The Thin Blue Ride - Part 2 Day 75 - New Haven, KY to Chimney Rock RV Park, Harrodsburg, KY

Thursday, August 22, 2019

Ride Report: 64 Miles, 3,444 Total Miles, 15.7 Avg. mph, 4,058 Ft. Climbing, 5,318 Calories.  

Kentucky has now provided two consecutive excellent riding days.  Despite opening the day with 98% humidity, it was cloudy again for most of the day and the temperatures moderated a bit.  The ever present hills aren’t nearly so ill tempered when one can look down at one’s Garmin and not have the screen obscured by sweat that drains on it from your helmet when ya look down.  And speaking of drained, I wasn’t (drained) when I made it to The Rig for breaks.  On a couple of those days when the heat and humidity were nasty, I made it into The Rig and just had to lean on a wall to recover before moving.  Further, I believe the scenery today was by far the best Kentucky has proffered to date.  This will be evidenced in the pics below, but in my estimation this was the best scenery day since leaving the mountains of Colorado.  And it only took crossing three states to get to it.  Wonderful.

And lest I neglect to say so: Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition.  I didn’t get chased by a single dog today.  Yesterday when I met and talked with Kim (The T/A rider forced to abandon when his buddy’s knee started acting up.) he gave me a can of dog spray.  Dog spray is apparently just like an umbrella.  If ya have it, you never need it.  But if ya don’t have it there’s gonna be a downpour.  I think I’ll leave it in my jersey pocket for the rest of the trip as insurance.

So - with the boring stuff outta the way, here's the day in pics...

Yet another early morning shot.  Note the zipped jersey.  I hadn't gotten hot enough yet to lower the zipper.  And while I say "early morning", it wasn't as early as yesterday.  We crossed in to the Atlantic Time Zone yesterday and since we're farther West in that time zone, the sun came up a bit later than usual.  When the alarm went off and there was no light leaking into the RV, I told Susan to give it another half hour.  It was time well spent.  BTW - this also means that if we call you irritatingly early in the morning, it's not our fault.  Just sayin...

These were on the West side of Loretto, KY.  I count four in this pic, but there had to be 30 of em - on both sides of the road.  They looked like large metal dormitories and were surrounded by an 8' chain link fence.  Susan and I both thought minimum security prison, but there were no cars for staff in any of the parking lots.  Maybe a closed federal prison?  Any idea readers?

THOMAS!  This is akin to finding Waldo!  We first met near Earthquake Lake in Montana and then again later in West Yellowstone, WY.  When Susan and I took a bunch of "tourist days" in Yellowstone, the Tetons and Breckenridge, he got ahead of us on the T/A.  Then when we had RV problems and later went to Manhattan for medical appointments, he got even further ahead of us.  But I'd been tracking him on-line, knew we were gaining on him, and that we'd probably see him today.  I came around a corner leaving Loretto, KY and there he was.  We caught up a bit and then headed out.  Since we're taking a rest day tomorrow and he's headed to Berea, KY, he'll pass us again.  So I'll have to look for him down the road again next week.  FYI - he's 78 and is the last of this year's T/A racers (there is a race every spring) still on the road.  A fact of which he is quite proud.  This year's race started in Astoria, OR on June 2nd at 0600. The race winner finished 16 days, 9 hours and 56 minutes later.  (I know - amazing, right?)  You do the math on Thomas.

And as a quick aside, Thomas asked me to take a pic of the cockpit of his bike and text it to him.  This is it - a Surly (that's the brand) Long Haul Trucker (the model).  The reader may note that its a bit - crowded - in there.

Delta - checking out the route on today's ride.  The reader should note the sleek lines and minimalistic nature of his cockpit.  The Surly Long Haul Trucker has been around since the time of the model T Ford.  Delta is fly-by-wire.

Another Delta selfie on today's route.  I gotta say, the ACA pulled one out of their hats with today's route.  Good pavement, VERY light traffic, isolated country lanes, pretty scenery - just a great route.

Still on the same road.  A shot of an old bridge railing and with an old silo/barn in the background.

And when we got "up top" and clear of the trees, there was this to look at.  Now that's some rolling countryside.  Pretty easy on the eyes to boot.

Then I came around a corner and ran across this - a Catholic Church.  It was imposing enough that I felt bad about not going to confession - and I'm not even Catholic.  This was actually the second such Catholic Church built on a hill right next to the road.  They sure know where to put em here in Kentucky.  But then again - there are hills everywhere.  Odds are that it would be on a hill.  Anyway - after I failed to take a pic of the first one I prayed for a second chance.  I'll have to ask a local if this has been here for a while or if it appeared miraculously earlier in the afternoon - just before I arrived...

Abe Lincoln's Grandfather's house, which Abe's Uncle Mordecai inherited when the elder Lincoln was killed by Indians.  Right along the route.  In fact, Susan parked The Rig in the parking lot beside the house where I took a scheduled break.  That it's on the national register of historic places has done nothing to help with maintenance.  Note the blue tarp on the roof - a shame.

While by all accounts Abe was friendly enough, not so with the rest of the family I guess.  Nobody even bothered to answer the door when I knocked.  It's not like I was selling Am-Way or something.  It couldn't have been my attire...

Dunno how many generations removed from the famous Lincoln's these folks are, but who cares?  Just another example of a simple house in a fantastic setting.  There were some really nice homes along today's route.  I just like the older ones.

Note the one lane road with no dividing line in the middle.  Susan drove The Rig down this.  I got the blow by blow later.  In one respect I worry a bit about her driving that huge thing down these roads, but in another, she gets to see the same things I see on the route.  She just takes her time and pokes along at a comfortable pace.  It's not usually too hard for her to beat me to the next stop.  The Rig does better on hills than I do.

I just love this.  Check out the road winding thru the trees and to the left.  These curves are really fun at speed.

By now the reader may recognize the "Bike Route 76" sign on the right side of the road.  I included it here because it points straight up this 8% hill.  Of course it does, these hills are apparently a requirement for any road to make it on to the T/A route. 

And one final look at the rolling nature of the countryside around here - when you can make it out.  This  area is just so heavily forested that at this point I'm starting to believe that any open area I come across was cleared of trees.

So, tomorrow is a Rest Day.  As the trip grinds on, it has become more and more apparent that I need to give my legs one day a week off.  I mean, I could probably run 8, 9, 10 days straight if I had to or if there was some sort of time line to keep.  But that's not the case here in the Eastern US as it was out West when we had the kids joining us at specific times with all the travel arrangements that requires.  The long and short of it: we get to Yorktown, Va when we get to Yorktown, VA.  We both want to enjoy the experience - and that means tomorrow is a Rest Day.

Till next time.