt. 54 is. I was on the road before 6am just to give myself a fighting chance against the trucks. The traffic counts indicate the Missouri and more eastern Kansas sections you would be using get 2X-4X more traffic than the ~50 Transam miles of Rt. 54 in Kansas. You will not make up any time by using Rt. 54 and you will be extremely stressed. I would not even consider the idea of taking a 7 year old on this road.

Gus Riley

Point taken. We will look for an alternative to 54. That sounds stressful as all get out! We don't need that kind of experience.

scoana

From 13 for several miles west there is no shoulder at all on 54. It is being widened but the truck and RV traffic combined with the speed limit make it a bad choice to the state line.

I believe catfish is refering to 97 as the N/S route. 18 or 52 would be better E/W routes. 126 goes E/W from Golden City to Pittsburg, KS and beyond.


If you go thru Pittsburg, KS say Hi to Roger (owner)at Tailwind Cyclists(Trek Dealer).


Keep me in mind for further questions of the area. PM me if you would like my phone no. for emergencies in this area.