I spent the day before the effort placing water drops along the trail where i knew the water at trailheads was off or non existant. I place a tent at Klondike Park a few miles east of Augusta and near the trail in order to sleep a few hours and place a resupply box in the tent. My nephew David rove me to the start at 3:45am for a 4:00 am start. After taking a few pics and explaining to the local police what I was doing I started my InReach tracker and Garmin 965 at 4:00 am and was off.
The morning a cool, calm and overcast with just a narrow orange band on the horizon for a sunrise by the time I reached Calhoun 8 miles in. Thge clouds quickly cleared by the time I reached Windsor. There's a Caseys store right on the trail there so i bought 2 bottles of water and a sandwich, mixed tailwind powder and filled my flasks and was off. The next town on the trail Green Ridge has good water and a restroom at the trailhead allowing for a brief stop to top off my bottles. The next town on the trail is Sedalia. Sedalia is one of the largest town on the route but nothinng easily accessible on foot and certainly not when trying to move fast as possible. There are two trailheads there. The first going east is at the state fairgrounds the second is at the Depot. The Depot has good water and restrooms the fairgrounds may or may not. The Depot is approximately 12.5 miles from Green Ridge and the day was warming up so i filled an extra bottle at Green Ridge. I also carried a bladder in my Salomon vest incase i need to carry extra water, however I never needed to use it which was good as my pack was heavy enough at approx 10 pounds.
Leaving Sedalia it was a long lone stretch of mostly exsposed trail all the way to Clifton City 14 miles. There is a pit toilet in Clifton City but no water so I had placed a water drop there. Leaving Clifton City about 5 pm it would be dark before getting to Pilot Grove another empty 12 miles. I reached Pilot Grove before having to use my headlamp as there was still good light after sunset. The next 10 miles would get me to Boonville and a Quality Inn "right on the trail". Turned out to be closer to 12 miles and the hotel was almost a mile (0.8) off the trail! So bonus miles. A quick shower and 3 hour sleep and back on the trail.
Day two start with dealing with a large blister on the ball of my right foot as well as my toes. Oddly my left foot had no issues. Arriving at Rocheport 15 miles from Booneville where i stopped day one i was excited to see there was a trail side cafe open! So knowning it would be the only real food I'd have that day I sat at an outside table near the trail on a beautiful morning and enjoyed an excellent burger, fries and Coke. 17 miles later I arrived at Coopers Landing next to the river (Missouri) and found they had some limited reeal food so grabbed a turkey sandwich and Dr Pepper and moved on. Time seemed to stand still aas the next 38 miles to Mokane where there is a Lions Club park right on the trail across from the trailhead. I had left a water drop and some food there. After crashing at Mokane for about 3 hours, dumping my trash and packing my respply water and calories (snickers, GU and BoBo bars) I was once again on trail. The blisters were worse. I thought breifly about bailing but I was in the middle of know where and had put so much in to it already i quickly put that idea out of mind. I told myself "just keep going untiil you can't".
Twent miles from Mokane I arrived in Rhineland. There is an excellent local diner call "The Corner" literally on the corner of the trail. Again I treated myself to some real food, an awesome pulled pork sandwich, fries and Dr Pepper. Next trailhead where I had left three bottles of water was Treloar. By then it was dark and wwould be a long night stretch to Klondike Park and my tent 20 miles away. Light rain started intermitantly , just enough to have to put my light rain jacket on and remove when the shower would stop as it was too warm to wear all the time. That 20 miles seemed endless as I continued on badly blistered feet. I hadnt removed my shoes for 2 days now as I could tell my right foot was swelling and feared i would be able to get my shoe back on. I finally did reach Klondike Park and my tent at 5am Sunday! That was slooow as I had to stop several time and take brief naps leaning on my poles as I kept wandering side to side on the trail. Stumbling into my tent i set my alarm for 7:30, connected my tracker to a battery bank i has staged there and passed out. Too quickly the phone alarm went off, I reached to turn it off, its was a friend calling to see how i was doing. It was 7am a half hour before the alarm lol. I re did my make and struggled to standup! Slowly making my way from the tent back to the trail a distance that had somehow doubled in the past few hours! Once on trail I was moving again. My right foot was happy but was following along as the rest of my body was determined to reach the terminus at Machens before 10pm.
Weldon Springs 12 miles from the campground was the next trailhead where i would stop and take a break. By the time I arrived there the sky was clear and it was a beautiful day. I filled my two bottles and was off. The chart says its 12 miles to St Charles, the last trailhead before the terminus. I was closer 14.5! One liter of water wasnt enough and I could sense dehydration setting in. When I finally did arrive a St Charles they were celebrating OctoberFest. I made my way throught he crowd looking for some real food. I was all "carnival" junk food none of which I felt like I could stomach. As i was leaving i passed a beer tent. I remembered how a few years ago at The Long Haul 100 i couldnt swallow another thing on loop 5 (of 6) when the aid station captain offered me an ice cold non alcoholic corona from his personal cooler. I accepted and drank it down - magic! He said if I made loop 6 he give me another. I did and he did. That said I bought a Non-alcholic Sam Adams and never drank anything so good - at least in the last 4 days. Then it was off to Machens and finish this thing. Its 13 miles from St Charles to Machens. I had hoped to be there before dark but my right foot and quest for real food slowed things.
I arrived at terminus at the Mached Trailhead at 8:10 pm where my nephew David was waiting for me. I finished in 3 days 16 hours and 10 minutes, a whopping 2 hours and 2 minutes quicker than the currently published self supported FKT of 3 days 18 hours 12 minutes. What an adventure.
ps: my InReach tracker battery died somewhere around Weldon Springs with about 20 miles to go on the last day. My Garimin 965 however recorded the entire track as well as that portion.