Clinton to the Kansas state line

Has anyone made the trip to the Kansas state line from Clinton? I'm thinking about having a true Bike Across Missouri using the KATY trail. Riding from Clinton to Kansas and return, then start the KATY trail from Clinton to Machens then drip my wheel in the Mississippi River at Portage de Sioux.

Here is a journal of a couple of guys that have done it. Looks like they took HWY 18 all the way from Clinton to the KS state line.
http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/page/?o=1&page_id=304928&v=4R

Two summers ago, my wife dropped off my son, me, and our bikes at the Kansas State line at 315th Street & State Line Road (a tiny gravel road at that point – you can Google-map W 315th St & State Line Rd Drexel, MO 64742). We then rode about 30 miles pretty much due east along little country roads to Garden City MO. The next day, we resumed our ride from Garden City to Clinton, riding about 30 miles on the shoulder of Highway 7, and then on to the Katy Trail. A few days later, we did exactly what you said: dipped our tires in the Mississippi River right by Portage Des Sioux's "Our Lady of the River" statue.

We used Google maps to select the Kansas-to-Garden City route, having never actually seen the roads in person until riding them. We chose this particular starting location because there is a clearly defined State Line Road at that point, and we could mostly ride directly east without a whole lot of having to turn north or south. If you look on Google Maps, you’ll see that State Line Road comes and goes in that area, and other roads crossing the border are sparse.

Garden City is at 307th street, so our route took us a little bit north. A nice easy 30 mile start fit our plan for day 1 (which was good because temperatures were over 100). We only encountered about 8 or 10 cars between Kansas and Garden City.

The 27 miles along the highway 7 shoulder from Garden City to Clinton was what you'd expect from a 4-lane major highway, but a couple hours and it's over. Lots of traffic, noisy trucks, and junk on the shoulder. This was before I had tire liners; we had a couple of flats. :-(

This route worked for our goals, but you could probably just as easily select a point on the border directly west of Clinton, which I think would give you about 45 miles of country roads between the state line and Clinton.

Google Maps is a fantastic tool for this sort of thing, and it's amazing how many little country roads are

continued....

Google Maps is a fantastic tool for this sort of thing, and it's amazing how many little country roads are on their "Street View" feature.

The usual caveats and warnings go along with this: any street-based route involves riding with car traffic, which is inherently more dangerous and requires a high level of alertness and safety vigilance. You accept a higher level of risk in doing so.

Good luck and happy trails!

Or you could join 10,000 crazies and do it in Iowa on the RAGBRAI on July 20-26 this year. It's a party every mile and your not on Google maps figuring out where to turn.