On day 36 we went 110 miles. This takes around 11 hours for us, and we knew we would lose an hour as we crossed the timezone line, so we started pedaling at 445 am. It was cold.
We woke up on picnic tables in the town of Fordsvile, KY's park. The whole park was in a cloud. The air was so thick with moisture that everything had a broad glow in the high halogen park lights.
The previous night, Jon and I decided to go to bed at 730pm on these picnic tables. We were awoken at some point in the night by a man named Doug. Doug ran for state senate last year but lost. He thinks it could be in part to the fact that he refused to run attack ads. We thanked him for not running attack ads.
Doug came to check on us and tell us he lived next door to the park, so if we needed anything, we could come over. It was nice, but also really freaky to wake up to a giant idling truck with a sillloueted man staring at you while you wake up in a misty Kentucky park. Long story short, we liked Doug.
The gum above was purchased about 25 miles into the day. We like gum, and having met a few prospectors, we like prospectors. This gum fused those categories.
Later in the day we met a whole bunch of people doing a 700 mile in 7 day tour to raise money for a childhood immune system disease. The man who organized it lost 2 kids to the diesease, and those that ride with him are other parents of victims, as well as many doctors and experts. The diease can be cured by a bone marrow transplant, and a few life savers were also on the ride. They offered us hot dogs, larbars, crackers and water. They were awesome people.
On this trip Jon and I have started laughing uncontrolably more and more often. We are talking like, can't breath, drooling on yourself, tears, the whole nine yards. I think it might be all the endorphins from exercising 12 hours a day. It is an awesome thing to laugh, but also we felt like we might be going crazy. Sometimes one fart can send jon into giggle-town for 5 uninterrupted minutes. When we met these guys, they were having trouble containing their laughter too, and that made us feel good. They were laughing as a giant pack almost constantly.
On day 36 we made it to Bardstown and camped in a park next to a guy named Lowell. I have some nice pictures on my camera, but unfortunately can not post them now. He lives in Houston but is on his way up to his hometown in ohio to see the browns play offered us cold beers, and we sat and talked into the night next to the campfire. He is a 7th grade teacher of Texas history.
This morning, day 37 we went 20 miles and then ran into the replica of Abe Lincoln's parents cabin. It is actually right where it used to be. It was neat.
I got a local soda. Ginger flavored, mmmmm good.
I asked the lady at the gas station what she thought of it. "I think its gross but my daughter likes it."
I turned around to the guy at the bar, "pond water," he said, "but a lot of people go crazy for it. The locals sell this place out all the time." I love ginger and thought it was great. It is called Ale81. Pronounced "a late one".
30 miles later we went to the post office and recieved a care package. Yay!!!!
And we were able to see the fort in Harrodsburg. The rest of the day we forged forward to Berea.
In Berea is I-75, a slice of home! Yay. I shouted when we saw it, it was a huge victory. Can't believe we only have 780 or so miles left!
DAY 38-41: RainDrops
Apologies for the delay in blog posts. In the past 5 days we've picked up our pace, gone through the Appalachians and have been rained on 4 days in a row. Cue music:
After we crossed 75 we were in Berea, which is known as the Gateway to the Applachians for the Trans America Trail. I assure you that the pictures you're about to see are still Kentucky, but it looks like a different world.
Kentucky started being very wet all the time. Raining, rivers, waterfalls, dense fog and super-humidity.
During all this rain and climbing it was hard to take pictures. The Appilachians are really steep and definitely challenged us. We both agree that the steepest stuff we've seen has been in these jungly mountains.
It has been mystically beautiful though. This was the last bit of Kentucky we saw before Virginia. Love it.
Chris fell down every single one of these steps on the way to the scenic overlook. Classic.
One last note about Kentucky. It was here that we saw the most poverty on our trip. A lot of the mountain towns don't even have trash service and resort to burning their waste. Also, there's hardly any option for food. Just super-processed food at gas stations. We saw almost 0 produce. That's what we're fighting against here. Impoverished areas everywhere struggle with this problem. No one should be denied the choice of eating healthy foods. A lot of hungry kids in the U.S. are eating this gas station stuff when they're fed. Solving childhood hunger is about more than just food, it's about food justice. It's about creating opportunities for choice and equipping everyone with the knowledge it takes to fuel a kid's body in a healthy way.
And now were in Virginia! The last state before D.C.
Fall has really come to life the past few days and the colors are unbelievable. It's a great time of year to be touring. It may be raining and it may be a bit cold here and there, but it's really breathtaking.
Last night we stayed in a hostel that a church runs. We've been finding dry places to sleep the past few days. After being soaking wet all day the last thing we want to do is pitch a tent.
This morning was rainy and foggy again, but things cleared up as the day went on.
And look at that! Blue skies and sun! We were loving that today. Crossing our fingers for decent weather, but people around here seem to think we'll get rained on all the way to Washington.
Bonus: this is what it looks like when one of us needs their bike held. For instance when I was taking the picture you see above.
Tomorrow is mostly flat and we're nearly done climbing all together. One last big climb on Wednesday and then it's all downhill to the coast. So crazy to think Friday is the finale.
DAY 42-45: Washington DC
On day 28 we rode 105 miles from Newton, Kansas to Toronto, Kansas.
We made it from San Francisco to Washington DC... Hallelujah! The last week was very rough from a physical standpoint. Early in the trip we were not so concerned about the end date, we had been saying "October 17th" because that's when we wanted to be back. My girlfriends birthday is October 22nd, and I knew I would win some points if I could get back before then, and our parents could pick us up if we landed on a weekend. (Also the sooner we could get back to working, the less likely we were to go bankrupt).
Across the bridge we found ourselves in Illinois! And we found a bunch of other cool stuff too. Including a statue recognizing Chester as the hometown of the creator of Popeye and a Lewis and Clark historical marker. We like to think of ourselves as a modern day Lewis and Clark expedition. Except on bikes...and doing it backwards.
The rest of the day we cruised across the flats of the Levees and flood plains. It was a pleasant century that got us 40 miles into Illinois. Believe it or not, tomorrow we'll be in Kentucky! Just like that!
We made our way towards the Kentucky boarder, which is the Ohio River. As we got closer we stopped at a little town called Elizabethtown. We stopped at a little grocery store and grabbed some lunch.
This is what our lunches have been looking like nowadays. Since more grocery stores are around we usually pop in and grab some yogurts and fruit and such.
We took the Ferry across the river and watched a storm blow right by us, but thankfully not over us!
Across the river we were in Kentucky! Illinois was by far our shortest state. Short but sweet.
Day 35 Counting Down From 1,000
The forecast today: Rain. All day. What'd we get? A misty, cloudy morning, a beautiful sunrise and a solid day of riding. 93 miles to Fordsville.
The nice thing about coming east is civilization comes more frequently. That means more rest stops where we can grab some Gatorade or cold water and hang out on the curb for minute. The bummer about more civilization is more traffic. That truck in the background is just one of many that we see everyday.
Speaking of Gatorade. Has anyone ever seen these Spanish flavors before? Pretty nifty. This one really tasted like cucumber.
Saw this guy and his goggled dog at one of our stops today. That dog was loving life.
Most of the day's scenery looked like a scene out of Little House on The Prairie. This photo is in sepia to enhance the effect.
We've really been enjoying Kentucky and its beutiful rolling hills. One drawback is the dogs. There are a lot of very protective dogs that do not like cyclists anywhere near their property...or on the road 25 yards in front of it. We've been outrunning a lot of dogs. It was a breath of fresh air to end the day with this fella. He came out to the road and followed us for about a mile. We named him Shaddow and gave him a good pet. Then we parted ways, half hoping we'd seem him running behind us all the way to D.C.
We have 10 days and less than 1,000 miles left on our adventure. We feel so close and so far all at the same time. We're starting to think about what normal life will be like again, but until we're at the Atlantic we're going to enjoy the time we have left on the road.