May 12, Ride day 10
We are now in Kentucky! Ended up riding 80 miles today as our new friend, Mark, found another route to take to make it to Hazard, KY by saving some miles and elevation. (Except for the unexpected dirt mountain climb and descend).What we learned about Kentucky so far…Very friendly, helpful, and curious folks. Already in day 1 more people came up and asked us about our adventure than we had in all of Virginia. Lots of poor looking dogs…we were warned that Kentucky has lots of dogs that chase cyclists down. Probably had 5 chase today out of over 100 dogs we saw. Most are in yard fences or small kennels, some are chained on the front porch, and others are free (and I assume encouraged) to chase us down. The one dog in the video I was prepared to film was one of the friendly ones!
It is hard to see but this has been the only town we have passed showing their support by flying Ukrainian flags.
May 13, Ride day 11
Today, we rode 96 miles with lots of climbing, over 7000ft. We had a dilemma since there had limited options to stay tonight. Either go a measly 45 miles or commit to close to 100! So we made the plan the night before to wake up early and start pedaling. Little did I know (since I was sleeping) was that Roger and Mark were up for several hours working on Mark's bike. Rog has to wake up to take out Riley for nighttime walks every so often. When we went outside close to midnight, Mark was awake and fiddling with his bike. The shifting had gotten bad in the last couple of days so we wanted to fix them. My Dad saw him and started to help. After quite some time, my Dad figured out that the shifting cables were way to short which was the root cause of the problem. So he got it working best he can and came back to sleep.We made it but it took a long time especially since Roger and Mark didn't get much sleep! When you bike all day long through Kentucky, you see lots of stuff: peaceful quiet roads, climbing through tiny poor mountain communities, a Dairy Bar that opened at 10am for our first meal, many obvious meth houses, a nearly vacant brand new highway, a hike down a drainage, a busy road with a tiny shoulder that is filled in with rumble strips, then a surprisingly gorgeous descent, an alpaca farm, and more! At mile 75, we introduced Mark to Dairy Queen for a much needed stop to fuel our bodies with fried chicken and ice cream (luckily they now have a lactose-free ice cream bar that I can enjoy). Mark suffered through the hills battling poor shifting and a bike with limited gears but made it!
Primary election season in Kentucky! Lots of signs everywhere.
We were riding a brand new highway not yet entirely known by Google Maps. Turns out the highway did not have an intersection for our road so we walked down the drainage ditch and crossed a small stream.
May 15, rest day
We spent our rest day in the town of Berea. Later in the evening, we drove downtown for a little stroll. Then we went to a nice restaurant at the historic Old Boone Tavern Hotel. To illustrate the friendliness of the people in Kentucky: Mark had called a bike shop about 15 miles away from Berea the day before and asked if someone could install new shifting cables and housing. He spoke to the owner of the shop and he said he would find a way to help out. So that morning before the bike shop opened, the owner drove down to Berea, fixed up Mark's bike, and even gave him a special Kentucky drink as a gift, then drove back to his bike shop!May 16, Ride day 12
Today we went for 77 miles through the steep but short hills of western Kentucky. We are now out of the Appalachian mountains and more into the farm land. Fewer chasing dogs and those that do are less vicious. Less meth houses but still saw a few obvious ones. It was a hot and humid day which really sucked our energy. Our worst wrong turn for the trip so far. We only lost maybe 2 miles but they were up a big hill. I was wondering why the road was still traveling North and checked the phone, crap off the route! But we did get some sweet footage from Mark's drone on the detour.We stopped for lunch at 3pm and the waiter said we looked thirsty so we got the big glasses! My Dad and I went ahead to the restaurant without Mark. As we entered the town we had a railroad crossing. The lights just started to flash so we went ahead and crossed the tracks as we could hear the train traveling slowly far around the bend. Mark, being from England, was a bit more hesitant (and his bike weighs damn near 100 lbs so it takes some effort to get it moving) thinking of the high speed short passenger trains from Europe. Thus, Mark waited a full 20 minutes for the miles long coal/cargo train to slowly pass through town as my Dad and I got started in on our cold large waters.
On a hot Sunday, many people were out enjoying the fun day! We saw many convertibles going for a cruise, many boats going to the lakes, and many folks were filling up their backyard and front yard pools! I was a bit jealous of those! Biked through a town called Paint Lick and saw their fire station, rather interesting…
May 17, Ride day 13
Today we went big. We ended up riding 98 miles through lots of farmland and hills. Biked close to Abe Lincoln’s birthplace but didn't have the time to stop for a visit. Anita and Riley made the visit though!
This is Abe's memorial, not his actual childhood home. Just in case you were wondering...
Also went near the Makers Mark distillery and saw their very large storage buildings. We also saw a very random boat. We ended the day at a nice lakeside campground but didn’t go for the swim I was imagining during the day of biking. Turns out the beach was closed due to an infestation of snakes. According to wikipedia, they weren't poisonous but can become aggressive. Not exactly a relaxing thought during a swim. Thinking about it later, I guess Kentucky isn't exactly known for clean, clear, and cool swimming lakes.
It was a bittersweet day as I wasn’t at home to celebrate Rosie’s 5th birthday. I am thankful that her Cynthia and Sophie (and baby cousin, Ryan) came out to visit for this special occasion.
May 18, Ride day 14
75 miles today and ended at a Baptist church that has a wonderful hostel setup in their basement just for cyclists. The pastor lives next door and came out to meet us as we rode up. Then showed us around the facilities. Later on, another TransAm rider showed up to the church. His name is Michael and he is from Ireland. He had a long 100 mile day today and looked exhausted.
The day was hot and felt long, perhaps because I ate gas station fried chicken twice today. (Not as bad as it sounds when you are biking all day long and need calories). There were limited eating options on the route, both cafes we intended to visiting turned out to be closed. One thing we have learned is that when you pass through a small town you have no idea what food options will be open. 50% chance they will be closed even if Google or their sign says they will be open. This means many of out meals we find at gas stations. Although, we did stop at one gas station, they had nothing but empty boxes on their shelves. The only items they had for sale was 5 water bottles and about a dozen peanut butter crackers. I bought some crackers after checking their expiration date and being surprised that they were not yet expired.
May 19, Ride day 15
Took a bit easy day today going a total of 56 miles. We got hit with some rain for an hour in the morning which slowed us down. Luckily found a cafe that was open in the small town of Clay, KY. Michael rides with a small American flag for extra visibility to car drivers, which is rather amusing given he is from Ireland. We ended the day by taking a ferry out of Kentucky and into Illinois! Michael missed it though so had to wait for the next one 
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Reflections
- The folks here were very friendly, helpful, and genuinely interested in what the hell we were doing. I do not believe we met anybody who owned any of the with untrained chasing dogs, I assume those folks aren't so friendly.
- Very patient and courteous drivers (for the most part). It was common for drivers to patiently wait for us to climb up a hill or simply follow us for more than a mile before find a safe place to pass. We would also try to find a driveway to pull over when we could
- Lots of poverty in these counties with trash everywhere
- Houses that are completely run down with obvious signs of meth manufacturing: boarded up windows, exhaust tubing coming through the siding, 3-5 no trespassing signs on the front door, dead vegetation...
- I felt empathy towards the dogs and kids who have to live in some of these areas
- I was expecting to see some nice race horse properties but didn't see any, I guess we were on the wrong roads.
Places to visit or bike
- It would be nice to visit a distillery or two
- If there weren't dog chases or rumble strips everywhere, I would recommend biking through the Appalachian roads. But it isn't worth it!
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