Weston Bend State Park August 22

52 miles

Today was a pleasant, fairly easy day. My actual travel mileage was about 40 miles, maybe, but I did a lot of pottering around Watkins Mill and then Weston Bend and the city of Weston. Another miserable road today, 92. It started off cool today, but got quite hot, and I was struggling for the last few miles.

Weston Bend State Park and Weston, the city connected to it, are a couple of great places. Weston Bend is a surprisingly densely forested park with a few pleasant, easy trails and an almost magical view over the Missouri River to Kansas. If you edit out the water towers, Kansas looks like an untouched wild forest from the overlook.

There is a long, hilly road that leads to a bike/hiking trail to the city of Weston's famous Main Street. After visiting the overlook and a bit of hiking, I used the trail to ride into Weston for dinner. Honestly, there wasn't much available on a Sunday evening, and Weston is a small town, but the draw is the quaint main street and the brewery and Irish pub. The pub/restaurant, O'Malley's, was open, so that's all that matters.

I decided on the Drop Kick Ale, which turned out to be ridiculously tasty, and the fish and chips, which was less so. The decor was, well, Irish pubbery, and it seemed it would have been fun enough on a Saturday night. I recommend the city, the park, and the ale.

Tonight is the last night of my trip. 40 or so miles from here is Lawrence, where I'll set aside the panniers for a bit. I'm ready to take a rest, but I fear the rest lasting too long. I've really taken to this traveling, as hard as it is on my physically. Having a goal each day that I really must meet, satisfying that goal, then resting and planning the next goal--not to mention the adventure of the unknown--I've found it more satisfying than anything else I can think of. And this is just traveling in Missouri! I hope to do the same (or a version) in other parts of the US, then the world, as soon as I can.