Reply to Bike Ride from St. Charles to Clinton

I spent the first week of October 2020 riding the trail east to west with three others. We rode east to west and found it was pretty easy. I know most people go the other way saying that there was slight downgrade going that way. I have to say, that as many of the times we had ups we had just as many going down. It was great to be able to pick up some speed! I thought I would share the places I stayed as they were all great. A Piece of Heaven B&B in Marthasville, in the Cowboy cabin. It was truly outfitted with cowboy decorations. They picked us up at the trailhead and brought us to the B&B. Only problem was that they only had a bike rack for 2. No problem, it gave us time to decide what we wanted for dinner. By the time we got there, there was a nice fire in the fireplace. Very homey. There isn't anything to eat near the B&B, but you can get delivery. I do have to say, though, the upstairs loft has a ladder that is straight up from the bottom. Though, at 63, I was able to manage!! On the first day, we were lucky enough to come across a place with an Ocktoberfest celebration! Very fun. 2nd night: Jefferson City. I was warned about the ramp that goes around and around going up from the bottom to the top of the bridge. It was a piece of cake. Very easy ride into the city. 3rd night: Rocheport: Loved Katy BikeFest B&B. Very comfortable. Because of covid-they basically had frozen breakfast food available, juice, milk, coffee, cereal and other breakfast items. Right on the trail. 4th night: Sedalia, Hotel Botwell, Loved the old historic hotel. They had a bike wash which I thought was great to get all of the dirt off. 5th night: Westbridge Inn. Was not a bad ride to it. Looks like it was newly remodeled. Very clean and good breakfast selection. 6th night: Back to Sedalia and stayed at Maxines! She rents rooms out, very reasonable. Maxine and her husband made us feel very much at home as we took over the kitchen and played cards. We had a shuttled planned to pick us up in Sedalia and bring us back to St Charles. My experience with them was not pleasant. I spoke with the owner, Tony, I told him what i was looking for and we settled on a price and day and time. Thought I was all set. He then text me and offered to pick us up a day earlier, which I put out there that it was a possibility. He gave me a time in the afternoon, but increased it to $40. Said I was possibly interested but didn't know why the increase. Never heard back, so I called him after a few days. He then wanted to pick me up earlier than he stated on earlier day and added another $10. He sent me invoice when I originally booked and paid a $50 deposit. I asked again why, one reason was because it was late pickup (he changed it to an earlier time, so it wasn't late, then it was because he was picking us up at the west end. Really, he is going to charge us more for drive the same distance and same about of time? He said he made a mistake on the quote. He then got snippy and said I have lots of people that want it, do you want it or not! What could I do? Not the kind of person that I wanted to deal with. Luckily, I told Maxine of my situation because I was going to have to cancel the reservation. She called back and said her husband would bring us back! That worked out perfect because then we could go when we wanted and did not have to wait in the morning. Still out the $50 deposit, but it was worth not having to deal with Tony. I was worried that he wouldn't even come. As far as the detours, we were able to go through them all without a problem. On one detour, we saw a couple at the other end from the rockslide. Once they reached us, they said it was no problem, just have to pick your bike up and over the rock, beyond that, again, we just had to lift our bikes over the gate. The section where they were grading the trail, it said it was closed. We went anyways, at first the sand was soft but it got harder. We went by the vehicle and the guy was sleeping, so he couldn't say anything to us. The section in Rocheporte we followed what others have done and it was very easy to follow, stream practically dry. Great trip and fun for us all except one of the group got sick and that is a whole other story!!Hope this isn't too long,