|
|
BR man using bicycle to retrace Lewis and Clark's journey
The Advocate
October 27, 2003
By GEORGE MORRIS
gmorris@theadvocate.com
Advocate staff writer
Photo provided by Dave Tullier
Dave Tullier gets ready to start his journey in St. Charles, Mo. His tent, camp stove and other equipment are stowed in the bags above and beside each wheel.
As someone who once sold bicycles and now repairs them, Dave Tullier likes riding them more than most people. Having received a history degree, he has an affinity for places that commemorate great events.
In September, he got to indulge both passions.
Tullier, 55, spent two weeks on the Lewis and Clark Trail, tracing the first part of the route taken when the famed explorers began investigating that part of the Louisiana Purchase in 1804. From Sept. 6-19, Tullier covered 870 miles -- a considerably faster pace than that of the original party.
"You run into places and know Lewis and Clark did a certain thing there," Tullier said. "That's kind of neat."
What Tullier also liked about the trip was that he did it the hard way, packing his tent, camp stove and all the necessities on his touring bike and camping along the way. It's called loaded touring, and it's a growing pastime, Tullier said.
The extra equipment gets packed above or beside the wheels. When Tullier began his trek, he quickly decided he had too much weight and eliminated his sleeping bag, then took off from St. Charles, Mo., which is on the Missouri River near St. Louis.
His route followed the river closely, since it was the highway the explorers used as far as they could to discover the upper Plains to the Rockies. Lewis and Clark eventually reached the Pacific Ocean.
For those who seek to retrace the route on land, it begins on a railroad track that was abandoned and converted to a cycling and hiking path called the Katy Trail.
"At times you're right over the Missouri River," Tullier said. "There are some really neat places on that trail. You pass little towns often that cater to bicyclists. There are towns of 800 people; I'm thinking of one place, Marthasville, that has a huge, nice bike shop in an old store. Alexandria barely supports one bike shop here. It's mostly (customers) from the Katy Trail.
"You're going through the old towns that don't get much traffic anymore, the little, small town. You really see America, what it used to be like, I guess.
"It's just old-timey stuff. It's slow. People take time to eat their lunch. You don't see the rush that we see down here."
Along the Katy Trail, Tullier encountered plenty of short-distance bikers, but only a few doing loaded touring. Most touring cyclists in that region ride in the summer.
After the Katy Trail ended, Tullier took mostly rural highways, which turned hilly in western Missouri. His route took him into Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa and, finally, South Dakota.
Terrain varied. Missouri hills were not long but steep. In Kansas, they were not steep but long. Wind played a bigger role in the journey's difficulty than the hills.
"One day I only rode 31 miles because I had a terrible headwind," Tullier said. "There were some days I was cruising at 25 to 30 mph because I had a tailwind, and that's really fast on a touring bike.
"There were two days in Iowa where I had a direct tailwind, and I was going along so fast, it was neat. The bags act like a sail when you've got a tailwind, and they act like a block when you've got a headwind."
Because he was cycling, Tullier stopped and read many of the trail markers he might have passed in an automobile. At Elk Point, Iowa, upriver from Sioux City, he reached the point of a political milestone.
"When Sgt. (Charles) Floyd died, they elected (Patrick) Gass to replace him as sergeant," Tullier said. "They said it was the first election west of the Mississippi in America. Lewis and Clark were captains, and they could have appointed him, but they let everybody vote."
His journey also took him along parts of the Old Lincoln Highway, the nation's first coast-to-coast highway, as well as the Santa Fe Trail and Pony Express route.
"It's exciting because it's historical," Tullier said.
He reached the end of the first leg of the trail at Yankton, S.D. Tullier hopes to pick up the journey there next year and eventually make all 4,000 miles of the trail to the Pacific.
The Advocate
October 27, 2003
By GEORGE MORRIS
gmorris@theadvocate.com
Advocate staff writer
Photo provided by Dave Tullier
Dave Tullier gets ready to start his journey in St. Charles, Mo. His tent, camp stove and other equipment are stowed in the bags above and beside each wheel.
As someone who once sold bicycles and now repairs them, Dave Tullier likes riding them more than most people. Having received a history degree, he has an affinity for places that commemorate great events.
In September, he got to indulge both passions.
Tullier, 55, spent two weeks on the Lewis and Clark Trail, tracing the first part of the route taken when the famed explorers began investigating that part of the Louisiana Purchase in 1804. From Sept. 6-19, Tullier covered 870 miles -- a considerably faster pace than that of the original party.
"You run into places and know Lewis and Clark did a certain thing there," Tullier said. "That's kind of neat."
What Tullier also liked about the trip was that he did it the hard way, packing his tent, camp stove and all the necessities on his touring bike and camping along the way. It's called loaded touring, and it's a growing pastime, Tullier said.
The extra equipment gets packed above or beside the wheels. When Tullier began his trek, he quickly decided he had too much weight and eliminated his sleeping bag, then took off from St. Charles, Mo., which is on the Missouri River near St. Louis.
His route followed the river closely, since it was the highway the explorers used as far as they could to discover the upper Plains to the Rockies. Lewis and Clark eventually reached the Pacific Ocean.
For those who seek to retrace the route on land, it begins on a railroad track that was abandoned and converted to a cycling and hiking path called the Katy Trail.
"At times you're right over the Missouri River," Tullier said. "There are some really neat places on that trail. You pass little towns often that cater to bicyclists. There are towns of 800 people; I'm thinking of one place, Marthasville, that has a huge, nice bike shop in an old store. Alexandria barely supports one bike shop here. It's mostly (customers) from the Katy Trail.
"You're going through the old towns that don't get much traffic anymore, the little, small town. You really see America, what it used to be like, I guess.
"It's just old-timey stuff. It's slow. People take time to eat their lunch. You don't see the rush that we see down here."
Along the Katy Trail, Tullier encountered plenty of short-distance bikers, but only a few doing loaded touring. Most touring cyclists in that region ride in the summer.
After the Katy Trail ended, Tullier took mostly rural highways, which turned hilly in western Missouri. His route took him into Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa and, finally, South Dakota.
Terrain varied. Missouri hills were not long but steep. In Kansas, they were not steep but long. Wind played a bigger role in the journey's difficulty than the hills.
"One day I only rode 31 miles because I had a terrible headwind," Tullier said. "There were some days I was cruising at 25 to 30 mph because I had a tailwind, and that's really fast on a touring bike.
"There were two days in Iowa where I had a direct tailwind, and I was going along so fast, it was neat. The bags act like a sail when you've got a tailwind, and they act like a block when you've got a headwind."
Because he was cycling, Tullier stopped and read many of the trail markers he might have passed in an automobile. At Elk Point, Iowa, upriver from Sioux City, he reached the point of a political milestone.
"When Sgt. (Charles) Floyd died, they elected (Patrick) Gass to replace him as sergeant," Tullier said. "They said it was the first election west of the Mississippi in America. Lewis and Clark were captains, and they could have appointed him, but they let everybody vote."
His journey also took him along parts of the Old Lincoln Highway, the nation's first coast-to-coast highway, as well as the Santa Fe Trail and Pony Express route.
"It's exciting because it's historical," Tullier said.
He reached the end of the first leg of the trail at Yankton, S.D. Tullier hopes to pick up the journey there next year and eventually make all 4,000 miles of the trail to the Pacific.