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We got up early today expecting a long ride of 90 miles to Bardstown. Losing daylight has increasingly become an issue so we wanted to make sure we reached our destination before running out.

After reviewing the map and our route we noticed that if we continued to stay on route 62 we could take a more direct path to Bardstown. The adventure cycling routes often take a lot of twists and turns to stick to smaller roads and hit points of interest. By taking a more direct path we were likely committing ourselves to a busier road and we would miss passing through Lincoln’s birthplace. On the other hand we’d be shaving up to 25 miles off our day.

Before hitting route 62 we finally reached the Eastern timezone, our fourth. We also crossed paths with another set of three long distance riders heading West. Each time we pass West bound riders, we think they must be the last. The Rockies get difficult to pass in Fall because of storms and snow. These guys have been on the road for five months. They had started in Oregon and ridden across the Northern tier of the country to Maine. Then they had ridden South to the transam trail to take it back West. They didn’t seem particularly concerned about the Rockies and were in no particular rush. They were content roaming the countryside on their bikes, rough camping and living a Spartan life.

Something we’ve noted about Kentucky as we’re traveling through is the contradictions. There are a lot of churches (primarily baptist and methodist) and religion is very important. We have spent a majority of our time here in dry counties. At the same time Kentucky is the birthplace and center of the bourbon industry. Another major vice tobacco is also pervasive. In Kentucky vice and faith are closely intertwined.

Just before reaching Bardstown we rode our 3000th mile. It’s hard to believe but we now have somewhere around 800 miles left and each day we ride cuts a major chunk out of that. When we reached Bardstown, we realized it is the bourbon capital of the world and decided to visit the Heaven Hill Bourbon Heritage Center. Heaven Hill is one of the largest locally owned bourbon producers. It was surrounded by large stark white buildings which we later found out are filled with barrels of bourbon being aged. We took the mini tour and got to sample some single barrel bourbon. We left the center slightly heavier hauling bourbon in our bags.