By Beverly Clinkingbeard

These days there are interesting things to discover on the web, and that’s what sisters, Amy and Jenny, from League City, Texas, did. They like to ride their bicycles, camp and explore new places. They were looking for a trail away from wet hot South Texas (fortunately, they came before our 90’s temps did), a trail not too long (as one of the sisters had a torn ACL healing), a trail with camping facilities, and they saw that the Wabash Trace in Southwest Iowa was rated a top 10 trail for bike riding.

The Wabash Trace begins or ends in Council Bluffs and Blanchard, Iowa, all depending on your perspective of begin and end. The Wabash is a part of the old rail line that went from Omaha, Nebraska, to St Louis, Missouri. In Blanchard, one side of town is Page County, Iowa, the other Atchison County, Missouri, and highways M48 in Iowa and M in Missouri come and go to Blanchard. One mile to the east is the Nodaway and Atchison County, Missouri/Page County, Iowa, line. The sisters found our little town, parked their car and with enviable bikes and biking/camping equipment they pedaled north after first having their photo taken by the welcome to Missouri and welcome to Iowa signs.

Several days later on their return to Blanchard, over a slice of blueberry coffee cake and a cup of coffee, they expressed surprise at not only how beautiful and green Iowa and Missouri are – they loved the glistening corn fields, and found everyone along the trail friendly and helpful. As they were in no hurry on this camping foray, they backtracked to camp and made it a point to stop in Shenandoah and lunch at the Emerald Isle in Imogene, Iowa. They were pleased to find bike repair stands, air for tires and recharging places for their cell phone along the trail.

In work life Jenny is a teacher – a coach for teachers using technology at the elementary level. This is her 21st year in education and at home she has a husband and fur babies.

Amy is a surgical technician at a hospital trauma center. This is her 27th year. She and her husband have two adult children and the sisters live near the NASA Space Center. Together they have biked several trails in Texas.

Texans often brag about their bar-be-que and exceptional chili, but our slice of the Midwest does have tenderloin sandwich bragging rights, for they are nothing short of delicious and something someone from somewhere else really must try. The sisters departed for their Texas homes at a no-hurry pace and their first planned stop was to sample a tenderloin sandwich at Kiss My Grits in Burlington Junction, Missouri. (I guess they’ll have something to tell their Texas friends when they’re eating bar-be-que and chili.)

Thanks, Amy and Jenny, for stopping our way. ’Til next time…