Wisconsin cyclist rides across Missouri

John Oncken, a columnist for the Madison, WI, Capital Times, recently wrote an article about his recent bicycle trip across Missouri:

This year "The Wright Riders" (our informal name) began at St. Charles, Mo. (just west of St. Louis) on a route that would take us as far west as Booneville with overnights in Hermann, Jefferson City, Booneville (two nights) , Columbia and again Hermann. The total trip was nearly 370 miles with about half of it within sight of the Missouri River.

Unfortunately, all was not peaches and cream:

On several occasions we switched back to the highway running alongside and found ourselves the object of some rather strong language from passing motorists. "Get over on the trail" was the gist of their comments, something we didn't understand in light of the few cars on the highway.

Another cyclist who recently rode up the Missouri River from New Orleans to Minnesota had this to say about Missouri's roads:

He said many of the roads he biked to Minnesota were dangerous and did not have shoulders. He said the highways in Missouri were the worst.

It looks like we've got some work to do . . .