The last few afternoons have followed the same pattern: after the midday heat and humidity the storm clouds start gathering. The final 10 miles or so each day invariably turn into a race to the finish to beat the looming thunderstorms. I feel like a cyclist on the Tour who is in a lone breakaway with an angry peleton in persuit.
Saw this on a car window outside a convenience store at an intersection in the back of beyond Missouri farmland. Looks a bit like the number of hits that fighter pilots mark on their jets.
The gentle rollers made for pleasant riding this morning. The afternoon's road looked more like the Big Dipper!
Another pretty city park for us to camp in. No sooner had our tents dried out after we pitched, and the afternoon thunderstorm arrived. New York Bob and I were on cooking duty tonight. But after an exhausting 64 mile ride, dinner was a simple throw in the pot and heat up meatballs with canned sloppy joe sauce and rice. We didn't slum it totally, we also had salad and dessert.
The lookout tower at Flatrock. Yes, I climbed to the top. It was swaying in the breeze. After looking down from up there I know why I never fancied trying bungi jumping. The panoramic view was great though.
$80 000 will buy you one of these with luxury accomodation up front and two stables at the back. And this was not the biggest one! They hitch onto the load bed of the big American 4x4's.
Our campsite for two nights on the Jack's Fork river.
The laundromat is the only place in town with wifi, so guess where the transamers were hanging out.
You can get almost anything at a country has station. There goes the beer truck with our after ride refreshments.
Ingo making frikadels (yes, they also call them that in Germany) while Bill learns how and Adam and Chris working through their novels.
Now that we've crossed the Mississippi we are truly heading out west. The big roller coaster continues into Missouri. The route notes correctly described the ups and downs as unrelenting. You fly down one side at up to 40 mph and crawl up the next one at 4 mph. To add to the fun we got thoroughly drenched by heavy rain. Today's roads were in much better condition than what we rode on in Illinois.
Our police escourt waiting to take us across the narrow bridge.
E. C. Segar, creator of Popeye, was from Chester.
Popeye is big in Chester. But I couldn't find spinach on the menu of the Eagles club where we ate.
Our tents huddled around the shelter in Cole Memorial Park.
Wonder if we'll be eating spinach tonight?
Check out these stunners I saw on the way to a rest day in Carbondale
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.
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.
Bake sale on Main St. Eating pizza while selling cookies and getting the truck drivers to honk their horns.
Taking the ferry across the Ohio River from Kentucky to Illinois.
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!
Had 70 miles to Marion today. But with views like this, it was a good day. And no afternoon storm!
Coal barges on the Green river
Morning light across the wheat fields.
The welcome sight of a Pepsi vending machine at the t-junction at the end of a seemingly endless string of rolling hills.
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!
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.
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!
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!
Bill (closest) and Steve doing email and journals while supper is getting rustled up in the background.
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.
Some of the log and stone buildings in the Lincoln homestead state park.
Sign at campground in Berea KY.
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.
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.
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.
We've passed through some depressed areas of Kentucky the passed two days. Pedal faster boys, I can hear banjos!
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.
Some of the counties are 'dry '. This tavern at the top of a steep hill on the county line must do roaring trade.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
The usual 10 mile morning coffee stop.
There's no escaping the hills. The only flat bits are the bridges over the rivers before the next climb starts.
