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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.

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Another day in the hills of Kentucky. The morning started off disturbing as we overheard from the motel room next to us, alternating loud smacks or spanks, followed by moans. Luckily we did not notice this until we were clearing out off the room at around 7:30 am. We had difficulty containing our laughter despite our groggy state. I guess that’s one way to start a Sunday morning. We decided to start our morning with an all you can eat breakfast buffet. Non stop tender biscuits is a beautiful thing.

Our goal today was Berea about 92 miles and countless hills away. The roads in Kentucky aren’t great. The hills offer limited sight lines and there are no shoulders. Even though there isn’t much traffic, what traffic there is has difficulty passing us because of the limited sight lines. They usually have to wait until there is a short straight away long enough to see if there is any oncoming traffic, so they can cross the center line. For the most part everyone has been considerate, and only occasionally do we get cars/trucks cutting it a little close.

Other than more tobacco fields and regal horses, one of the hilights of our hilly rides through Kentucky are the loose dogs. There are hundreds of accounts by cyclists of the mad dogs of Kentucky. One pair of riders we passed heading West claimed they has 66 dog encounters passing through Kentucky. In preparation for our Kentucky passage we purchased a can of Halt dog mace. We don’t expect to use it, but just in case an encounter gets out of control we’ll be prepared. We’ve only had a couple close calls so far. Most loose dogs haven’t strayed too far beyond the end of their driveway. Several have been discouraged by oncoming traffic. On one occasion the owner came out and settled their dogs down. The few close calls amounted to snarling dogs coming within a few inches of my ankles and chasing us 50-100 feet down the road. Usually we try to calm them down by slowing down and talking to them. So far Halt firepower hasn’t been necessary.

One of the points of interest we passed along the way a replica of the Lincoln homstead where Abraham Lincoln’s father was raised. We reached the outskirts of Berea at around 6:30 after 93 miles of Kentucky hills. We were beat and didn’t have much time to hunt for a campsite so we opted for a motel again. Hopefully our neighbors aren’t spankers this time. Much to my disappointment Berea is a dry town. No cold beer for me tonight.

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We ventured from our motel room this morning and made our way through Berea. It’s actually a very cute college town, but we couldn’t linger too long, we have miles to ride. We did find time to stop and take a picture of the mist rising over the mountains in the distance.

Today is our first day really climbing back into mountains, since we left the Rockies. These mountains may not be as tall, but they are steep and winding, the next week will not be a cake walk.

We rode all morning, stopping for the occasional snack, until we finally made it to Booneville KY around 4pm. It was quite a late lunch, but there hadn’t been much by way of services for the last 60 miles. We had a good lunch, and Mike had an excellent piece of coconut creme pie (I stole a few bites). He raved about the meringue.

After lunch we had just 18 miles to go to our campsite in Buckhorn, but, this included two more significant climbs. After a total of 82 miles, we made it. The weather is getting a bit chillier and damper, so camping is not ideal, but we are trying to roll with it. We did also have a few very minor dog “incidents” today, but so far we have avoided anything too dangerous. We are excited to be getting close to Virginia, but we are trying to stay focused, we still have a lot of riding to do.

-Sarah

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This morning we broke camp in Buckhorn to continue our push into the Appalachians. We could tell right away we were going to have weather issues, as it remained fairly dark while we packed up our stuff.

As we pulled into a gas station to check our map, two dogs took pursuit. As we rolled to a stop and talked to them they immediately calmed down, not quite ready to be pet, but happy to investigate us. Later in the day we had a canine incident of a different sort. I felt a slight bump to the rear of my bike or trailer, while hearing the clink of a chain and some movement out of the corner of my eye. I’m pretty sure it was a chained dog lying in wait who had lunged at my bike.

Eventually the rain caught up to us and after riding about an hour in sprinkling to drizzling rain, we decided to end the day early in Hindman KY. The Hindman historical society has a bed and breakfast geared towards transam cyclists. The one catch is it’s up a 16% grade. We chose to push our bikes up that wet 300 feet. While there we ordered dinner from a local sandwich shop and both got a “Fat Daddy”. Two grilled cheese sandwiches as buns with a burger, fixings and egg in between. I had to help Sarah finish hers. Sarah also got to try genuine Kentucky moonshine for the first time. I think we will sleep good tonight. We’re sleeping outside, but in much more substancial tent than usual. Tomorrow we expect to cross into Virginia, barring any major rains.