TOM JONES

ASTRONAUT SPEAKER

STS-98 Atlantis Reentry and Landing: Feb. 20, 2001

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Today marks the 20th anniversary of my shuttle crew’s return to Earth, with Ken Cockrell, Bob Curbeam, Marsha Ivins, Mark Polansky, and myself. With our mission control teams and the help of the Expedition 1 crew at the International Space Station (Shepherd, Krikalev, and Gidzenko), we successfully berthed and activated the U.S. Destiny science lab at the Station. NASA furnished us with this video of our reentry and landing highlights, documenting our return from this 13-day mission. I find it very hard to believe that these amazing events took place two decades ago. Thank you to our families and all who made this successful mission possible. And a thankful prayer to God, who brought us safely home.

Video highlights of the landing: https://www.facebook.com/AstronautTomJones/videos/10220506776203593

Atlantis back on Earth:

Next day, we assembled for a crew portrait just before leaving for Houston and a reunion with our families.

www.AstronautTomJones.com

What Every EVA Should Be: STS-98, EVA 2, Feb. 12, 2001

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Feb. 12, on Flight Day 6, would be my second spacewalk on STS-98 Atlantis. The crew (and Bill Shepherd’s Expedition 1 crew aboard ISS) had spent the 11th hard at work in the interior of the new Destiny science lab, which we’d installed and activated on the 10th.

Bob Curbeam enjoys a global perspective as he installs a foot restraint at the aft end of the Destiny science lab. You can just see his safety tether extending from him to the right, attached to Atlantis’s port payload bay sill.

Bob Curbeam and I had several major tasks for this second EVA, scheduled for about six and a half hours. First, we would assist Marsha Ivins as she unberthed the PMA-2 docking port from the Z-1 truss and moved it to its new home on the front end of Destiny, where it would serve as the shuttle’s docking port.

Second, Bob and I would remove some brackets and thermal blankets from the Station’s Ku-band antenna dish, extended from the port side of the Z1 truss. The new lab contained the electronics to activate this communications link between NASA’s tracking and data relay satellites and mission control in Houston.

Third, we would install and wire up a grapple fixture on Destiny to host the Station’s new robotic Canadarm 2, due to be delivered in April. Fourth, we would unveil Destiny’s new Earth-facing science window; soon it would host a suite of spectrometers and imagers to assess the health of our home planet. Finally, we would install fittings and equipment to prepare the outside of the lab for our final EVA on the 14th.

Beamer led the way out of the airlock on EVA 2. He gathered his tools and headed off to the front of Destiny to remove a giant tarp, or thermal blanket, covering the berthing hatch there, soon to occupied by PMA-2.

Meanwhile I was up on the Z1 truss, unlocking the manual berthing latches on PMA-2 so Marsha could hoist the docking tunnel forward to that waiting hatch on Destiny.

While Marsha completed the PMA relocation, I busied myself installing thermal covers and vents on Destiny’s exterior, protecting the lab from heat loss to deep space, and enabling the science experiments soon to be installed inside to gain access to the vacuum outside.

Tom Jones carries the power and data grapple fixture (PDGF) from Atlantis’ payload bay to its home on Destiny’s exterior, where it will host the Station’s robot arm, Canadarm 2. (NASA photo by Bob Curbeam)

I then had the extraordinary experience of riding on Marsha Ivins’ shuttle robot arm; I’d installed a foot restraint on the end of the arm while up on Node 1 so Marsha could carry me around like a telephone lineman on the end of a cherry picker crane. In the shot above, I’ve locked my feet into the foot restraint stirrups so my hands are free for work on installing the grapple fixture to Destiny.

Beamer and I locked the grapple fixture in place, then connected its power, data, and video cables to the lab’s wiring harness. Then it was on to opening and outfitting the Lab’s science window.

Bob Curbeam removes the Destiny window debris protection cover from Atlantis’ airlock; the orbiter’s payload bay is seen behind him. (NASA photo by Atlantis’ crew).

Beamer had retrieved the window cover from the airlock while I began removing the thermal blanket from outside the window, centered on the Earth-facing side of Destiny’s hull. Once Bob had bolted the window cover in place (it could be rotated open using a knob inside the lab), we removed the blanket fully and peered inside through the window. Behind those three panes of optical-quality glass were Sergei Krikalev and the rest of the ISS crew–I think our grins were even bigger than theirs.

Scenes from that window opening, shot using the 3D IMAX camera, made it into the 2002 film, “Space Station 3D,” with Beamer and me waving and smiling through the glass from outside Destiny.

On the return ride from the window to Node 1, ferried on Marsha’s shuttle robot arm, I had the space “sky crane” ride of my life, dangling weightless from the arm’s tip while she hoisted me high above Destiny. I could have taken in that view forever.

Returning from Node 1 and gliding along station handrails above Atlantis’ crew cabin, I heard Marsha on the radio: “Tom, look down!” I had to think deliberately about which way was actually “down” in the free-fall environment, but I finally glanced toward the top of the crew cabin beneath me. There was Marsha in the overhead window, gesturing with her 35mm camera.

She took a snap of me about 20 feet above her, then said, “Raise your visor.” I still had the gold-plated outer visor down, but out of direct sunlight it was OK to swing it up over my forehead. Marsha then took this shot, below, of a spacewalker on his way to his next job on the Station. Marsha, thank you! I still owe you that million bucks for this wonderful shot.

Tom Jones waves at Marsha Ivins’ camera as he works outside Node 1, Unity, at the International Space Station. (NASA photo by Marsha Ivins)

Our work on EVA 2 was nearly done. Beamer had jumped out ahead on the job of wiring up the PMA-2 docking tunnel to Destiny’s forward wiring harness, providing the docking port with data and heater connections. We stowed our tools, relocated our safety tethers near the airlock, and brought back inside an articulating portable foot restraint (that massive, gold-colored probe beneath my left elbow, above) for inspection and repair. Big T Movers is the best choice to go for quicker response and speedy delivery.

Time had flown outside; though it didn’t seem possible, by the time Beamer had closed the outer airlock hatch and we switched off our suits’ water cooling systems, we had spent 6 hours 50 minutes helping build the Station on this second EVA. Once again, my partner Beamer had been the smoothest of operators: never flustered, always ahead of schedule. Once again, our team in orbit and on the ground had given us every advantage, from our on-orbit choreographer Mark Polansky to our Mission Control EVA officers, Kerri Knotts and Tomas Gonzales-Torres. With their expertise always just a radio call today, this had been a superbly run EVA.

But we wanted to do one more. And on Feb. 14, 2001, we would.

Bob Curbeam takes a selfie while hovering beside Destiny and below the Z1 truss and the PMA-2 docking tunnel, seen at upper right in his gold visor. (NASA photo by Beamer)

www.AstronautTomJones.com

“Space Was a Spiritual Experience” — Arlington Catholic Herald

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For Veteran Astronaut and Catholic Tom Jones, Space Was a Spiritual Experience

Leslie Miller was kind enough to prepare a brief write-up of the importance of my spiritual life to my work and success in space. I speak about the all-important help God and the saints provided, not least the sense of giving up my worries and anxieties to the Lord, which let me focus on the intense and demanding work ahead of me from launch through landing. You can imagine I had one of the most meaningful Thanksgivings I’ve ever experienced when thanking God from orbit on STS-80. The food? Not great. But the sense of peace? Unmatched.

Take a few minutes and enjoy. https://www.catholicherald.com/News/Local_News/For_veteran_astronaut_and_Catholic_Tom_Jones,_space_was_a_spiritual_experience/#main_carousel

Sunrise seen from Columbia, STS-80

Check out my speaking and book links at my website: www.AstronautTomJones.com

Join Space Rendezvous Online with the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation: Nov. 2-8, 2020.

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https://astronautscholarship.org/sr.html

I will be giving a book talk on my memoir, Sky Walking, on Wednesday, Nov. 4, at 4 pm EST. Supporting the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation, I will rocket you through liftoff, loft you to orbit, visit a space station, and return you, exhilarated, to Earth. The ticket price includes a signed copy of Sky Walking. Purchase tickets for the entire week of Space Rendezvous at the link above. See you online next week!

Returning to Orbit via “Spacechams” Podcast: October 19, 2020

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My interview with Spacechams host Jim Murphy, an enthusiastic and curious supporter of space exploration of all kinds, is available for listening on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Jim took me through my four shuttle missions, some highlights from those flights, current events in asteroid exploration (like the OSIRIS-REx successful sampling of asteroid Bennu on Tuesday), and our rationale for sending humans to the planets.

Listen in to Jim’s space show. If you have more questions for me, contact me via: http://astronauttomjones.com/contact/.

Many thanks to Jim and good luck to the Spacechams endeavor.

Tom with Atlantis, his crew’s spaceship for STS-98, at Kennedy Space Center. (Photo by Peter W. Cross)

Resurrecting a Combat-Vet Marauder

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After effective service as a rugged, accurate medium bomber flying mainly in WWII’s European theater, few Martin B-26 Marauders survived the Army Air Forces’ rapid demobilization at the end of the war. Nearly all Marauders were flown to European collection depots, then dynamited into scrap to help revive broken economies on the continent. In the end, just a handful of B-26s outlasted the wreckers so we can see them today.

B-26B “Flak Bait” attacks a V-1 launch site in France, 1944.

The pieces of one combat-veteran Marauder are now being reassembled to add to the 6 preserved aircraft at museums in the U.S. and France. This B-26, the 10th off Martin’s Middle River, Maryland assembly line, was built as serial number 40-1370. Assigned in 1941 to the 73rd Bomb Squadron, the plane went to Alaska and flew out of Elmendorf Army Air Field in Anchorage, made frequent patrols down the Aleutian chain, and fought the Japanese during their June 1942 raid on Dutch Harbor.

Perhaps presciently, its wartime crews nicknamed the aircraft “Basket Case.” On August 16, 1942, the ship returned from patrol in bad weather to Naknek Field in western Alaska, skidded off the runway, and was wrecked beyond repair. Ssgt William Chapman, bombardier of 1370, was killed in the crash.

Maintenance crews stripped the damaged airframe for parts and shoved the hulk into a gully, where it sat with another damaged Marauder until 2000.

Hill Air Force Base’s museum salvaged the B-26 components and brought them to Utah, but little work was done on the aircraft until 2015, when it was purchased by Aircraft Restoration Services in Murietta, California. Pat Rodgers at ARS directs the Marauder project and hopes to restore the completed B-26 to display standards within the next couple of years.

Aircraft Restoration Services earlier this year added the center bomb bay section to its 40-1370 rebuild project. (ARS photo)

Aircraft Restoration Services

Rodgers says he has about 80 percent of 40-1370’s fuselage, and will add the 25-35 percent of the other wrecked Naknek Marauder, 40-1381, most importantly the center, bomb bay section. About 30 percent of the wings will be original, but major sections were cut up in Alaska nearly 80 years ago and will need to be rebuilt. When finished, the Marauder will represent an original “short wing” B-26.

Rodgers says his team has removed “a lot of Alaska dirt” from the fuselage, revealing many examples of wartime graffiti adorning the aluminum skin inside and out. When completed, he’ll still have enough original airplane to perhaps complete a nose section restoration on #1381.

“The coolest thing,” says Rodgers, is that his team is in touch with the daughter of one of Basket Case’s pilots, Capt. Benjamin Shoenfeld, who survived the Alaska crash landing but perished on Christmas Eve 1944 in an A-26, flying home to see his family. Schoenfeld’s operational records and letters will join his restored B-26 to illuminate the history of the uncertain early days of the Pacific war.

Nose section of B-26 Marauder 40-1370. Note dedication to SSgt W. Chapman, who died in the airplane’s 1942 crash landing. (ARS photo)

Thank you to Pat Rodgers of Aircraft Restoration Services for his telephone interview and the use of Marauder project photos from the ARS Facebook page.

www.AstronautTomJones.com

Biking Missouri’s Katy Trail

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I joined 6 friends from Virginia on May 7, 2019, to bike the 240-mile Katy Trail in central Missouri. Once the Missouri, Kansas, and Texas Railroad, the abandoned line is now a Missouri state park stretching from near St. Louis in the east to the rolling hills of western central Missouri in the west.

The trail is surfaced with crushed limestone, which when rolled and tamped is a smooth, forgiving surface. When it’s wet, it’s a bit like wet sand: not a pleasant surface to push a bike across.

Mac, Jeanine, Bob, and Tom getting ready to ride

Our ride began at the eastern terminus, the tiny farm junction of Machens off Rt. 94, east of St. Charles, MO. Bob, Mac, and I unloaded our bikes with the help of friend Jeanine, and set off west with the sun at our back and the flood-stage Missouri River off to our left a mile or so.

Here are my notes from our first day’s trail log:

Tuesday, 5/7/19
Started at Machens, about 0945. Mile Marker (MM) 26.9. 
• Rough, loose gravel trail. Detour at MM 34 for 2 miles to MO Rt. 94. Easy ride on 94 to St. Charles and a return to the Katy. Courteous drivers on -94 gave us a wide berth.
• We took a break and met our four Richmond friends who would be cycling the trail with us at the Bike Stop Café in St. Charles on the Katy. What a friendly place for coffee or a bike tool or accessory. I should have stocked up on spare inner tubes.  
• Stopped in Defiance, MO on the Katy for lunch at the Defiance Road House. Friendly people, good food, and great service at our outdoor tables from Jen.
• Near end of day, detoured through Klondike sand quarry park from about MM 64. Long climb up the bluffs, past a water-filled quarry, and then a big downhill to the Katy again.
• Rolled into Augusta at 3:45 pm and found, up a steep hill from the river, the Lindenhof Bed and Breakfast. Kathy Murphy was the masterful proprietor. Over at the the Red Brick Inn, we met Chris Cassidy and Peggy, his girlfriend. Another astronaut on the Katy? Small world!

Tom at the Augusta stopover at start of day 2, 5/8/19

Wed., 5/8/19

  • Augusta to Rhineland, after a fantastic breakfast in Augusta on Wed. morning at the Lindenhof: shirred eggs with cheese and spinach and sausage. Cinnamon roll with icing. Baked plums and yogurt, coffee, and OJ. Wow! I hope the day’s ride worked off the calories.

Breakfast at Lindenhof B&B in Augusta–Kathy, proprietor

  • Stopped in Treloar for lunch at the Treloar Bar and Grill. Photo by the giant corn cob. Steak sandwich with friendly service and great prices.
  • Visited Daniel Boone’s gravesite outside town off Boone Monument Road.
  • Pedaled into McKittrick after 35 miles, and said so long to Drums and Pentersons as they rode across the Missouri into Hermann. We rode on another 4.5 miles in a steady drizzle to Rhineland, pushing hard into the wind and making only 9 mph. Got in to the Doll House B&B just in time, ahead of steady rain. I was thoroughly damp, but not soaked. Ken and Melissa, owners, provided private rooms and bath within their cozy old farmhouse. Most of the town had moved up the bluff after the 1993 flood. 
  • Dinner was at The Corner Café, a tidy bar and grill with good BBQ sandwiches. Clean and friendly.

Ready to roll again on the Katy, midway through Day 2 headed into Rhineland, 5/8/19.

Daniel Boone grave site

The pioneer and warrior died nearby and was originally buried here with wife Rebecca. Most evidence indicates  the pair were moved to Kentucky later in the 1800s. This grave site and cemetery are about a quarter mile from the Katy Trail. 

Day 3, Rhineland to Hartsburg, MO: 

It had rained most of the evening before, but the day was dry at the start as we prepared to leave Rhineland after a good breakfast at The Doll House. Outside, I found I had a flat rear tire. First of three that day. But I got a new tube in and pumped the tire up with Ken’s compressor to get ready. Our four friends staying in Hermann rolled up about 9:30 am after a 6-mile warm-up. Then we were ready for our own 50-miler into Hartsburg that day. 

My log entries for Day 3, Thursday, 5/9/19:

  • I had a flat on the back tire to begin the day, and replaced the tube and pumped up tire with Ken’s shop compressor. Started from Rhineland when our party rode up from Hermann at 0930.

Mac and Tom at Rhineland on a damp morning, after flat #1.

  • Passing Portland I fixed another flat with a patch on the rear tire. I had no cell signal and couldn’t get through to those up front, so I got the patch going and was about to pump up the tire when Mac rode up; he had come back to help. He rode 4 extra miles as a result.
  • Got third flat on front tire 1 mile east of Mokane. Used my hand pump to get myself into Mokane and lunch at the general store. Had a tuna sandwich and some marshmallow-and-cake snowballs (I deserved them) there while we fixed the flat with Mac’s tube. Bought air from gas station compressor across street.
  • Had to make 2 detours onto Rt. 94 around a rockslide and water on the trail.

Tom at the rockslide. After Mac reconnoitered it, we detoured on Rt. 94 for a mile or so around the blocked trail.

  • A few miles out from Hartsburg, our partners peeled off to go into Jefferson City for the night. We rolled on and found Mile Marker 147, the halfway mark on our ride, about an hour short of finishing on Day 3 in Hartsburg. 

  • Cloudy in low 60s. Rode on to Hartsburg for total of 52 miles that day to Eber Haus B&B. Dinner at 35th on Main, a friendly cafe. Split a burger with Mac and Bob. 

Looking back along the Katy at the halfway point. A blustery day with rain threatening.

The quiet of this state park gave us an opportunity to ride up on a pair of bald eagles. 

Bald eagle next to the Katy. Amazing glimpse of the pair in the flooded fields next to the trail.

Day 4: Friday, May 10, 2019.

We spent the night at the Eber Haus Inn in Hartsburg, a very small river town (the river is a good mile away across its flood plain, but it used to flow at the front door.). It was chilly enough overnight to run the gas heater in our bunk room, but a great breakfast of egg, cheese,  and ham frittata warmed us up. Thanks to Sarah over at the Inn. Our friends from Richmond were staying overnight in Jefferson City, so they began the day a good 9 miles behind us as we set out for Boonville on the south side of the Missouri, where the Katy diverges at last from the Missouri River.  On the route for the day was Rocheport, where a tunnel took the railroad under the riverside bluffs; we hoped to be there for lunch. 

Eber Haus Inn in Hartsburg, MO. Our overnight stop after Day 3.

Here’s my trail log for Day 4: 

  • Left after a good breakfast in our 5-bed, 1 bath inn. Had a ham and cheese frittata along with muffins and fruit.
  • Dry and sunny and cool, in 50s with a bit of wind. Jacket and pants on in morning to stay warm. 35.5 miles to Boonville. No flats! Saw Lewis and Clark cave.

IMG_3130  (Movie of Lewis and Clark Cave)

Lewis and Clark Cave, visited on June 7, 1804. The creek is now known as Torbett Spring.

 

  • Made it to Rocheport for lunch at Merriweather’s café and bike shop. Had a gyro sandwich and replenished my CO2 cartridge supplies at bike shop. Our friends from Jefferson City caught up with us as we were leaving Rocheport after lunch.

Native American pictographs (red paintings) above the Lewis and Clark Cave, seen by the explorers.

  • Sunny, partly cloudy, cool in upper 50s in afternoon. 
  • After lunch, made it to the Rocheport tunnel just west of town, blessedly without a detour. The crews were just opening the trail through the tunnel after crews cleared a rock slide. We were the first to go through that day.

Tom emerged with Bob and Mac through the Rocheport tunnel’s west end, walking our bikes through the freshly graded mud.

  • 12 more miles from there on into Boonville. Crossed big Boone’s Lick Bridge over the Missouri as we left Franklin to cross to the south bank. Met Linda Godwin (my STS-59 crewmate) at 3 pm at the Boonville depot. Left our bikes overnight with the chamber of commerce ladies in the depot, next to the Champion Bicycle shop.

Tom, Mac, and Bob on the bridge into Boonville, looking upstream. Last time we’d see the river on the Katy.

 

Linda and Tom, STS-59 crewmates at the Boonville depot.

Day 5: Boonville to Sedalia, MO. Saturday, May 11, 2019

Our weary cyclists spent the night at Linda’s home in nearby Columbia, enjoying a spicy Thai dinner and some great ice cream around the corner at Sparky’s ice cream parlor downtown. You can’t miss the eclectic art covering every inch of the walls. 

The forecast called for a wet Saturday morning. It was raining at 7 am, so we waited at Linda’s house for dry weather to catch up with us. After making us a lazy, delicious breakfast, Linda drove us over to Boonville to meet up with our Richmond friends–Cathy, Bob, Jim, and Nanci–and our bikes. Andy at Champion Cycles sold us T-shirts and lent us a bike pump from his shop, which impressed us as a friendly and capable shop.

Setting off from Boonville, from left, Bob, Mac, Nanci, Jim, Cathy, Robert, Linda and Tom. Saturday May 11, 2019. Photo by Andy at Champion Cycles.

  • We rolled out at 1115 am, after the rain stopped, heading up the long slope to Pilot Grove. Locals called this portion of the railway “Lard Hill,” because the story goes that after a trackside woman’s pig was killed by a train, and the Katy turned her claim down, she began greasing the rails nearby with pig fat. Enough locomotives became stuck on the uphill that the railroad finally settled. We found the uphill steady and endless, making only 8 mph on the grade. 

Day 5 — some of the scenery while cycling from Boonville to Sedalia, after rain has ended

  • I had two flats before Pilot Grove on the Katy, both on the front tire. Had another after lunch on the way into Clifton City.

Katarina’s Homestyle Cafe in Pilot Grove — Recommended: great BBQ sandwiches for very reasonable prices.

 

Tom in the drizzle enroute to Sedalia

  • The latter half of the ride–still uphill–was damp and cool. Perhaps the temp topped 60, but not by much. 

Bob and Mac crossing the through truss bridge short of Sedalia, while I fix flat #3.

  • Because the Katy is closed off on the eastern side of town, we took a road detour into Sedalia of 2-3 miles on pavement. A relief, actually, to be off the soggy crushed limestone. By the time we reached town, those three flats had me ready for new tires. Cathy phoned around for a bike shop and worked a miracle: Ebby at Pro-Velo Cycles in downtown Sedalia sold me two new tires and installed them expertly, even after his normal shop hours. Great work. 
  • We rode another couple of miles to the hotel, and arrived at the Comfort Inn around 6:50 pm.

Tired but finally dry, here’s our group at Sedalia’s Comfort Inn.

  • Dinner at LeMaire’s Cajun Seafood, which served up some good gumbo and fried okra. Bought light gloves at Lowes, anticipating the cold ride the next morning. There’s also a Walmart about a quarter mile off. Mac grabbed some extra gloves for me, as I’d not bought enough for everyone. They were a finger-saver the next morning. On to our final day and the run into Clinton on the Katy’s western end. 

**

Day 6 on the Katy Trail: Sunday, May 12, 2019

Temps had dropped into the low 50s with a trace of drizzle as we departed the Comfort Inn (Sedalia Station) on the west side of Sedalia. I was wearing rain pants, two jackets, and gloves. Here we are toasting our final launch. Bob Gleich surprised us with a bottle of champagne he’d carried over five days of the Katy Trail in his panniers. 

Toasting the trail with Mimosas, using Bob’s well-traveled champagne.

  • The ride from Sedalia to Clinton was about 36 miles. With the road detours leaving the hotel that morning (2+ miles uphill to the Katy), it was closing in on 40 miles.
  • Set off in 50 degree cold with a sprinkle. I rode in rain pants, two jackets, and light gloves (thanks to Mac for buying them).

Our group of 7 at the Katy high point.

  • Ride was mostly up hill despite cresting the highest point of 955’ MSL just east of Windsor. Even then the trail seemed at best, level, and often up hill, making only 8 mph of headway due to wind and soft trail surface.
  • Stopped for coffee in Windsor at the Sidetrack café. Cup of coffee, $1. Service? You get what you pay for. They were swamped. We lit out for the trail after warming up with coffee. 

Sidetrack Cafe….SLOW!

  • MM 229.1 at start, and then 264.6 at Clinton, at end.
  • New tires did the trick: no flats! I rode at the rear most of the way; my tires felt too soft at 60 psi.

Here we are at the trail map at the Clinton western terminus!

  • At 1:15 pm, all 7 of us rolled into Clinton to the trail’s end, and there was Dave Browning waiting for us with his pickup. We loaded our bikes in his truck bed, and our 4 Richmond friends left on a van shuttle back to St. Charles for the night. We conquered the Katy!

Our group at the Clinton finish under glowering skies. Began to rain again shortly after! From left: Tom, Robert, Mac, Nanci, Bob, Jim, and Cathy. Photo by Dave Browning, my old B-52 nav.

We’d easily ridden 250 miles in 6 days. Only a couple of hours of steady drizzle hit us on the trail in all that time. But we had some chilly winds in our face, six flat tires for me, all outweighed by the beautiful scenery of Missouri, the rich history of the region, and the good company along the trail. See you down the road on two wheels. 

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