Midway through our trip this past month, one of our friends wrote and commented that in reading our blog, the trip sounded pretty "grueling". Later that same day, we went through the town of Joy, Kentucky, a truly enjoyable little town near the Ohio River, across from Illinois. The combination of these two events got me thinking that maybe I was biasing the blog entries towards all of the difficult aspects of the trip, and was not giving a balanced view of the positives. Now that we are home for a while and I have time to reflect, I will take the opportunity to describe some of those aspects of this cycling trip that have truly been joyful. There are many.
First and most basic of all, riding a bicycle really is fun. And doing it out in rural, natural settings can be really beautiful. Examples:
-Riding in the early mornings. You know it will be a hot day, but it is relatively cool now, and there is a brightness and a freshness in the morning air that makes you feel alive. There are no human sounds to be heard. Only the birds and the noises of the crickets and insects in the woods and in the tall, dew-covered grasses that you pass. Those insect voices will be stilled later during the heat of the day, but they are dominant and almost musical in the early mornings.
-Riding across the wide open fields of corn, wheat, soybean, tobacco. Fields stretching to the horizon in every direction. Perhaps a tractor at work off in the distance. The road stretches out like a ribbon in front of you over a rolling landscape for as far as you can see, and there are no vehicles on the road, save your bikes. You feel like the world is yours.
-Entry into towns happens the way it used to happen before Interstates and limited access super highways and "Exit" signs. After riding for miles along rural roads, you catch sight of the town's water tower peeking above the tree line off in the distance. Ride a little further, and you see a road sign: "Reduced Speed Ahead", signifying you are approaching civilization. Then you see a town limit sign, or maybe one that reads "Entering Police Jurisdiction", and then a "Welcome to ....." sign erected by the local Rotary Club or Chamber of Commerce. A few houses and stores appear, perhaps the road turns from 2-lane to 4-lane, there are people on the streets, and you are suddenly "in town". The process happens in reverse as you leave town and find yourself back on the rural routes, heading for the next town down the road. You get this very human, very spatial picture of the entity that the small town is. You have just gone through the "Mayberry" of the old TV days. It's nice.
There are physical joys of bike riding.
-When you are riding well, you just feel good. Those long stretches when your legs are cranking the pedals with a steady rhythm, the bike in the perfect gear so that each stroke provides power but feels comfortable, an effort that feels good and not overly strenuous. You feel in synch, as if you, your bike, and the road are all one.
-Those gentle downhills where you coast smoothly and effortlessly through the world of scenery that surrounds you. Your legs resting as gravity moves you along, cool breeze in your face.
-And then, those long hill climbs up -- the ones that invoke the word "grueling". But as you climb those hills, ever so slowly, there is the sense that you are making progress. You are giving that good effort, sweating the good sweat, and you realize that you are conquering this hill. And when you finally reach the top, stop for a short rest and a drink of water, you look back down in the direction you have come and appreciate the mini-goal that you have just achieved.
Then there is what I call the "Joy of Simplicity". When you are traveling by bicycle, life seems to be reduced down to the basics in a way that I find completely refreshing. A world of concerns, worries, and material things seems to be removed from your thinking, and you focus all of your energy and attention to those priorities that will get you safely through your journey. Your bike. Your body. The road you are on, and the traffic situation you face. Where you will be able to replenish your water supply, get food, go to the bathroom. Your possessions are just what you can fit on your bike. I find that being immersed in just the basics in this way clears the cobwebs in my head in some sense, and is a real rejuvenating experience.
Finally, there is the joy of the people you meet.
-The interactions on the road, the literally hundreds and hundreds of waves, nods, friendly toots of the horn, and verbal "hellos" that we received while on our bikes has been amazing. Young and old, men and women and kids, people in cars or pickups, farmers on tractors, pedestrians, drivers of 18-wheelers -- these roadway connections have been made with so very many people. And they just make you feel good.
-The conversations when we are stopped at a convenience store, a restaurant, a hotel, etc. have been really fun and rewarding. We have received so many expressions of true interest, friendliness, wishes for safe travels, and offers of help. Most people seem fascinated to learn about this bike route, its historical and symbolic aspects, its physical aspects, and we enjoy telling people about it. Similarly, we took away much in terms of seeing the regional cultures play out, learning about each area we travelled through, local industries and histories, daily life patterns, etc.
We met a few folks who, when they heard about our trip, suggested strongly that we should be carrying a gun to protect ourselves. From what? From all those crazy people "out there", they would say. (I remember reading that Ken Lyon had received similar advice on his cross-country trip a number of years ago, so this is not just a recent phenomenon.) I don't want to minimize this.... there are indeed a few dangerous people running around, and there have been one or two situations on this trip that, while I would not consider dangerous, were uncomfortable enough that we quickly removed ourselves from the setting. But I remember getting this advice about guns from a very nice waitress in Mississippi who had the TV in the store tuned to CNN or FOX, and the newscasters were reporting yet another insane shooting incident somewhere in the country. THAT was her window on the world of the people "out there". What I wanted to tell her was that on this trip, we are traveling "out there", and she herself was one of those people "out there". If there is anything that has impressed itself on us during this trip, it is the basic goodness of people, all kinds of people, so incredibly diverse, but all basically good people. In the world of mass news-reporting, where it is the anomalies that are elevated to the status of the headline news of the day, it is worth reminding ourselves that those are indeed the exceptions, and that the vast, vast majority of people "out there" are decent, hard-working, well-meaning, good people.
What can be more enjoyable than that?!
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
We're home! Mobile-to-Cincinnati Leg is Completed.
Yes, indeed, I am writing this from the comfort of home. We arrived home at about 10:40 Tuesday morning. We found our son, Dave, and our neighbor, Sue, waiting on the street as we rolled up, a nice little welcoming committee! It was very odd to just bike through our neighborhood, down our street, and to our house, after all this time.
To quickly update the last few days since the last blog entry:
Sunday June 10: The overnight at the campground at Kincaid State Park was quite cold, and caused us in the middle of the night to put on our rain jackets and rain pants to get some extra warmth. In the morning, there was a tremendous amount of condensation on the tent, but we just packed it all up wet, and hit the road by about 8:10 am. Our objective was Maysville, Kentucky on this day. We had to navigate through about 50 miles of pretty significant hills, but we managed them all pretty well. We got lost via a missed turn once, but with helpful directions from some nice local residents, were able to recover and get back on route without having to do a lot of backtracking.
We arrived in Old Washington, KY (residents simply call it Washington) late afternoon, and found an impressive array of very old, very original buildings dating back to the late 1700s and early 1800s. One was the original home of Marshall Key. Marshall's daughter attended college in Cincinnati with Harriett Beecher, and Harriett came to visit her friend at her home in 1833. Marshall was a slave owner, and took the girls to see a slave auction there in town. It made an indelible impression on Harriett, and formed the basis of the slave auction description that she would years later include in her book "Uncle Tom's Cabin". On this day that we visited Washington, the house was closed, but Joan went into the Visitor's Center, explained our trip on the UGRR route, and a very nice woman took us down to the house and gave us our own personal tour. Very interesting.
By the time we hit the road again, the other Underground Railroad-related museum we had wanted to see in Maysville, just down the hill from Washington, was closed. So we bypassed Maysville, made our way across the bridge over the Ohio River, and entered Aberdeen Ohio. There we had our choice of only very low-end motels. We picked one and spent the night. We were at least now back in our home state.
Monday, June 11: We left Aberdeen and biked the 8 miles or so to Ripley. We're beginning to close circles with this trip. This is the same Ripley Ohio that 6 weeks earlier we had gone to see, and to meet the group of inaugural riders who had just arrived there on their trip. We had a very nice chat with a man, a resident of Ripley, who we had talked to that day 6 weeks ago, keeping our promise to come see him when we did the UGRR route ourselves. Upon leaving Ripley, we had 2 hills to contend with which on the map looked mammoth. We are obviously getting stronger with these hills now. The first one was really no problem at all -- long and high, but the grade was not too steep, and we were able to climb it without much stress. The second one was a bit more challenging, but still quite manageable. Beyond the hills, in the town of Georgetown, we were joined by a local rider, Greg, who showed us a great back road that enabled us to bypass a very busy road. He continued to ride for perhaps 15 miles with us along our route, and we enjoyed his company.
Then, we closed another symbolic circle.... Weeks ago, when we did some training rides to get ready for this trip, we followed the UGRR route maps backwards from Cincinnati in a couple of 45 mile segments. Well, we were now hitting those roads that we rode back then. Now, from this point on, all the roads were familiar, we'd done them before!
We arrived in Batavia, just about 15 miles away from home, but it was getting to be late in the day, Cincinnati rush hour was starting, and so we booked a room at a hotel there, and stayed the night. So close to home...! Dave, our son, who came down that afternoon from Columbus to be on hand to greet us at home the next day, met us at the hotel and had dinner with us. Very nice to see him!
Tuesday, June 12 (today): We waited for the morning rush hour to end, and got on the road at a little after 9 am. An hour and a half later, we were pulling onto our street, and found ourselves home. I'd like to say that the emotions burst and flowed over, but to be honest, I think both of us were feeling just kind of amazed, and a bit stunned by what we were completing. I suspect that it will take a little time to process all of this. I will say that it is very nice being home, seeing our friends, reintroducing ourselves to our cats, and having what feels like a sudden tremendous array of clothes available to wear!
So, at this milestone point, here are the basic statistics:
-We have completed the first 1260 miles of the UGRR route. In so doing, we put 1377 miles on our bikes.
-The trip took 31 days. We left Mobile on May 12, arrived home on June 12. Of these 31 days, we biked 27 days, and took 4 days as off-days.
-On the average day, we biked just under 50 miles, plus some around-town riding after arriving at our daily destination. Elapsed pedaling time averaged just under 5 hours each day (This does not count time we were stopped to rest, eat, etc., nor the riding around after we'd reached our daily destination.) We averaged 9.9 miles per hour. Our daily maximum speeds were typically about 30 mph for Mike, and about 26 mph for Joan. (Yes, Mike is wild and crazy on the downhills.)
So, the big question is: What's next? As I said before, we want to think through carefully whether or not to embark on the second leg of this route up to Canada, but that process has started and our initial thinking is that we will in fact do the rest of the trip. We have about a week and a half of personal and family affairs, and work items for Joan, to take care of, and assuming all that goes well, we are tentatively planning to depart for Canada sometime shortly after June 20. Final decision will be published here, and of course, if we go, the story will continue.
To quickly update the last few days since the last blog entry:
Sunday June 10: The overnight at the campground at Kincaid State Park was quite cold, and caused us in the middle of the night to put on our rain jackets and rain pants to get some extra warmth. In the morning, there was a tremendous amount of condensation on the tent, but we just packed it all up wet, and hit the road by about 8:10 am. Our objective was Maysville, Kentucky on this day. We had to navigate through about 50 miles of pretty significant hills, but we managed them all pretty well. We got lost via a missed turn once, but with helpful directions from some nice local residents, were able to recover and get back on route without having to do a lot of backtracking.
We arrived in Old Washington, KY (residents simply call it Washington) late afternoon, and found an impressive array of very old, very original buildings dating back to the late 1700s and early 1800s. One was the original home of Marshall Key. Marshall's daughter attended college in Cincinnati with Harriett Beecher, and Harriett came to visit her friend at her home in 1833. Marshall was a slave owner, and took the girls to see a slave auction there in town. It made an indelible impression on Harriett, and formed the basis of the slave auction description that she would years later include in her book "Uncle Tom's Cabin". On this day that we visited Washington, the house was closed, but Joan went into the Visitor's Center, explained our trip on the UGRR route, and a very nice woman took us down to the house and gave us our own personal tour. Very interesting.
By the time we hit the road again, the other Underground Railroad-related museum we had wanted to see in Maysville, just down the hill from Washington, was closed. So we bypassed Maysville, made our way across the bridge over the Ohio River, and entered Aberdeen Ohio. There we had our choice of only very low-end motels. We picked one and spent the night. We were at least now back in our home state.
Monday, June 11: We left Aberdeen and biked the 8 miles or so to Ripley. We're beginning to close circles with this trip. This is the same Ripley Ohio that 6 weeks earlier we had gone to see, and to meet the group of inaugural riders who had just arrived there on their trip. We had a very nice chat with a man, a resident of Ripley, who we had talked to that day 6 weeks ago, keeping our promise to come see him when we did the UGRR route ourselves. Upon leaving Ripley, we had 2 hills to contend with which on the map looked mammoth. We are obviously getting stronger with these hills now. The first one was really no problem at all -- long and high, but the grade was not too steep, and we were able to climb it without much stress. The second one was a bit more challenging, but still quite manageable. Beyond the hills, in the town of Georgetown, we were joined by a local rider, Greg, who showed us a great back road that enabled us to bypass a very busy road. He continued to ride for perhaps 15 miles with us along our route, and we enjoyed his company.
Then, we closed another symbolic circle.... Weeks ago, when we did some training rides to get ready for this trip, we followed the UGRR route maps backwards from Cincinnati in a couple of 45 mile segments. Well, we were now hitting those roads that we rode back then. Now, from this point on, all the roads were familiar, we'd done them before!
We arrived in Batavia, just about 15 miles away from home, but it was getting to be late in the day, Cincinnati rush hour was starting, and so we booked a room at a hotel there, and stayed the night. So close to home...! Dave, our son, who came down that afternoon from Columbus to be on hand to greet us at home the next day, met us at the hotel and had dinner with us. Very nice to see him!
Tuesday, June 12 (today): We waited for the morning rush hour to end, and got on the road at a little after 9 am. An hour and a half later, we were pulling onto our street, and found ourselves home. I'd like to say that the emotions burst and flowed over, but to be honest, I think both of us were feeling just kind of amazed, and a bit stunned by what we were completing. I suspect that it will take a little time to process all of this. I will say that it is very nice being home, seeing our friends, reintroducing ourselves to our cats, and having what feels like a sudden tremendous array of clothes available to wear!
So, at this milestone point, here are the basic statistics:
-We have completed the first 1260 miles of the UGRR route. In so doing, we put 1377 miles on our bikes.
-The trip took 31 days. We left Mobile on May 12, arrived home on June 12. Of these 31 days, we biked 27 days, and took 4 days as off-days.
-On the average day, we biked just under 50 miles, plus some around-town riding after arriving at our daily destination. Elapsed pedaling time averaged just under 5 hours each day (This does not count time we were stopped to rest, eat, etc., nor the riding around after we'd reached our daily destination.) We averaged 9.9 miles per hour. Our daily maximum speeds were typically about 30 mph for Mike, and about 26 mph for Joan. (Yes, Mike is wild and crazy on the downhills.)
So, the big question is: What's next? As I said before, we want to think through carefully whether or not to embark on the second leg of this route up to Canada, but that process has started and our initial thinking is that we will in fact do the rest of the trip. We have about a week and a half of personal and family affairs, and work items for Joan, to take care of, and assuming all that goes well, we are tentatively planning to depart for Canada sometime shortly after June 20. Final decision will be published here, and of course, if we go, the story will continue.
Saturday, June 9, 2007
Mid-day in Falmouth, Kentucky
It is mid-day on Saturday, June 9, and we are spending a few hours in Falmouth, Kentucky, before biking a few more miles to Kincaid State Park, where we plan to camp tonight. Falmouth is at the 1118 mile point of the UGRR trail, and as of this afternoon, we've logged about 1250 miles total on our bikes.
Yesterday, we resumed our travels from Madison, Indiana. After taking a day off, we crossed the Ohio River back into Kentucky, crossing a very narrow bridge that we had been anticipating with increasing fears over the last couple of days. It is worth a little more detail about this bridge transit, just as a way of communicating the small things that become big things when you travel by bike.
This bridge was built in 1929, has no shoulders, just 2 narrow lanes, and carries all the cross-river traffic for the entire area. This means lots of traffic, including heavy trucks. Our map contains a warning that the bridge is very narrow, but does not give any advice as to what to do about it! We could see the bridge from our hotel window in Madison, and watched it during the day before, trying to figure out the traffic patterns. Also talked to the hotel people to get their advice. We finally chose a time shortly after 7 am to make our move across it.... after most of the factory shift traffic had passed, but before the peak truck traffic began. With a tension you could cut, we positioned ourselves in the parking lot of a service station near the start of the bridge, and waited until there was a quiet spot in the traffic, and then bolted onto the bridge. Realize that the term "bolt" doesn't really apply, because the bridge is sloped upward, and creates a hill for cyclists that really limits the speed with which you can ride over the first half. "Trudge" is a better word. We trudged up the bridge incline, and thankfully, relatively few vehicles appeared behind us. And fortunately, even fewer cars came in the opposite direction, which meant that cars behind us generally had the ability to pass us. One very large truck passed as well. A few times we knew we were holding up cars behind us, but they all seemed patient enough to wait for the opportunity to pass us, and we realized we just had to be ok with this. Soon, our half-mile ride across the river was over, and we pulled up safely in a parking lot near the Kentucky end of the bridge. There we sat for a few minutes, letting our pulse rates get back to normal before continuing on.
The other interesting thing about yesterday's travel was the weather report: A major front was expected to move through the area by mid-day. Our objective was to try to get as far as we could toward Dry Ridge, KY, our destination for the day, before the storms hit. So, we really cranked! Fewer, shorter stops. Biking with a purpose as the winds shifted and the skies darkened behind us. Fortunately, those shifting winds meant tail winds, and we really made good time, taking care of 2 large hills in good order, completing 52 miles and making to the first hotel we could find in Dry Ridge at 1:20 pm. At 1:22 pm, the skies opened up with a torrential downpour!! We were quite lucky.
Now, safe and dry in Dry Ridge, we had the very pleasant event of a visit from our good friend, Tamara Smith, who drove the 42 miles from Cincinnati down to Dry Ridge to see us. It was great to see her. And we got to ride in her car!! We had dinner together at the Cracker Barrel, she took us to the Walmart where we did a little shopping, and all in all we had a really nice time visiting. Thanks, Tamara!
Ok, so today is a relatively short day, only because there is no other place to stay between here and Maysville, and we can't make it all the way to Maysville today. So Kincaid State Park, camping, it will be tonight, and then a solid travel day tomorrow should bring us to Maysville, just across the river from Ohio. We are indeed getting there!
Yesterday, we resumed our travels from Madison, Indiana. After taking a day off, we crossed the Ohio River back into Kentucky, crossing a very narrow bridge that we had been anticipating with increasing fears over the last couple of days. It is worth a little more detail about this bridge transit, just as a way of communicating the small things that become big things when you travel by bike.
This bridge was built in 1929, has no shoulders, just 2 narrow lanes, and carries all the cross-river traffic for the entire area. This means lots of traffic, including heavy trucks. Our map contains a warning that the bridge is very narrow, but does not give any advice as to what to do about it! We could see the bridge from our hotel window in Madison, and watched it during the day before, trying to figure out the traffic patterns. Also talked to the hotel people to get their advice. We finally chose a time shortly after 7 am to make our move across it.... after most of the factory shift traffic had passed, but before the peak truck traffic began. With a tension you could cut, we positioned ourselves in the parking lot of a service station near the start of the bridge, and waited until there was a quiet spot in the traffic, and then bolted onto the bridge. Realize that the term "bolt" doesn't really apply, because the bridge is sloped upward, and creates a hill for cyclists that really limits the speed with which you can ride over the first half. "Trudge" is a better word. We trudged up the bridge incline, and thankfully, relatively few vehicles appeared behind us. And fortunately, even fewer cars came in the opposite direction, which meant that cars behind us generally had the ability to pass us. One very large truck passed as well. A few times we knew we were holding up cars behind us, but they all seemed patient enough to wait for the opportunity to pass us, and we realized we just had to be ok with this. Soon, our half-mile ride across the river was over, and we pulled up safely in a parking lot near the Kentucky end of the bridge. There we sat for a few minutes, letting our pulse rates get back to normal before continuing on.
The other interesting thing about yesterday's travel was the weather report: A major front was expected to move through the area by mid-day. Our objective was to try to get as far as we could toward Dry Ridge, KY, our destination for the day, before the storms hit. So, we really cranked! Fewer, shorter stops. Biking with a purpose as the winds shifted and the skies darkened behind us. Fortunately, those shifting winds meant tail winds, and we really made good time, taking care of 2 large hills in good order, completing 52 miles and making to the first hotel we could find in Dry Ridge at 1:20 pm. At 1:22 pm, the skies opened up with a torrential downpour!! We were quite lucky.
Now, safe and dry in Dry Ridge, we had the very pleasant event of a visit from our good friend, Tamara Smith, who drove the 42 miles from Cincinnati down to Dry Ridge to see us. It was great to see her. And we got to ride in her car!! We had dinner together at the Cracker Barrel, she took us to the Walmart where we did a little shopping, and all in all we had a really nice time visiting. Thanks, Tamara!
Ok, so today is a relatively short day, only because there is no other place to stay between here and Maysville, and we can't make it all the way to Maysville today. So Kincaid State Park, camping, it will be tonight, and then a solid travel day tomorrow should bring us to Maysville, just across the river from Ohio. We are indeed getting there!
Thursday, June 7, 2007
Animals: Dead or Alive
Ok, here is another entry of the "general musing" variety. While we were riding with the Chamberlains, Jim suggested we may want to do an entry on road kill, since we encounter so many dead animals along the side of the road. Let me expand that theme to cover the live variety of animal encounters as well.
Let me also do a disclaimer at the start. Those of you who know Joan and me well know that both of us enjoy and have a lot of respect for animals. You also know that I, at least, have a bit of a "Far Side" comic sense of humor. So, if what follows may seem a bit mean-spirited toward our fellow creatures, it really is not intended to be.
OK, animals we have encountered. Certainly, since we are traveling routes through such rural and undeveloped areas, we frequently encounter animals as we bike. As we roll down the road, we are accompanied by a continual progression of birds and loud bird calls (mostly warning calls, I assume), and the rustling sound along the roadside as animals there detect our approach and scurry for safety into the underbrush. Most often, we hear the rustling in the bushes and grasses along the side of the road without ever getting sight of what the animal is. But at times you do catch a glimpse. Small birds and squirrels often are the source of those scurrying noises. But we have also seen rabbits, chipmunks, snakes, groundhogs, large birds (herons, hawks or turkey vultures) and deer start as we pass by. We've flushed grouse and covies of quail. Just yesterday, we had a coyote cross the road in front of us. In Alabama, I saw a very slow moving armadillo crossing the road. So slow-moving, that I clearly understand why one sees so many of these creatures dead along the roadside.
And that is a good transition point to the subject of road kill. The sad fact is that many, many, many animals meet their end on the roadways, hit by fast-moving vehicles. And in rural areas, there is no sanitation department to come along and clean them up. So the shoulders of almost all roads we ride serve as an ongoing inventory of the doomed fauna in the area. You cannot bike for long without encountering this. We have seen some domestic dogs and cats alongside the road, but they really are in the minority. Most have been wild animals -- especially those slow-moving varieties. Armadillos, Opossum, Racoons, Turtles, and Snakes are most frequently seen. We've also seen birds, a duck, and deer killed along the roadside. And then, there are the countless carcasses that are beyond recognition. Mind you, we don't dwell on looking at these, in fact, often it is best not to look too closely. On the other hand, you do need to watch for them, just to avoid hitting them. In addition, I have learned to spot them up ahead, and to start holding my breath when I get to within 15 feet of them, to avoid the odor that frequently comes with them. All in all, a sad subject, but a reality
Now, back to the live animals and some stories. There have been a number of interactions with animals as we have ridden that have struck me as pretty interesting or funny. (Many are of the form of the animal being surprised and scared by our sudden unusual presence. Sorry, this is where my sick humor comes out.)
-I have mentioned in a previous post about horses and cows in the pastures we pass. Almost all seem extremely interested in our pass-bys. I love to call out a friendly "Hey, guys!" to them. They look up, usually very curiously, sometimes run to follow us, and occasionally run to get away from us in the form of a mini-stampede. Just the other morning, though, we passed a hog farm, and caused a hog stampede! I didn't even realize that they were there until they began running. But they were quite agitated by the sudden appearance of these odd cyclists, and proved that they really can run pretty fast. Sorry, but I found it very funny.
-While in Tennessee, we were riding on a woodsy road with a few homes scattered throughout, and I suddenly see a full-sized deer with a red bandana around its neck darting out across the road in front of me. Then I see a woman outside her house up ahead. I slow and ask her if I had seen what I thought I'd seen. She said yes, that that was her pet deer. She'd had it for over a year. I apologized for scaring it, and she simply said "That's ok, she'll be back."
-Turtles. An interesting side note is that Joan and I discovered soon after we were married that we both had raised box turtles as kids, and we both have a little soft spot for turtles. So, whenever we see a turtle trying to cross the road (a clearly risky situation for the turtle), we stop, get off the bike, pick the turtle up and carry it across the road to help it along. A few days ago I found a huge turtle, and as soon as I picked it up, it let loose with about a quart of pee. I cannot believe how much that turtle had inside him! Not sure how I avoided it, but I managed not to get wetted by this impressive stream. And I left the big guy safe and sound in the grass on the side of the road he was heading for.
-Early in the trip, I remember biking down a road, and seeing a bird up ahead flying across the road, circle a patch of grass on the right side of the road. It took its time to find exactly the right place to land. He obviously did not see me though. He landed just as I was about to pass that spot. I saw him land, look up, see me, and then with a screech that in bird language probably was the equivalent of a blood-curdling scream in horror movie, fly off in terror as my bike rolled on the road past the spot.
-Dogs. Actually, this is a pretty serious subject normally. Dogs represent one of the greater risks for bicyclists on a trip like this. We heard from the Inaugural riders some real watchouts about dogs, as the group had some serious problems with them. Out in the country you have to be very wary of dogs that are loose, protective, and potentially vicious racing out to attack you.
Thus far, we have found that we definitely attract the attention of most dogs, and most bark at us, sometimes really violently. Most of the time, though, the dogs are not mean, but are only barking because we appear as a strange entity (I'm not even sure dogs recognize us as people on bikes) and a possible threat to their territory. By yelling strongly at them "NO! STAY!", most of them stop or back off. If that does not work, I wear a sports whistle around my neck that I will blow at them loudly. I actually had my first chance just yesterday to use it with 2 dogs that were barking around my ankles, refusing to listen to my voice commands. A short loud blast from the whistle rendered them both silent, trying to figure out what to do, and giving me time to move away. The third step in fending off a dog attack if the whistle were not to work is to give the dog a spray from a small can of dog pepper spray that we carry. Fortunately, we have not needed that yet, but we're ready, just in case.
A humorous case example of how voice commands, and a bit of surprise, works .... when traveling with the Chamberlains, a dog came out ferociously barking behind Mary Beth's bike, and never saw me following her. I yelled out at it, and it stopped in its tracks, obviously totally surprised to see me rolling down the road toward it, its tail went between its legs, its bark turned to a literal crying wimper, and it ran home. That'll teach him!
Then there are dogs that are hard to take too seriously. I know small dogs can bite, but some dogs are so tiny that when the bark at us it is funny in and of itself. Then there was the dog at a farmhouse that barked at me and came racing toward me.... with a tennis ball in his mouth!
-This story had to do with a cat. Riding down one road, I saw a cat amble from the left, slowly and nonchalantly cross the road in front of me, obviously unaware I was coming. I started braking, and called out in a friendly voice "Hi kitty...". It looked back at me over its shoulder, and a wave of pure terror crossed it. It looked just like a scene out of an animated children's cartoon: The hair on the cat stood out in all directions, its legs started running but it did not really move for a moment, and then like a bullet it flew across the road and to the saftey of some bushes.
-Finally, a potentially scary event that happened a few days ago, that ties in the live vs. road kill themes here. I was rolling pretty fast down a hill, and saw a squirrel sitting in the road in front of me. Unlike the dozens of other squirrels I've similarly encountered who quickly race away when they see me coming, this one seemed mesmerized in a trance, and just sat there staring at me. As I got closer, I started braking hard, and yelling at him "LOOK OUT!!!" I moved right of where he was, as there was no way I could come to a full stop in time. I could not move further away for fear of a sudden swerve at that speed causing me to go out of control. Fortunately, just as I was about to pass him, he chose to bolt away from my bike and not into the direction I was moving. I know a collision would have been bad for him, and quite possibly for me as well.
In summary, you never really know what critter you are going to see around the next bend, but alertness is needed to catch those quick interactions, moments of humor, and to avoid potentially nasty situations.
Let me also do a disclaimer at the start. Those of you who know Joan and me well know that both of us enjoy and have a lot of respect for animals. You also know that I, at least, have a bit of a "Far Side" comic sense of humor. So, if what follows may seem a bit mean-spirited toward our fellow creatures, it really is not intended to be.
OK, animals we have encountered. Certainly, since we are traveling routes through such rural and undeveloped areas, we frequently encounter animals as we bike. As we roll down the road, we are accompanied by a continual progression of birds and loud bird calls (mostly warning calls, I assume), and the rustling sound along the roadside as animals there detect our approach and scurry for safety into the underbrush. Most often, we hear the rustling in the bushes and grasses along the side of the road without ever getting sight of what the animal is. But at times you do catch a glimpse. Small birds and squirrels often are the source of those scurrying noises. But we have also seen rabbits, chipmunks, snakes, groundhogs, large birds (herons, hawks or turkey vultures) and deer start as we pass by. We've flushed grouse and covies of quail. Just yesterday, we had a coyote cross the road in front of us. In Alabama, I saw a very slow moving armadillo crossing the road. So slow-moving, that I clearly understand why one sees so many of these creatures dead along the roadside.
And that is a good transition point to the subject of road kill. The sad fact is that many, many, many animals meet their end on the roadways, hit by fast-moving vehicles. And in rural areas, there is no sanitation department to come along and clean them up. So the shoulders of almost all roads we ride serve as an ongoing inventory of the doomed fauna in the area. You cannot bike for long without encountering this. We have seen some domestic dogs and cats alongside the road, but they really are in the minority. Most have been wild animals -- especially those slow-moving varieties. Armadillos, Opossum, Racoons, Turtles, and Snakes are most frequently seen. We've also seen birds, a duck, and deer killed along the roadside. And then, there are the countless carcasses that are beyond recognition. Mind you, we don't dwell on looking at these, in fact, often it is best not to look too closely. On the other hand, you do need to watch for them, just to avoid hitting them. In addition, I have learned to spot them up ahead, and to start holding my breath when I get to within 15 feet of them, to avoid the odor that frequently comes with them. All in all, a sad subject, but a reality
Now, back to the live animals and some stories. There have been a number of interactions with animals as we have ridden that have struck me as pretty interesting or funny. (Many are of the form of the animal being surprised and scared by our sudden unusual presence. Sorry, this is where my sick humor comes out.)
-I have mentioned in a previous post about horses and cows in the pastures we pass. Almost all seem extremely interested in our pass-bys. I love to call out a friendly "Hey, guys!" to them. They look up, usually very curiously, sometimes run to follow us, and occasionally run to get away from us in the form of a mini-stampede. Just the other morning, though, we passed a hog farm, and caused a hog stampede! I didn't even realize that they were there until they began running. But they were quite agitated by the sudden appearance of these odd cyclists, and proved that they really can run pretty fast. Sorry, but I found it very funny.
-While in Tennessee, we were riding on a woodsy road with a few homes scattered throughout, and I suddenly see a full-sized deer with a red bandana around its neck darting out across the road in front of me. Then I see a woman outside her house up ahead. I slow and ask her if I had seen what I thought I'd seen. She said yes, that that was her pet deer. She'd had it for over a year. I apologized for scaring it, and she simply said "That's ok, she'll be back."
-Turtles. An interesting side note is that Joan and I discovered soon after we were married that we both had raised box turtles as kids, and we both have a little soft spot for turtles. So, whenever we see a turtle trying to cross the road (a clearly risky situation for the turtle), we stop, get off the bike, pick the turtle up and carry it across the road to help it along. A few days ago I found a huge turtle, and as soon as I picked it up, it let loose with about a quart of pee. I cannot believe how much that turtle had inside him! Not sure how I avoided it, but I managed not to get wetted by this impressive stream. And I left the big guy safe and sound in the grass on the side of the road he was heading for.
-Early in the trip, I remember biking down a road, and seeing a bird up ahead flying across the road, circle a patch of grass on the right side of the road. It took its time to find exactly the right place to land. He obviously did not see me though. He landed just as I was about to pass that spot. I saw him land, look up, see me, and then with a screech that in bird language probably was the equivalent of a blood-curdling scream in horror movie, fly off in terror as my bike rolled on the road past the spot.
-Dogs. Actually, this is a pretty serious subject normally. Dogs represent one of the greater risks for bicyclists on a trip like this. We heard from the Inaugural riders some real watchouts about dogs, as the group had some serious problems with them. Out in the country you have to be very wary of dogs that are loose, protective, and potentially vicious racing out to attack you.
Thus far, we have found that we definitely attract the attention of most dogs, and most bark at us, sometimes really violently. Most of the time, though, the dogs are not mean, but are only barking because we appear as a strange entity (I'm not even sure dogs recognize us as people on bikes) and a possible threat to their territory. By yelling strongly at them "NO! STAY!", most of them stop or back off. If that does not work, I wear a sports whistle around my neck that I will blow at them loudly. I actually had my first chance just yesterday to use it with 2 dogs that were barking around my ankles, refusing to listen to my voice commands. A short loud blast from the whistle rendered them both silent, trying to figure out what to do, and giving me time to move away. The third step in fending off a dog attack if the whistle were not to work is to give the dog a spray from a small can of dog pepper spray that we carry. Fortunately, we have not needed that yet, but we're ready, just in case.
A humorous case example of how voice commands, and a bit of surprise, works .... when traveling with the Chamberlains, a dog came out ferociously barking behind Mary Beth's bike, and never saw me following her. I yelled out at it, and it stopped in its tracks, obviously totally surprised to see me rolling down the road toward it, its tail went between its legs, its bark turned to a literal crying wimper, and it ran home. That'll teach him!
Then there are dogs that are hard to take too seriously. I know small dogs can bite, but some dogs are so tiny that when the bark at us it is funny in and of itself. Then there was the dog at a farmhouse that barked at me and came racing toward me.... with a tennis ball in his mouth!
-This story had to do with a cat. Riding down one road, I saw a cat amble from the left, slowly and nonchalantly cross the road in front of me, obviously unaware I was coming. I started braking, and called out in a friendly voice "Hi kitty...". It looked back at me over its shoulder, and a wave of pure terror crossed it. It looked just like a scene out of an animated children's cartoon: The hair on the cat stood out in all directions, its legs started running but it did not really move for a moment, and then like a bullet it flew across the road and to the saftey of some bushes.
-Finally, a potentially scary event that happened a few days ago, that ties in the live vs. road kill themes here. I was rolling pretty fast down a hill, and saw a squirrel sitting in the road in front of me. Unlike the dozens of other squirrels I've similarly encountered who quickly race away when they see me coming, this one seemed mesmerized in a trance, and just sat there staring at me. As I got closer, I started braking hard, and yelling at him "LOOK OUT!!!" I moved right of where he was, as there was no way I could come to a full stop in time. I could not move further away for fear of a sudden swerve at that speed causing me to go out of control. Fortunately, just as I was about to pass him, he chose to bolt away from my bike and not into the direction I was moving. I know a collision would have been bad for him, and quite possibly for me as well.
In summary, you never really know what critter you are going to see around the next bend, but alertness is needed to catch those quick interactions, moments of humor, and to avoid potentially nasty situations.
Madison, Indiana & Plans for the Trip Home
Yesterday, we rode from Jeffersonville to Madison, Indiana. It was a 61 mile day. We are now at the 1046 mile point in the UGRR route (just about half way!!!). We have logged about 1170 total miles on the bikes since leaving Mobile.
We have chosen Madison as the location of our next rest day, and so are staying here today (Thu Jun 7). Before today, we had ridden 7 consecutive days, averaging about 55 miles per day in that time, and we decided it is time to rest the old legs for a day.
Yesterday's trip was good, although long. We just seemed to move more slowly than usual, but we accepted that as ok. We worked our way out of the Louisville area, still along the Indiana side of the river, and passed a huge shipbuilding complex as we rode. Very interesting. Then later in the day, we met two cyclists traveling in the opposite direction, southbound, on the UGRR trail. They are traveling the portion from Ohio to Tennessee, where they will veer off and head to their destination in Memphis. We encountered them in the middle of a hill, they going up, we going down, and we all stopped right there in the middle, stood on the side of the road, and had a very nice conversation. Fun to compare notes!
Once reaching Madison, we found it to be a fascinating, very historical place. Tremendous numbers of very old houses throughout the town, and a nice library where I am sitting now. This afternoon we will go to the visitors center and see what we can learn about the place.
I referred in a previous post to our tentative plan for this next week, which should get us back to Cincinnati. Tomorrow, we will cross the Ohio River back into Kentucky, and ride a fairly long day to Dry Ridge, KY, which is due south of Cincinnati. We will use Saturday and Sunday to cover the approximately 70 miles of pretty aggressive hills between Dry Ridge and Maysville, KY. We will camp somewhere in the middle on Saturday night, and stay in Maysville on Sunday, hopefully getting a chance to see something of this interesting town. Monday we will cross the Ohio River into the state of Ohio, and expect to get close to home, but not all the way home, by that evening. Will probably stay in Batavia. Tuesday would be a relatively short ride home.
That is the plan, all subject to change, of course. But with that laid out, we suddenly see more purpose in each day's destination. I think that this next phase will be interesting from that perspective.
Then, once we are home, then what? Well, to be honest, the decision is not fully made yet. We would both like to continue the trip on to Canada. But we are going to reserve a little time once we are home to check in on the real world and our real lives, and make the decision of whether to continue and if so, when, with some careful thought. We'll update this blog until we get to Cincinnati, and then again when we know the answer!
We have chosen Madison as the location of our next rest day, and so are staying here today (Thu Jun 7). Before today, we had ridden 7 consecutive days, averaging about 55 miles per day in that time, and we decided it is time to rest the old legs for a day.
Yesterday's trip was good, although long. We just seemed to move more slowly than usual, but we accepted that as ok. We worked our way out of the Louisville area, still along the Indiana side of the river, and passed a huge shipbuilding complex as we rode. Very interesting. Then later in the day, we met two cyclists traveling in the opposite direction, southbound, on the UGRR trail. They are traveling the portion from Ohio to Tennessee, where they will veer off and head to their destination in Memphis. We encountered them in the middle of a hill, they going up, we going down, and we all stopped right there in the middle, stood on the side of the road, and had a very nice conversation. Fun to compare notes!
Once reaching Madison, we found it to be a fascinating, very historical place. Tremendous numbers of very old houses throughout the town, and a nice library where I am sitting now. This afternoon we will go to the visitors center and see what we can learn about the place.
I referred in a previous post to our tentative plan for this next week, which should get us back to Cincinnati. Tomorrow, we will cross the Ohio River back into Kentucky, and ride a fairly long day to Dry Ridge, KY, which is due south of Cincinnati. We will use Saturday and Sunday to cover the approximately 70 miles of pretty aggressive hills between Dry Ridge and Maysville, KY. We will camp somewhere in the middle on Saturday night, and stay in Maysville on Sunday, hopefully getting a chance to see something of this interesting town. Monday we will cross the Ohio River into the state of Ohio, and expect to get close to home, but not all the way home, by that evening. Will probably stay in Batavia. Tuesday would be a relatively short ride home.
That is the plan, all subject to change, of course. But with that laid out, we suddenly see more purpose in each day's destination. I think that this next phase will be interesting from that perspective.
Then, once we are home, then what? Well, to be honest, the decision is not fully made yet. We would both like to continue the trip on to Canada. But we are going to reserve a little time once we are home to check in on the real world and our real lives, and make the decision of whether to continue and if so, when, with some careful thought. We'll update this blog until we get to Cincinnati, and then again when we know the answer!
Tuesday, June 5, 2007
Jeffersonville, Indiana
We are now in Jeffersonville, Indiana ... one of the towns across the Ohio River from Louisville, KY. We are at mile 988 in the UGRR route now, with 1110 miles overall logged on our bikes.
In addition to feeling good now about the progress we see ourselves making on the map, tonight brings a couple of other aspects of change that we are internalizing. First of all, we find ourselves sitting in a major metropolitan area for the first time in quite a while, with a view of a big city skyline across the river, and surrounded by people who live in this major urban setting. After biking through rural and small town areas for the last 3 weeks, this change has really hit home for us today. Not sure if there is even a value judgement associated with this.... it's neither good nor bad, just very different. It makes us appreciate the diversity of environments we've traveled through.
The second aspect hit as we checked into our hotel room this afternoon, and started wheeling our bikes around the building to take them into our room. There, a short distance from the hotel, was one of the bridges going across the river into Louisville, and on the bridge was a road sign for..... Cincinnati! We both stared at it and started laughing. We feel like we are now in striking distance of home!
Ok, here's a summary of the last several days, and a few notable items of interest.
Sun, June 3: This was a day when we set out from Owensboro, KY, without knowing where we would sleep that night. The next town with a hotel was about 100 miles away, and the closest commercial camping spot was 66 miles away, across some very significant hills. We were pretty sure we would not be able to make that in one day, so we focused on the town of Cloverport, KY, as one that was about mid-way, and showed restaurants on our map, just no lodging. We figured we could perhaps plead our case with someone there to find a place to pitch our tent for the night.
The ride there was beautiful. Beautiful weather, beautiful roads, practically no traffic. We passed some interesting historical sites associated with Abraham Lincoln's early days in Kentucky. We noted the changes in the countryside, now large expanses of corn and wheat fields, vs. the pine forests and soybean fields we saw further south. And great little towns along this route paralleling the Ohio River. By the time we hit Cloverport, we'd covered 56 miles, and had gotten a few of those hills out of the way. We actually ended up getting two offers for setting up our tent. One from a very nice woman who owns a restaurant in Cloverport. The restaurant was closed for the day, but she was there and offered for us to set up our tent behind her store. We thanked her, and went further downtown planning to come back later, only to be greeted by the town mayor in a pizza shop on the riverfront, who offered for us to set up our tent across the street on land he owned in an absolutely beautiful parklike setting on the banks of the Ohio. We chose that, and it turned out to be a very comfortable spot for the night. And it was great to simply sit there and enjoy the late afternoon, watching the river.
Monday, June 4: We got up extra early, because we knew we had an aggressive ride over some very hilly terrain that day. We broke camp, and went to a local breakfast spot before getting started, and had some fun conversation with a group of "regulars" there in the restaurant. One was Randy, who lived in Owensboro, worked as the minister of music at the Baptist church in Cloverport, and who had been born in Brandenburg, KY, our destination for the day. So we spent considerable time talking with him about the route we were planning to take, and hearing from him how bad the hills were going to be. He said he'd be driving later in the day to Brandenburg, so would look for us on the road.
We set out, and started hitting the hills as promised. The first couple were large, but not too steep, and so not so bad. Then we hit the first of 3 really difficult ones. We were about 25 miles into our day's journey, and 3/4 of the way up this hill when we see a pickup truck coming in the opposite direction.... Randy driving it. We stopped and talked, and he was giving us the bad news that we were going the wrong way.... Brandenburg was in the direction we were coming from! Well, we all got out our maps, and in the end, discovered that it was Randy who had taken a wrong turn, and was heading back to Cloverport without realizing it. So, we provided the function of helping the locals out with directions! (Not to be too hard on Randy, who is truly a nice guy.... I think the normal route from Cloverport was to take another main highway. I think he was taking the backroads just so he could see us and offer us some moral support. So, he was going a route he was not particularly accustomed to.)
We did accomplish all 3 of those "bad" hills, plus many others that seemed to get "badder" as the day wore on, and got to Brandenburg late in the afternoon, only to find all sorts of problems trying to find the hotels. Lots of helpful people trying to give us directions, but things were not falling into place, and every new direction in the town had us going up another steep hill, with incredible head winds. We were getting exhausted by the time we finally got to a viable motel, a Super 8. We parked the bikes in the motel room after logging 61 tiring miles, and feasted on Taco Bell because it was within short walking distance of the hotel!
Tuesday June 5 (today): We slept in late today, and the extra sleep did us good. We waited for the morning Brandenburg rush hour to finish before setting out. The first order of business was to cross the Ohio River into Indiana, which we did. (State #6) The bridge was a bit unnerving, but after that, the riding was good. A couple of big hills early, and a huge downhill that was not nearly as scary as we were afraid it might be, and then all of a sudden we were in the Louisville suburbs, navigating on suburban streets. We were perhaps 8-10 miles away from our destination when the skies started to darken, the wind picked up, and we found a service station/convenience store to take shelter. We parked our bikes under shelter and bought some snack food while we watched the rain, thunder and lightning. The manager and the clerks at the store were fascinated about our trip, and went out of their way to help us out. (e.g., calling the motel we were to stay out to make sure of directions for us, etc.) After the storm, we set out again, only to find that our map had some omissions in them, and we had to stop at a fire station to get clear on directions. In the end though, we pulled into the hotel we are in tonight, having logged 50 miles, and feeling very good.
We now have the rough outline of a plan for the next 7 days that would have us get into Cincinnati a week from today. Having that plan identified, and then seeing the Cincinnati road sign this afternoon, is making the closure of the Mobile-to-Cincinnati part of this adventure feel suddenly very real.
Sorry, I had no idea how long this was going to run. I'm running out of time on this borrowed computer, so let me post this now. As always, thanks for the messages and comments!
--Mike
In addition to feeling good now about the progress we see ourselves making on the map, tonight brings a couple of other aspects of change that we are internalizing. First of all, we find ourselves sitting in a major metropolitan area for the first time in quite a while, with a view of a big city skyline across the river, and surrounded by people who live in this major urban setting. After biking through rural and small town areas for the last 3 weeks, this change has really hit home for us today. Not sure if there is even a value judgement associated with this.... it's neither good nor bad, just very different. It makes us appreciate the diversity of environments we've traveled through.
The second aspect hit as we checked into our hotel room this afternoon, and started wheeling our bikes around the building to take them into our room. There, a short distance from the hotel, was one of the bridges going across the river into Louisville, and on the bridge was a road sign for..... Cincinnati! We both stared at it and started laughing. We feel like we are now in striking distance of home!
Ok, here's a summary of the last several days, and a few notable items of interest.
Sun, June 3: This was a day when we set out from Owensboro, KY, without knowing where we would sleep that night. The next town with a hotel was about 100 miles away, and the closest commercial camping spot was 66 miles away, across some very significant hills. We were pretty sure we would not be able to make that in one day, so we focused on the town of Cloverport, KY, as one that was about mid-way, and showed restaurants on our map, just no lodging. We figured we could perhaps plead our case with someone there to find a place to pitch our tent for the night.
The ride there was beautiful. Beautiful weather, beautiful roads, practically no traffic. We passed some interesting historical sites associated with Abraham Lincoln's early days in Kentucky. We noted the changes in the countryside, now large expanses of corn and wheat fields, vs. the pine forests and soybean fields we saw further south. And great little towns along this route paralleling the Ohio River. By the time we hit Cloverport, we'd covered 56 miles, and had gotten a few of those hills out of the way. We actually ended up getting two offers for setting up our tent. One from a very nice woman who owns a restaurant in Cloverport. The restaurant was closed for the day, but she was there and offered for us to set up our tent behind her store. We thanked her, and went further downtown planning to come back later, only to be greeted by the town mayor in a pizza shop on the riverfront, who offered for us to set up our tent across the street on land he owned in an absolutely beautiful parklike setting on the banks of the Ohio. We chose that, and it turned out to be a very comfortable spot for the night. And it was great to simply sit there and enjoy the late afternoon, watching the river.
Monday, June 4: We got up extra early, because we knew we had an aggressive ride over some very hilly terrain that day. We broke camp, and went to a local breakfast spot before getting started, and had some fun conversation with a group of "regulars" there in the restaurant. One was Randy, who lived in Owensboro, worked as the minister of music at the Baptist church in Cloverport, and who had been born in Brandenburg, KY, our destination for the day. So we spent considerable time talking with him about the route we were planning to take, and hearing from him how bad the hills were going to be. He said he'd be driving later in the day to Brandenburg, so would look for us on the road.
We set out, and started hitting the hills as promised. The first couple were large, but not too steep, and so not so bad. Then we hit the first of 3 really difficult ones. We were about 25 miles into our day's journey, and 3/4 of the way up this hill when we see a pickup truck coming in the opposite direction.... Randy driving it. We stopped and talked, and he was giving us the bad news that we were going the wrong way.... Brandenburg was in the direction we were coming from! Well, we all got out our maps, and in the end, discovered that it was Randy who had taken a wrong turn, and was heading back to Cloverport without realizing it. So, we provided the function of helping the locals out with directions! (Not to be too hard on Randy, who is truly a nice guy.... I think the normal route from Cloverport was to take another main highway. I think he was taking the backroads just so he could see us and offer us some moral support. So, he was going a route he was not particularly accustomed to.)
We did accomplish all 3 of those "bad" hills, plus many others that seemed to get "badder" as the day wore on, and got to Brandenburg late in the afternoon, only to find all sorts of problems trying to find the hotels. Lots of helpful people trying to give us directions, but things were not falling into place, and every new direction in the town had us going up another steep hill, with incredible head winds. We were getting exhausted by the time we finally got to a viable motel, a Super 8. We parked the bikes in the motel room after logging 61 tiring miles, and feasted on Taco Bell because it was within short walking distance of the hotel!
Tuesday June 5 (today): We slept in late today, and the extra sleep did us good. We waited for the morning Brandenburg rush hour to finish before setting out. The first order of business was to cross the Ohio River into Indiana, which we did. (State #6) The bridge was a bit unnerving, but after that, the riding was good. A couple of big hills early, and a huge downhill that was not nearly as scary as we were afraid it might be, and then all of a sudden we were in the Louisville suburbs, navigating on suburban streets. We were perhaps 8-10 miles away from our destination when the skies started to darken, the wind picked up, and we found a service station/convenience store to take shelter. We parked our bikes under shelter and bought some snack food while we watched the rain, thunder and lightning. The manager and the clerks at the store were fascinated about our trip, and went out of their way to help us out. (e.g., calling the motel we were to stay out to make sure of directions for us, etc.) After the storm, we set out again, only to find that our map had some omissions in them, and we had to stop at a fire station to get clear on directions. In the end though, we pulled into the hotel we are in tonight, having logged 50 miles, and feeling very good.
We now have the rough outline of a plan for the next 7 days that would have us get into Cincinnati a week from today. Having that plan identified, and then seeing the Cincinnati road sign this afternoon, is making the closure of the Mobile-to-Cincinnati part of this adventure feel suddenly very real.
Sorry, I had no idea how long this was going to run. I'm running out of time on this borrowed computer, so let me post this now. As always, thanks for the messages and comments!
--Mike
Saturday, June 2, 2007
Owensboro, Kentucky
Today, we reached Owensboro, Kentucky. We are about 835 miles into the UGRR route, and have put a total of about 940 miles on the bikes since our departure from Mobile almost 3 weeks ago now.
Notable also is that with Owensboro, we have reached the end of the 2nd of the 5 map sections for the route. Starting tomorrow, we will be on map section #3. That one ends in Cincinnati! Still just a rough plan right now, but we think we have about 9 more days of travel and at least one more off day before reaching Cincinnati.
Ok, a quick update of the days since we left Grand Rivers.
Thursday, May 31: We left Grand Rivers early in the morning, traveling out on a road which was much busier than expected, but soon that gave way to the small, rural, low-traffic roads that we want to see. It was great riding, except that it was a day of intermittent drizzle and light rain showers most of the way. At Carrsville, we hit the Ohio River, and we had to stop and note that symbolic moment. Across that river was the objective of freedom that all those people traveling the Underground Railroad 150+ years ago were striving for. On bikes, it was a long way, so we can only imagine what that trip felt like to those who had to travel secretly on foot, by night.
As it turns out, we actually crossed the river this day. The only place to spend the night was on the Illinois side of the river, in a town called Cave-in-Rock. We reached it by taking a ferry across the river, thereby adding a 5th state to our biking saga, and completing 52 miles for the day. And we found that this town has quite a history. There is a large, impressive cave in the rock cliffs there overlooking the river, from which the town derives its name. In the late 1700s and early 1800s, a very ruthless band of outlaws used that cave as their base for river piracy. They would intercept river travelers, take them to the cave where, if the travelers were lucky, they would simply be robbed. A large number were apparently murdered in that cave. Now the entire place is a state park, and the movie "How the West was Won" was filmed in part here and immortalized this historical fact. What a difference a couple of centuries makes!
The other interesting event of that day is that while waiting for the ferry on the Kentucky side, another bike traveler pulled up behind us. His name is Chris, and in between the end of his Peace Corps assignment and the start of a job hunt, he decided to cross the U.S. (East to West) on a bike, by himself. He left Yorktown, Virginia about the time we left Mobile, and hopes to make the Oregon or Washington coast by early August. We enjoyed spending some time with him talking, comparing notes, and appreciating the fact that his trip is about twice as long as ours.
Friday, June 1: We took the ferry back across the river into Kentucky, and resumed our route. We went 38 miles to Morganfield, KY where we spent the night. We had intended to go further, but hit a humongous hill in the morning, probably the steepest and toughest we've encountered yet, and we found ourselves wiped out by about 1 pm.
Saturday, June 2 (today): We traveled from Morganfield to Owensboro, a total of about 64 miles. A longer day than usual, but the terrain was mostly flat, so it was easier for us to do. However, it was very hot and muggy, and we went through almost all of our water and Gatorade by the time we arrived. Also, when we were about 6 miles out from Owensboro, a line of what looked like squalls hit the area, with lightning and thunder in the distance. We never got more than a short light rain, but were greeted with sudden tremendous headwinds as the weather front moved through. Those final few miles took a lot of effort, and we were very happy when we reached the hotel!
OK, so bottom line, we continue to make good progress and are doing well, albeit having some days in which we feel pretty beat. Tomorrow we start with our new map, showing the next 400 miles of the route, the final panel of which is the city of Cincinnati and home. That looks pretty good to us!
As always, thanks to everyone for the emails, comments, and overall expressions of support!
Notable also is that with Owensboro, we have reached the end of the 2nd of the 5 map sections for the route. Starting tomorrow, we will be on map section #3. That one ends in Cincinnati! Still just a rough plan right now, but we think we have about 9 more days of travel and at least one more off day before reaching Cincinnati.
Ok, a quick update of the days since we left Grand Rivers.
Thursday, May 31: We left Grand Rivers early in the morning, traveling out on a road which was much busier than expected, but soon that gave way to the small, rural, low-traffic roads that we want to see. It was great riding, except that it was a day of intermittent drizzle and light rain showers most of the way. At Carrsville, we hit the Ohio River, and we had to stop and note that symbolic moment. Across that river was the objective of freedom that all those people traveling the Underground Railroad 150+ years ago were striving for. On bikes, it was a long way, so we can only imagine what that trip felt like to those who had to travel secretly on foot, by night.
As it turns out, we actually crossed the river this day. The only place to spend the night was on the Illinois side of the river, in a town called Cave-in-Rock. We reached it by taking a ferry across the river, thereby adding a 5th state to our biking saga, and completing 52 miles for the day. And we found that this town has quite a history. There is a large, impressive cave in the rock cliffs there overlooking the river, from which the town derives its name. In the late 1700s and early 1800s, a very ruthless band of outlaws used that cave as their base for river piracy. They would intercept river travelers, take them to the cave where, if the travelers were lucky, they would simply be robbed. A large number were apparently murdered in that cave. Now the entire place is a state park, and the movie "How the West was Won" was filmed in part here and immortalized this historical fact. What a difference a couple of centuries makes!
The other interesting event of that day is that while waiting for the ferry on the Kentucky side, another bike traveler pulled up behind us. His name is Chris, and in between the end of his Peace Corps assignment and the start of a job hunt, he decided to cross the U.S. (East to West) on a bike, by himself. He left Yorktown, Virginia about the time we left Mobile, and hopes to make the Oregon or Washington coast by early August. We enjoyed spending some time with him talking, comparing notes, and appreciating the fact that his trip is about twice as long as ours.
Friday, June 1: We took the ferry back across the river into Kentucky, and resumed our route. We went 38 miles to Morganfield, KY where we spent the night. We had intended to go further, but hit a humongous hill in the morning, probably the steepest and toughest we've encountered yet, and we found ourselves wiped out by about 1 pm.
Saturday, June 2 (today): We traveled from Morganfield to Owensboro, a total of about 64 miles. A longer day than usual, but the terrain was mostly flat, so it was easier for us to do. However, it was very hot and muggy, and we went through almost all of our water and Gatorade by the time we arrived. Also, when we were about 6 miles out from Owensboro, a line of what looked like squalls hit the area, with lightning and thunder in the distance. We never got more than a short light rain, but were greeted with sudden tremendous headwinds as the weather front moved through. Those final few miles took a lot of effort, and we were very happy when we reached the hotel!
OK, so bottom line, we continue to make good progress and are doing well, albeit having some days in which we feel pretty beat. Tomorrow we start with our new map, showing the next 400 miles of the route, the final panel of which is the city of Cincinnati and home. That looks pretty good to us!
As always, thanks to everyone for the emails, comments, and overall expressions of support!
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