Date: Posted 24th May 2010 Link: ## [Kentucky..."The unbridled state...or No Leash law state"](https://epiccycletour.blogspot.com/2010/05/kentuckythe-unbridled-stateor-no-leash.html) Made it into Kentucky yesterday from the Breaks Interstate Park, which was beautiful!  Lots of wildlife to see, and not see, apparently they have black bears there.  The raccoons tore through our hanging food bag and got off with a couple of hamburger buns, bastards!  The morning was really foggy too, which meant that it was also damp, and a little chilly.  The ride into Kentucky was short, about 3 miles from the park.  We had heard many many stories about the dogs in Kentucky, and yes they are all true.  Within 100 meters of the state line there is a dog waiting in the driveway for you, at least the owner had closed the gate when I got there :).  The day continued much the same, dogs in yards but locked in, this may have been because I was the 2nd in line for cycling through.  Stuart had counted about 15 chases by the time we got to Hindman, I had 4.  Over all the scenery was not much different than western Virginia, not a huge surprise.  However, the level of living conditions was much different.  If Micah or McKenzie ever complain about their living situation I am buying them a one way ticket to any small town in eastern Kentucky ;-).  The ride was a tough one too, we had 4 hills that were pretty large.  Each progressivly shorter than the previous but just as steep.  The percent grade ranged from 12-15%  which is steep, and even harder when fully loaded.  I was in a standing climb for most of each hill to give an idea of the difficulty.  The total mileage was 72.99 miles with the steepest driveway at the end to get up.  I had to take 2 shots at making it up, and I had to stand the entire time.  We are staying at the Knott County Historical Society, which is a pseudo B&B.  David the proprietor has 40 acres with a giant tent and bed rolls setup.  He had the most glorious glass of sweet tea in hand when we got to the front door.  The cost is $25/night and that comes with water, 1 beer (dry county), baked potato (loaded), as much tea as you want, laundry service (he actually does the laundry for us), breakfast (strawberry shortcake, 2 apples, 1 orange, grapes, 4 sausage and biscuits, all you can drink coffee and lemon cake), banana split and internet!  this is the bestest place ever!  David is a great host and a wealth of Knott County knowledge.  We took a rest day today at the same place and get all the same benefits as the day before :)  I have done my bike maintenance and got my clothes in order, now I need to pack my panniers.  I will update more later :) ---- Date: Posted 25th May 2010 Link: https://epiccycletour.blogspot.com/2010/05/in-booneville-ky.html Title: In booneville, ky. 65 miles. Feel pretty good, camping at a church, that has a pretty nice setup for cyclists. Even a nice cold shower :-). That was a religious experience all on its own. Eating top ramen, and watching the fire flies. ---- Date: Posted 26th May 2010 Link: ## [Hindman --> Booneville](https://epiccycletour.blogspot.com/2010/05/hindman-booneville.html) We had a good ride into Booneville, Ky yesterday.  There were lots of hills (3600 ft elevation gain).  Stopped at the post office, just outside of a small town called Emmalena, to mail back yet another load of clothes.  We were planning on stopping at the petrol station to fill up on water but the Postmistress said that they had shut down.  She wanted to know what we needed...water, what most cyclists need :).  She came back with two bottles of her own water and gave it to us, at no charge because "we need it more than she does".  While I have yet to find a redeeming quality about Kentucky in general, I will say that the people here are extremely generous.  Speaking of Kentucky and the "wonderful qualities" that it offers us...Dogs and all their unbridled terrorism, rumble strips on all road shoulders, humidity, impatient drivers, smoking EVERYWHERE (this includes the cooks preparing our food), snakes, bears and bugs.  Who wouldn't want to visit eastern Kentucky?   (sorry for anyone that is reading this and either lives here or likes it here) Anyways...back to the ride.  We went through a small town called Buckhorn, where the local grocery has a sign-in book for cyclists and the owner also gave us the keys to the church, the largest log built church in Ky.  [](http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_k4sy2Ebhph4/S_3fKRDBGOI/AAAAAAAAG_0/9FPQlnnI2hk/s1600/IMG_0460.JPG) After Buckhorn we made it into booneville and after getting lost trying to find the church we made it.  The church has set up a pavilion with a shower (cold water only), port-a-potty, and a fenced field to camp in.  They do this just because, no other reason.  Again the hospitality is amazing.  Dog chase count: 4, with one rock throw. Picture(s): http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_k4sy2Ebhph4/S_3fKRDBGOI/AAAAAAAAG_0/9FPQlnnI2hk/s320/IMG_0460.JPG ---- Date: Posted 26th May 2010 Link: ## [What a day...](https://epiccycletour.blogspot.com/2010/05/what-day.html) We started the day out kind of late (11:30), filled up our water at the Dollar General and heading out onto the road.  With in the first five miles I got a rear flat, which I figure was karma because the entire time in the first 5 miles I was formulating a letter to the Kentucky DOT and the Governor about how crap ass poopie their roads are and their overuse of the rumble strips.  I stopped formulating the letter after that :) [](http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_k4sy2Ebhph4/S_3hriIY6eI/AAAAAAAAHAA/25MknvzMfJg/s1600/4643118995_cd4ed2cc88_o.jpg) The other poopie part is that it was 80+ and the humidity was still up in the 70% range.  But I got that tire fixed, with the help of Stuart, and headed off again.  We spend most of the day on the highway which sucked, but we finally got to see some really nice scenery.  Again we had hills, and then more hills.  I never knew that Kentucky was so hilly!  The other noticeable difference was that coal did not line the road ways or sides of the hills, I hope this means that we are getting out of coal country.  Stopped for lunch in a town called Vincent, which used to have a restaurant but closed because of the economy.  So we sat outside the post office and only other business, a craft shop, and ate our all too familiar lunch, bagels, peanut butter and bananas.  While eating I found my first tick, it was just crawling on my shoe toward my sock and I gave it the ol' squash, and carried on.  I think I picked it up from the tall grass that I parked my bike in.  We talked to a couple of locals who were extremely nice and very interested in our trip.  Then we headed on our way.  Rolling hill after rolling hill we went, traffic was pretty light until we got near towns.  Saw lots of barns and root cellars, it is also hay cutting time here so we saw, and felt (what ever they are cutting it gives us all a wicked hacking cough) all the cutting. We made the final 10 miles in pretty quickly, even with the heat, humidity and traffic.  Had some other bike troubles later in the day (dropped my chain twice) that I hope I fixed in the hotel room... [](http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_k4sy2Ebhph4/S_3npiu5FPI/AAAAAAAAHAM/Uue38NHaQN4/s1600/4643843276_7701c0fc05_o.jpg) Berea is a beautiful town, the hotel is amazing.  Apparently it was built in 1909, as a guest house for the college students (it is on the Berea college campus).  I will get some photos tomorrow of the outside and inside.  I need to wash my riding shorts and get some sleep!  Lastly I had another 4 dog chases today, no rock throwing this time though.  While I hate the dogs that chase us it is sad to see that many of them do get hit by cars because the owners fail to leash them up and the state has no real leash laws.  I counted 2 dead ones today, which are the first that I have seen all trip. Why are people so careless with their animals! Picture(s): ---- Date: Posted 28th May 2010 Link: https://epiccycletour.blogspot.com/2010/05/made-it-to-bardstown-ky.html Title: Made it to bardstown, Ky. Short day after a really long one yesterday. Been on and off T-storms but have missed most of the rain. Mosquitoes have been thick. 887 miles so far. Holiday weekend has increased the traffic so we may take it easy over the next few days. Picture(s): ---- Date: Posted 29th May 2010 Link: https://epiccycletour.blogspot.com/2010/05/made-it-to-hodgenville-staying-in.html Title: Made it to hodgenville, staying in the community center, w/ got showers and a bbq for dinner. Feeling better today, legs still a little sore, trying a different peddleing tech that has made a big difference. (thanks Dirk). Picture(s): ---- Date: Posted 29th May 2010 Link: https://epiccycletour.blogspot.com/2010/05/hit-send-to-quick-no-wifi-haven-had.html Title: Hit send to quick :) no wifi, haven't had a good connection in days. At 936 miles so far. Holiday weekend has not been as bad as we thought. Heat has been in the upper 80's - lower 90's w/ humidity from 90-50%. Time for shower and then repacking stuff. Have a safe and happy memorial weekend Picture(s): ---- Date: Posted 31st May 2010 Link: ## [So many days behind.](https://epiccycletour.blogspot.com/2010/05/so-many-days-behind.html) We (Stuart and I) made it to Sebree, KY.  Staying at the Baptist church, where the facilities are amazing!  Our own room, showers, clothes washing, kitchen and WiFi.  Plus the preacher and his wife cooked us dinner, smoked ham, smoked turkey, home-made mac and cheese, baked beans and sautéed cabbage, with home-made lemon ice box pie.   I am so full right now! Where to start. Berea --> Mackville What was going to be a short day turned out to be a long, long day.  We started out late, 11ish again, after some coffee and breakfast at a local coffee shop.  The heat was already up in the 80's when we left.  We headed out of the city and quickly got into the countryside. There were several of the barn quilt painting things that were pretty nice looking [](http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_k4sy2Ebhph4/TASP0yvM-CI/AAAAAAAAHG4/uEEX06J9ulg/s1600/IMG_0510.JPG) We stopped at a small grocery Kirkville and ate the usual bagels, bananas with a "new" soda, only avalible in Kentucky called "Ale 8 1" pronounced by the natives as "A late one", it was a ginger ale with caffeine, not bad. [](http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_k4sy2Ebhph4/TASRBcxf8aI/AAAAAAAAHHQ/SYgh9W20pek/s1600/IMG_0519.JPG) After the lunch stop we shoved off on to literally a three hour tour.  We missed our turn, because out here they think that it is a good idea to stick a post in the ground and router the street name in it and call it a "sign".  We got about 6.5 miles down the wrong way when we realized we were astray.  Stopped a driver, who also was looking for the same street we were and used is iPhone to get the correct heading and direction. About 3 miles back we saw a street that would cut us over to the actual highway we needed so we took that...in hopes of avoiding some nasty hills.  Wrong.  This road had 3 hills in succession of 26% grade, yes folks they actually make hills so steep that cars can't pass a cyclist walking their bike up the hill.  After a nice hike up the hills we were back on route, 12ish miles more than we had hoped for and about 3 hours behind where we should have been. With the sunset much more of a factor we put our heads down and rode on, hard.  We made it to a small town called Burgin, where we were going to make the decision about pushing on to our warmshowers host or not.  Since we had now missed two of the thunderstorms that had hit (thanks to our "tour") and were literally running from the 3rd that was right behind us we got some Monster energy juice drinks and started.  I will say that those drinks have lots of energy, I was riding fast, faster that I have all trip (did a 5 mile stint in 19:20, fully loaded, with some head wind and up-hills). I think that drink had some to do with that and the fact that we could see and hear the impeding thunderstorm.  Over all I rolled into our stop (18 miles) in just over 1 hour.  We stayed in Mackville, KY with a awesome family, Keith, Alicia and their two boys.  The let us do laundry, cook and relax.  Keith even cooked a monster sized breakfast in the morning!  I still have several days to catch up on, but it is midnight here and I need some sleep.  Nite all! Picture(s): ---- Date: Posted 2nd June 2010 Link: https://epiccycletour.blogspot.com/2010/06/in-eddyville-il.html Title: In eddyville IL. Rode through 3 thunderstorms, trying to dry out at a gas station. More when i get better cell service or wifi. ---- Date: Posted 4th June 2010 Link: ## [Still Playing Catch Up...](https://epiccycletour.blogspot.com/2010/06/still-playing-catch-up.html) Mackville --> Bardstown After eating the huge breakfast Keith prepared for us, we got ready and headed out towards Bardstown.  Having had the fortune to miss all the thunderstorms the day before we were treated to a light rain for the first hour of cycling.  It was still warm and the rain was not heavy enough to put rain gear on.  We got to travel through some amazing farm country, including the Lincoln Homestead State Park. Getting into Bardstown was a nightmare, we were rolling in right as school was letting out, which also turned out to be the last day of school here.  Traffic was extremely thick and again the rumble strips prevented me from riding on the shoulder.  When we finally made it in to town we headed straight for the camp-site, My Old Kentucky Home State Park, which is apparently where Stephen Foster used to live.  Not really sure who he was but all the Kentuckites seemed to know him.  Any ways we got our site set up and a fire going, some caveman TV was a great break from the usual dark evening pierced by headlamps.  Thunderstorms threatened all night but nothing ever happened, which was nice! ---- Date: Posted 4th June 2010 Link: ## [Bardstown --> Hodgenville (49.3 Miles)](https://epiccycletour.blogspot.com/2010/06/bardstown-hodgenville-493-miles.html) In the morning, we headed to McDonald's, which coincidental was Stuarts first experience.  We chose it for two reasons, "free WiFi" and proximity, although the WiFi didn't pan out for Bruce or Stuart, only me on my iTouch.  After eating our "Big Breakfast" we headed out, at our usual time after 10am. We rode down the highway that lead us out of traffic hell, passing places that 11.5 years ago I would have stopped, and probably never left, the whisky distilleries.  There were several off the highway, Makers Mark the most notable.  After passing through the valley of temptation we were headed into more hills and dog chases.  With the previous missed turn still fresh in our heads we were stopping and checking every twist, turn and street name we came by.  With the new diligence we did not have any missed turns or extra circular adventuring.  Around lunch time we rolled into the town of Howardsville, where they were preparing for a wedding, and it appeared the whole town was doing something for the upcoming event.  We pulled into the only gas station / deli in the town and ordered our sandwiches.  The cost of things out here still blows me away, a turkey sandwich with everything on it was $2.80, add the chips and Gatorade and its lunch for around $6.  Now we were headed on the last leg of our daily trip to Hodgenville, with the heat finally picking up (mid 80's) we were getting tired and ready for to be done for the day.  Arriving in Hodgenville, which was a cute little town, we were greeted by an old guy who helped direct us to the police station to check in at.  He gave us a tourist version of how the town came to be and why it was still popular, "if Lincoln wasn't born here this place would be nothing".  We checked in at the police station with the police chief, who told us to camp at the community center where we could pitch our tents anywhere or if we wanted we could camp under the Lions pavilion.  When we finally got to the center the park attendant was there and he said that we could just sleep in the building and he would leave the showers and bathrooms open for us. With everything set we headed to the local save-a-lot to pick up bits for dinner.  Deciding to use the BBQ pits they had we got charcoal and some sausages, which turned out fantastic!  Next stop Falls of Rough. ---- Date: Posted 5th June 2010 Link: ## [Hodgenville --> Falls of Rough (62.3 Miles)](https://epiccycletour.blogspot.com/2010/06/hodgenville-falls-of-rough-623-miles.html) After a decent night of sleep indoors at the community center we packed and headed to the only WiFi spot around...McDonald's.  Unfortunaly I was the only one that was able to get connected, so it was a bust for Bruce and Stuart.  We did get headed out a little earlier than normal, but that was just because it was going to be a warm day, in the upper 80's.  We re-traced our steps out of town and back onto the official route, heading west, which is always a good feeling :).  We passed through several small little towns, getting our water topped off, or lovely cold drinks.  As we were coming around a corner in pretty much the middle of nowhere a young girl, maybe 12, yells out to us that "if you stop at the store you get a free popsicle" SOLD!  It was over 85 degrees and we needed a short break anyway.  So we park our bikes on the side of the building and head into the shop, which was more than just a grocery store, it had everything to keep the farm running, including salt licks...We chatted with the owner, who let us know that the girl that told about the free popsicles was his daughter.  He said that he had been doing this for several years for cyclists, he had a shower, camping and pretty much everything we needed if we wanted to stay.  We passed on the offer but signed the guest book and were just heading out when he asked us if "did you see the cow bells for sale?" and started to walk to the back of the store.  Confused we started to follow, he stopped and turned and asked "you know why cows have bells right?  Because their horns don't work" An extremely cheesy joke but done with a fantastic Kentucky accent it was priceless!  As we were getting set on our bikes he came out to remind us that we were coming up on a time change, which is not signed anywhere on the road, it's just local knowledge.  We knew we were coming up to a change, and this helped to remind us.  Ah Central Standard Time, only 2 hours behind home, plus another positive sign that we are making progress west.  Getting to the new time zone was not an easy feat though, we had to climb a 22% grade hill just before the county change.  So wish that we could be done with these dang steep hills!   We made the climb, and progressed on the rest of the way to Falls of Rough (FOR).  When we got to FOR it was PACKED, holiday weekend had the lake entirely full of boats and boat police.  It was a pretty amazing sight, but with all those boats came all the drivers of the boat towing vehicles too.  We had a tough time getting to the park we were planning to camp at, Rough River Dam State Resort Park.  Alas the holiday weekend had the campsite full, resort full and us scratching our heads about where to camp.  Lucky the girl at the front desk called the other campsite that was about 3.5 miles off route and they had a couple of spots left.  So off we go!  We head over to the new site, which are all run by the US Army Corps of Engineers (Tried playing the "my dad works for the Army Corp in Portland, can we get a discount...nope.)  The site was pretty primitive...well compared to other places we stayed it it was downright 3rd world.  Brick poop houses, no showers, one water tap, not the Ritz but it was a place to sleep. After paying the $10 site fee we cooked some dinner, 4 bags of Top Ramen, some nuts and chips.  We're eating my-tee-fine!  Tomorrow we head to Sebree, which has a bike hostel at the baptist church... Picture(s): ---- Date: Posted 7th June 2010 Link: [[03 Illinois]] ## [Sebree --> Cave in Rock (6/1/10) (Out of the Kentucky Fryer in to the Illinois Humdifier)](https://epiccycletour.blogspot.com/2010/06/sebree-cave-in-rock-6110-out-of.html) We got got up and gathered our gear, made some coffee and were just getting ready to head out when we got a text from Bruce that he just pulled into town.  I gave him directions and we hung out till he made it over, we wanted to hear about his evening with the thunderstorm and what not.  He rolled in about 10 minutes later and we showed him around.  Turns out that he stayed at someone's house, in their spare RV just before Beech Grove...aka the dog owner who's dog bit my bag, interesting karma...He said that he saw the storm coming in fast and stopped to ask the woman mowing the lawn if he could stay in her garage for the night "No, there are fleas in there, but you can stay in the RV in back".  What a nice lady, maybe she felt bad about the dog chase.  After getting the skinny on what his night was like, uneventful, we headed out.  Stuart wanted to see the downtown in daylight so we rode back there and checked it out.  After about 10 minutes we were truly heading to Illinois.   We got to ride through some fantastic country side (sans dogs), came to our planned lunch stop a small town called Dixon.  Here we ate at the only diner type establishment, which was pretty busy and had some decent food.  Met a couple of locals who were very interested in our trip and gave us all the info on the route we are heading.  Moving on from lunch we plodded on in what was not a very hot afternoon, as we rode on and got to one of our many intersections to turn at we came across an Amish couple in their horse and buggy!  While this is not a big deal to the locals, I don't recall ever seeing any Amish people.  They rode by and gave us the placating wave knowing that we were staring at them.   Continuing on we arrived in Marion, where we spotted the university boys napping in the shade at the feed store.  We ended up riding the last few miles out of Kentucky with them.  As we approached the state line (Ohio River) the ferry was just pulling in and letting cars off, so we timed it just right!  We cruised on to the slick metal top deck of the ferry and breathed a sigh of relief to be out of Kentucky!   [](http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_k4sy2Ebhph4/TA1vhzwtNPI/AAAAAAAAHZw/dwqfYItlDFI/s1600/IMG_0590.JPG) Getting across the river took about 8 minutes and directly off the boat was the camping signs, thank god.  We peddled into town and ate at the "recommended" diner, which also turned out to be the only place open.  Had a great dinner, with free samples of fried okra and zucchini.  Left the diner and headed over to the campsite...which was infested with mosquitoes!  They started in on us while we were riding in to the site, there were literally thousands around each of us.  100% DEET didn't scare these thirsty SOB's either, it was going to be a long night... ----