Pictures along the ride

Johanna wanted to show some of the trail that we went thru during the first days of the ride and didn't show before.  The trail is mostly paved and runs thru the flood plain of the Main river. This land is cultivated to some extent  and some is left fallow and some is untouched.  The trail is also used by farm equipment to get to their fields.  There is also occasional car traffic getting to the fields or the infrequent house.  The profusion of wildflowers is amazing.  When we come to the small towns the trail usually goes down the main street.  In bigger towns it will go thru the back streets.  In the big cities it will towards the city center but usually miss it.  To get to the old center we usually have to leave the trail and find our way back after the sightseeing.  The trail is well signed except we had problems in the bigger cities because there are so many signs that we would miss the one we wanted and would have to backtrack.  Along the trail near towns there are small plots of land that are turned in gardens.  A person will build a little shed, and have a picnic table set up.  The plots are about 20' by 50'.  They do intensive vegatable and flower  cultivation.  There will 100 in a row and along the RR tracks there will miles of these urban gardens.  It looks like they use them as sanity getaways as well as for fresh food production.