Columbia, Missouri

Dates visited: September 18 - 21, 2022

By Marty

This will be a quick and easy post, one of my shortest ones. You're welcome!  We spent four nights in Columbia, MO, midway between St. Louis and Kansas City (our next stop). We visited with some friends and did a little sightseeing.

Warm Springs Ranch in Boonville, MO is the official breeding facility of the Budweiser Clydesdales

From the Warm Springs Ranch website:

Built on 300 acres in 2008 the property features a mare/stallion and foaling barn, veterinary lab, and 10 pastures, each with a customized walk-in shelter. Warm Springs Ranch is home to more than 70 Clydesdales ranging from foals to stallions.

The video below starts off with the original Budweiser Clydesdales commercial.  I apologize in advance if the jingle is stuck in your head for the next three days!  It’s a compilation of several funny, charming, or touching Budweiser Clydesdale commercials.

This commercial is a touching Budweiser Clydesdales 9/11 tribute:

We enjoyed meeting Stan

Stan is named after "Stan The Man" Musial. "Stan The Horse" was born on the day that Stan Musial died in 2013. 

Stan Musial was without question the greatest St. Louis Cardinals player of all time. Given what Albert Pujols has done this season one might be tempted to challenge that claim. Consider, however, that Stan Musial was a 24 time All-Star who won seven batting titles and three National League MVP's. For his career Stan batted .331 and hit 475 home runs. And Stan never sold his services to the highest bidder to become a Los Angeles Angel for ten years... As we used to say: put that in your pipe and smoke it!

Meet two expectant moms: Malania and J.Lo (don't ask me which is which...).  J.Lo is one day overdue to birth her foal and Malania is due in three days.

J.Lo and Malania were inseparable as they roamed around the corral, stopped to eat, or just stood under the shade structure.

A mare and her foal

You are looking at the back end of Rita with her foal, Rooster, who was born just 26 hours before our visit! What a treat for us!

Rooster is a cutie!

The Amish community of Clark, one of Missouri's largest, is about 30 minutes north of our RV park. The Clark community has more than 195 families spread over 15 square miles.

There was a produce auction underway in front of which were parked a number of horse draw utility wagons. From this photo and the one above it you can see that the Amish aren't just joy riding around in their buggies.

 

There were a handful of Amish markets and craft stores that are frequented by tourists and Amish alike

Janell snapped a photo of this galloping herd from the car window as we drove past

Established over 30 years ago, the Katy Trail is one of the oldest and most prominent trails in the 'rails to trails' network in the U.S. At 240 miles it is the longest recreational trail in the U.S.

We started early on a 20 mile ride in order to beat the expected mid 90's heat

One half of the Katy Trail's length follows the path of Lewis and Clark up the Missouri River and has been designated an official segment of the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail.

I feel that we've encountered the route of  Lewis and Clark and the Corps of Discovery in a dozen or more locations on our three year journey, one of which was in Great Falls, Montana. Should you want a refresher on that segment of their journey:

Great Falls, Montana blog post

A view from the Katy trail on one of the few places where it crosses a road