To Carbondale

Check out these stunners I saw on the way to a rest day in Carbondale

Dixon County State Park

After struggling up the last climb of day, paradise appeared in the form of a chocolate and ice cream factory. Yummy! Our camping for the night was in the state park across the state road.

Ohio River boat

10 of us crammed our bikes, and ourselves, onto the river taxi for the 10 mile trip down the Ohio from Elizabethtown to Golkonda. The others that were cycling ahead missed out on the fun. It doesn't always pay off to be the leader of the pack.

Elizabethtown

Bake sale on Main St. Eating pizza while selling cookies and getting the truck drivers to honk their horns.

Ohio River

Taking the ferry across the Ohio River from Kentucky to Illinois.

Marion KY

Our camping spot in Marion's park. I'll remember this town because a stranger offered us a ride to get our groceries, which was heaven sent after a long ride and I'm on cooking duty too! And then we asked the ladies at the tuckshop for the little league softball game next to where we are camped if we could use their sink to wash our dishes, and they not only welcomed us in, but did our dishes too! These acts of kindness from strangers totally overshadows the fact that we have no showers here and are all a bit sweaty and smelly!

To Marion

Had 70 miles to Marion today. But with views like this, it was a good day. And no afternoon storm!

Green river

Coal barges on the Green river

To Marion

Morning light across the wheat fields.

To Utica KY

The welcome sight of a Pepsi vending machine at the t-junction at the end of a seemingly endless string of rolling hills.

To Utica KY

Pedaling the Kentucky rollercoaster. You crest one roller and there's the next one waiting. They just kept coming today. It's fun in the morning but the legs don't think so in afternoon!

Thunderstorm

We were heading into an angry dark storm. They call them frog stranglers here. Took shelter under a church porch, but not before getting totally drenched.

Hardin County KY

L to R: Carl (70) from California, New York Bob, and me taking a break in the shade of a country store's veranda. Free popsicles for cyclists here!

Hodgenville

The community hall where we showered, a local clogging group practicing their joeys, donkeys, double cross steps and a bunch of other crazy named moves while having a whole lot of good country fun. Yeeeha!

Hodgenville

Bill (closest) and Steve doing email and journals while supper is getting rustled up in the background.

Bardstown KY

Tent area in My Old Kentucky Home State Park. We've been spoilt with eating out the past days either because of the long cycling days or lack of facilities, but it's back to the cooking routine tonight.

To Bardstown

Some of the log and stone buildings in the Lincoln homestead state park.

Sign at campground in Berea KY.

To Lake Harrington

Had a sweet ride this morning. Only 35 miles so the legs were happy for the short day after the heavy days last week. Some of the houses on route showed the damage a tornado can do.

Berea

Layover day at the Oh! Kentucky campground. We are nicely spread out but the RV section is rather crowded. With the daytime temp. reaching 90deg F the pool was the place to be.

To Berea

The scenery improved today. There were fewer coal trucks, trashy mobile homes and chained dogs. The views are back to rolling farmland dotted with old wooden barns. Everyone is looking forward to our rest day tomorrow after a hilly week.

To Booneville

We've passed through some depressed areas of Kentucky the passed two days. Pedal faster boys, I can hear banjos!

Hindman

After a 70 mile day with many brutal climbs, we had to contend with this driveway. Our host for the night, David, was waiting at the top with iced tea.

To Hindman

Some of the counties are 'dry '. This tavern at the top of a steep hill on the county line must do roaring trade.

Camping at Breaks

The reward for todays effort is camping in a mountain top forest. As you can see, another part of life on the road is the daily laundry.

Breaks Interstate Park

The final climb up to the park. The severity of the gradient never seems to show in the pics! 1st gear was often not low enough.

To Breaks

We had to haul groceries about 10 miles up 3000ft cumulative climbing from Haysi to Breaks Interstate Park. Here's Bill in his orange riding vest dividing up the shopping into portions for everyone. The cooks for the day are responsible for the shopping and tomorrow's cooks do wash-up today. You don't have to cook very often our group of 14.

Big A mountain

The first big climb today was up big A mountain. Some of us stopped for coffee before the climb. An old farmer started chatting to us. I asked him what big A stood for. He went on to say how his grandma told stories of how they had to haul supplies to the farm up that mountain and that she always called it Big Ass Mountain. So I guess if his grandma called it that, then I guess its OK to call it that!

Damascus

Our layover day in Damascus is on the weekend of the Appalatian Trail Days, an annual get together of people who have hiked the trail. The small town of Damascus, that the trail passes through, is buzzing with streetside stalls. It looks rather like a 60's peace rally...check out the stickers on this van! The trail hikers do have a hippie look about them. I guess when you are trekking through the wilderness for six months things like shaving etc. aren't a priority. Seeing some of the hikers with their huge backpacks on makes what we are doing seem rather tame. At least you get to freewheel down the hills when cycling.

To Damascus

The usual 10 mile morning coffee stop.

To Wytheville

There's no escaping the hills. The only flat bits are the bridges over the rivers before the next climb starts.

Troutville to Christiansburg

Another fantastic day riding through rolling rural landscape. There was a lot of up and downhill. Often you are flying downhill at 35mph and a few seconds later you are in 1st gear doing 4mph! There were magnificent views around each bend, like this huge old wooden barn.

Troutville

A glorious day's riding off the Appalatians and along the valley through Lexington and Buchanan to Troutville. The high crime rate in S.A. is highlighted when you see the absence of fences and walls here. The railway runs next to the road and between houses and not a fence in sight. Houses don't hide behind 6ft walls but stand proudly on their vast neat lawns open to the street and neighbours. Kids play happily in gardens and their bikes are left outside.

Mallard Duck Camp

This is what we do after supper each day...go over the next day's route. Our tour leader, Bob, is on the right in the green shirt.

Blue Ridge Parkway

The Parkway is an awesome road lined with manicured lawns. The wooden fence is part of an exhibit of a settler farm.

Blue Ridge Parkway

Time for an energy boost at the top of one of the climbs on the Parkway. This one's for you Dom!

Afton

A corner in June Curry's bike house where we stay tonight. Every space is covered with postcards, photos, newspaper clippings etc. from cyclists that have passed here. June, the 'cookie lady' has been helping cyclists since the Transam route started with the bikecentenial in 1976.

Charlottesville to Afton

The countryside is getting more lumpy as we start climbing up to the Blue Ridge Parkway. All these lush pastures make me think of the alpacas back home that are going into winter and can only dream of green grass!

Charlottesville to Afton

Wyant's store, the best place in White Hall for some chille on a grey day...in fact, the only place, the store is all there is.

There are a lot of churches along the route. This was one of the more striking ones today.

To Charlottesville

Some of the country convenience stores that are marked on the map have closed down, so we were glad to find this one open. I was starting on my peanut butter sandwich when Ingo came out with a tub of ice cream. That looked much more exciting than my sandwich, so there I was soon after with a tub of my own. It went down really well. After all the rain it is very humid, so the roller coaster hills were hard work.

Our scenic camping spot at William Hale's farm.

Ashland to Hale's farm.

During a beautifull route through rolling fields of wheat between shady wooded stretches, I came across this family of geese crossing a bridge. They waddled halfway up the hill in front of me before they veered off into the woods. But they weren't holding me up, I was huffing up the hill in 1st gear and battling to keep up!

It was a challenge to find a spot to pitch that wasn't waterlogged. It has rained a lot here. Check out the monster rv's in the background!

Day 3

Morning rush for coffee at the first convenience store. One of the shorter days, 30 miles to Americamp near Ashland.

Battlefields

The many preserved Civil War battlefields make good spots to munch on some sandwiches.

Williamsburg to Willis Church

After more on the parkway the route followed this new Capital bike path. It was another wet day, but luckily we could sleep indoors at Willis Methodist Church.

Wheel dipping in Yorktown

It was too cold and wet to wait for the whole group to do the wheel dipping. So we just did it quickly and got no our way back to our motel in Williamsburg. If all goes well I'll be dipping the wheel in the Pacific in three months.

Drizzly ride along parkway to Yorktown