Category: Touring

I left Lake Glendale, Nancy, Scooby, and Moe without a rest day. Today was a good day to ride with enough time to go the 63 miles to Murphysboro before rain. My map didn’t show any places along the route for food but I knew that I could get there with the snacks I packed if I couldn’t find some real food.

On my way to Goreville I connected with a cyclist touring the same route. Rand was riding a trike and his wife Jan was crewing and following him with his gear. We stopped for photos and shared our stories before Jan pulled in behind us to join our conversation. I was headed to Murphysville and they were going to Carbondale. Luck was on my side, I found a Subway a block off route before leaving town.

The roads today were rolling but not the short ups and downs of yesterday. Today the rolls were long but not as steep and without the headwind I could pedal with less effort and more speed. I arrived in Murphysboro with the rain beginning as drops, just enough to not tempt me to continue riding to the Mississippi River. Without the urge to go on I left the route to head to a motel where I will sleep and stay dry until morning. Tomorrow is another day and it will be the day I cross the Mississippi River into Missouri.

The rain was gone and the sun lite the morning as I packed my gear. My stomach growled while I finished and then headed to the park restaurant just up the hill. Buttermilk pancakes with bacon, orange juice and coffee was my choice. No regrets as I finished the stack of three.

The Cave-in-Rock, a cave with a rich history of river pirates that robbed and killed for the cargo of ships traveling the river. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cave-In-Rock,_Illinois

Leaving town and back on county roads I headed west to Lake Glendale in the Shawnee National Forest to meet up with Nancy about forty mile away. I am now just across the Ohio River in Illinois with Kentucky on the east side but here the landscape is much different and so are the roads. Here the roads have a shoulder and the hills are much longer with steeper grades. It’s mostly farmland with large equipment working the fields and fewer places for food and water.

It was on one of these long climb that I met Julie who was now traveling east on TransAmerican bike route. She started her tour in California riding Route 66 to Missouri before connecting with this route to Yorktown, VA. We had a pleasant visit and swapped information and stories. When riding alone for days it is a joy to meet up with another person that relates with my adventure.

I arrived at the campground late afternoon tired and hungry, that breakfast was my only meal today. In camp I hung up my sleeping bag and rain gear to dry, I was still wet from rain when I crawled into bed last night. After a shower we enjoyed a real home cooked meal, pork stir fry with rice compliments of Nancy, and then walked one of the trails with the dogs.

I woke up early to start riding before 9:00, it would be a long day of over 75 miles to reach the cycle hostel in Sebree, KY. It was probably a week ago that I crossed paths with Bill Poindexter, a fellow cyclist touring east, you can follow him on his blog wholeearthguide.blogspot.com. He had recently stayed at this hostel and suggested that I also stay there. It was a distance within my reach and the possibility of rain overnight was the carrot.

The day was cool and comfortable for riding and I was setting a pace that would get me there between 6 and 7. Around 1:00 I rode into a small town with a little country store with six men sitting on the front porch. This indicated that the place was open so I stopped and went inside to explore. Just as many women were sitting inside at the lunch tables. The choices of the day were fried catfish dinner which included potato salad, baked beans, coleslaw, and a large portion of fish or the same but with frog legs. I chose the fish and to follow, a slice of fresh baked strawberry pie. Delicious! I was just about to devour the pie when one of the women walked up and said “just in case you never have had frog legs, I want you to try these” and plopped a pair of legs on my plate. Well, I’m here to see the country and experience the culture. I tried a bite and ended up eating all that I was given. Seventy years old and my first taste of frog legs, very tasty.

While moving down the road with a full belly I see a cyclist heading towards me on a loaded touring bike, we both stop and tell stories of what and where to eat and sleep. Chad would be seeing where I have ridden and I would see where he has been.

Within the last five miles of my day’s journey, just outside of Sebree two loaded cyclists are heading east. During this visit I remember to take a photo and exchange contact information. Their names are lost somewhere deep inside my brain, so hopefully they will make contact.

Showered and resting in this nice hostel.

It rained last night so the roads were wet as I clipped in and pedaled out of Harrodsburg to continue west. Without many options to choose for a place to sleep on route I opted for the 77 mile trek to Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Park in Larue County Kentucky. The route would bring me over many miles of ribbon candy back roads. I enjoy riding roller coaster hills because the short steep hills have a rhythm. Once at the top of a hill I drop into the dip and coast most of the way up the next where I can stand and pop to the top and repeat over and over.

I made it to the campground with enough daylight to set up camp, eat, clean up and get a good night’s sleep. Overnight the temp dropped to near frost and covered my tent with dew so I let my tent mostly dry while eating breakfast next door. I was planning to tour the birthplace of Lincoln before finishing the day at Axtel Campground in the town of McDaniel with Nancy at her site. Nancy was thinking of touring the birthplace so she drove over and we toured together.

Now back on the route, and Nancy heading back to the campground, I would join her at the end of the day. My route, US 76 TransAmerica bike route, was scenic and much like yesterday. I arrived in time to order a pizza delivery to the campground and enjoy my first beer of this tour before falling into a deep sleep. I am taking a rest day to check over my bike and gear and planning my next sleep stop in Sebree, KY. 77 miles away in a cycling hostel.

Oh Kentucky RV Park was filled with b i g and B I G G E R rolling home RVs. The Teapot looked like a matchstick toy by comparison and even so it was home for me for two nights and as Goldilocks proclaimed, this one is just right. This is an oasis where I will rest after putting the Appalachians behind and a comfortable place to plan the days ahead.

Today is the day I head farther west and enjoy a new Kentucky experience. Gone from the land of mullets and small towns sliding into extinction, gone are the days of dogs with snapping jaws. I am now in the land of rolling hills where the roads are dreamlike and the fields are full of bluegrass waving in the wind.

Today ended in Harrodsburg, KY in a motel room next to a Dairy Queen. The rain began wetting the ground while I walked out the door to devour dinner, my first meal since breakfast. I am excited to see what tomorrow will bring.

This morning I left the comforts of a quiet little campground in Buckhorn, KY to tackle some steep and long climbs on my 70 mile trek to Berea, KY.

These climbs started almost as soon as I left the campsite. It would turn out to be a hot day with temps near 90°. I traveled on small side roads, with very little traffic but the penalty was loose dogs to navigate around without getting bitten. It was on such a road, about midpoint into the ride that I came across another cyclist who was also touring. He, Bill Poindexter, was headed east on the same route. We stopped and exchanged contact information along with insight of what to expect along our routes and where to spend the nights along the route on the days to follow. This chance meeting filled the void of telling my story to someone who really understands this journey. Brothers in Arms, and the first cycling tourist I’ve seen since my beginning in Yorktown, VA.

From this point the rest of today’s trip was uneventful, just a slog to finish the long hard miles to Berea where I would meet up with Nancy for a catch-up day after a well deserved night sleep. I landed in camp around 7:00 PM, hung out my put-away-wet tent, and cleaned and lubed my chain while Nancy was out picking up dinner.

The sleep in the cycling hostel in Hindman was restful so I left feeling recharged to 90%. I left without a real breakfast, just a pastry and peanut butter crackers thinking that I would find a filling meal up the road. It turned out to be 15 miles of hard riding and the selection of foods was bare. Orange juice and ice cream was the least junk food in the store. This put energy back into the system and I continued to pedal along the route.

Today there were more small back roads and a few more dogs that were eager to out run and clamp a jaw full of teeth on the leg of any cyclist that happened to pass by. I’m happy to say that everyone of those dogs felt the sting of disappointment.

The day continued to heat up as the steepest climbs were under foot as I settled into my comfort zone and slowly got myself and bike to the tops of each range. After what would be my last climb of today I caught sight of an ice cream bar with real food. A cheese burger with fries and two large strawberry milkshakes were enjoyed as I sat in the shade. The owner, a very pleasant and curious woman, came over with a marker and asked me to sign the outside wall of the eating area with my name, where I was from, and the date I stopped here. After sitting in the shade and relaxing I chose to spend the night at the campground just a mile ahead. I left for the campsite leaving my name and info boldly displayed on the wall while abandoning my attempt to get to the hostel 20 miles away. I am content knowing that this is a good decision.

I left Breaks early because ahead of me is 72 miles of Appalachian steep grade climbs to get to tonight sleep at a cycling hostel in Hindman, KY. The route takes me through the small rural towns into the heart of “Appalachian poor”. Tiny rundown houses and worn out house trailers clump together along the roadside with loose dogs ready to chase and catch the few cyclists that happen to pedal by. Probably the only excitement for these stay outside dogs enjoy until another bike packer pedals by at random intervals. Today I managed to keep away from the snarling teeth of six of these neglected animals.

The many climbs gave today’s end at the hostel the satisfaction of a job well done so I have rewarded myself with pizza for dinner and a nice hot shower before going to bed. I’ve looked over my maps and the next few days are more of the same, but Berea, KY where Nancy has set up camp is the carrot to keep me going forward.

The unplanned rest day while waiting out the cold rain gave me the opportunity to catch up with blogging and emails. Just having a quiet day all to myself was the best rest day I have had since starting this tour. My logistics for the final miles to Nancy’s campsite didn’t have the usual rush to get it done before getting to sleep, waking up and packing to set off for the day. My first climb carved its way up the side of a steep mountain that I was soon to discover is Mount A. Once at the top I followed a road that dropped me into the valley below.

This final leg to the Breaks Campground rolled through small towns that have fewer than 200 people, maybe a store with gas pumps, and the occasional eatery. I found such a place around 1:30 along the route. Being hungry, I rolled over, dismounted, and went inside. BBQ pork with coleslaw sandwich and potato sliders caught my eye and delighted my stomach. While scanning the ice cream freezer I found a cup of strawberry sundae that would soon become desert.

Satisfied and full I began my final climb up the Breaks, this is the way through the Appalachians that Daniel Boone scouted as a passageway into Kentucky. This is also the passage that brings me to Nancy. We enjoyed a wonderful dinner and the next morning’s breakfast we spent the afternoon hiking the trails that showed me a hiker’s perspective of the mountains that I have been riding through this past week.

After a nice night’s sleep and breakfast Nancy, the boys, and I took a hike on one of the trails in the park to check out an old foundation in the woods. My guess is it was built in the early 1900’s as a reclusive home or camp. Today is a rest day, bike check and new rear brake pads were replaced yesterday. All set to leave tomorrow.

April 16, I helped Nancy hitch up the Teapot to leave for her next campsite in Breaks, VA. I started my ride to Troutville, VA. where I plan to stay at an Appalachian trail hostel 35 hilly miles away. I arrived late afternoon and began settling in with two other hikers, a young man with a husky dog, he was asleep, and Edna. Edna, at 61, was on her way north to finish the Appalachian Trail in Maine. The morning brought the promise of a great day of riding after the delicious home cooked breakfast provided by the host.

April 17, today I will descend off this ridge and make my way to Hayters Gap and the long and very steep switchback climb over Middle Knob Mountain to Lebanon,VA to the Elk Garden United Methodist Church bike hostel. The roads and scenery today are out of the world beautiful, but grueling with steep rollers.

Here at last, now I can eat and get to bed early. There is heavy rain coming tonight through tomorrow with high wind gusting to 50 mph. I will rest tomorrow and wait out the storm with only one more day of riding before meeting up with Nancy in Breaks, VA.