The AP bicycles across America

An AP reporter bicycled across the U.S., mostly following the TransAmerica route. In Missouri she left that route and took the Katy Trail:

On a particularly remote stretch [of the Katy Trail], a too-large feline figure occupies the center of the trail ahead. It walks in a circle, sits and stares. The "get outta here" yell seems inappropriate. I turn tail and find a path leading to a gravel road and a long looping detour into the nearest community, where people confirm sightings of mountain lions. The big cat was probably heading to the nearby sheep farm for lunch, they say.

The only reasonably direct way into Kansas from the end of the Katy Trail in Clinton, Mo., is by Highway 7. It isn't pleasant.

Busy and hilly and, worst of all, no services for many miles. I finally come to a convenience store late in the day, with 30 miles to go to the nearest town.

Reminding me, that we've just got to get a better connection from the Katy Trail to Kansas City . . . and you can help make that happen.

[Though in fact there are MUCH better road connections available than Highway 7!]

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