Kiki Bikes Across America

Archive for the ‘Kentucky’ Category

Saturday, June 6th – Hindman, KY to Boonevillle, KY

We woke up about 7:30 or so from camping behind the public library, packed up and then headed to Arnold’s diner for some breakfast. I had blueberry waffles and orange juice, but it wasn’t anything to brag about. I think the waffles were almost like those you can buy frozen and pop in the toaster, except I think the toaster ones are actually better.

The day was a bit tiresome and pretty hilly with about 6-7 really good hills to climb. Some were rather steep too. The weather was better – sunny and hot… the heat we could have done without, but it wasn’t tooooo horrible. We just were drenched in sweat most of the day and having to keep hydrated all day long. The hills are getting monotonous and are far from fun now. I think I’m finally getting to the point where I’m tired of the hills and just want some flat roads that are well-paved! Kansas hopefully will be like that – but probably a bit boring too..and we’ll miss our downhills :/

We stopped about 20 miles into the ride off of Highway 80 in Hazard at a Super Walmart – it turns out we must have navigated slightly wrong because we somehow bypassed the town of Dwarf all together and found ourselves biking on the shoulder of a rather busy highway (not interstate highway though)! It was pretty miserable and hilly in parts, but we stopped and ate at the Subway inside the Walmart. We still had a good 40+ miles to go after lunch which was a bit frustrating, since it felt like an eternity until we would be done. The last 30 miles or so were pretty grueling with some big hills/mountains to climb that took all our energy out of us. We kept on climbing each one after the other and then were running out of water and needed a morale booster so stopped at this little stand/building on the side of the road and got frozen yogurt with flavors (flavorburst, I think it was called). That was really yummy and they refilled our water bottles with ice and water which was really nice.

Finally, sometime around 6:30 or so, I think we rolled into Booneville and found the church that was listed on the ACA maps as allowing camping and what not. We got there and met a couple from Holland that had been there for two nights (they took a rest day there). We chatted a bit and they’re planning to bike to Oregon and then up to Vancouver to visit the guy’s sister.

The three of us headed to a cafe in Booneville for dinner and got food to go- but it wasn’t anything spectacular. I just had a chicken sandwich, fries, and coleslaw – it was okay, but I was still hungry so George and I walked back again and got peanut butter pie with ice cream on top. That was totally worth it!

Sleep came earlier than the nigtht before, this time around 10:30 for me. I was pretty exhausted and had no desire to type on the computer or anything! I just wanted to sleep so curled up inside my tent and conked out immediately.

Computer Stats:
65.88 miles
721.61 total miles
5:46:31 moving time
11.4 average speed
41.0 max speed

GPS Stats:
64.9 miles
5:49 moving time
11.2 average speed
40.1 max speed

Snake count: 2 today
Dog chases: 4

Thursday, June 5th: Lookout, KY to Hindman, KY

Things are all blurring very fast, so I have to try to remember as much as possible and therefore the long entries – sorry! If you don’t like them, then skim:) We slept in the gym last night and woke up at 7:30 this morning to cold, damp weather. It was nasty out and none of us were ready or prepared for such. We missed our first turn, but luckily only went about a mile extra before we realized it. We got turned around and climbed a long steep hill, then another long and steep hill before lunch. However, only 6 miles into the day and I had my first flat. We were biking alongside a little stream filled with trash and lined with Kentucky dogs EVERYWHERE… I somehow (not by surprise) picked up a sharp staple-like thin wire in my tire. It punctured the tube and I realized it before I had a complete flat. So we took a pit-stop, I repaired my tire and we continued up the mountain. Got to the top, rode down and had to take some short breaks to let our brakes and rims cool off as they were getting rather warm from all the braking we had to do.

Some things I’ve noticed about Kentucky thus far:

• lots of people have tinted car windows
• everyone has a dog or 6 or more
• there are some friendly dogs and also some very unfriendly dogs (I think I saw the meanest dog ever today, but luckily he was chained up!!!)
• there is trash everywhere on the sides of the roads – it’s as if the people here really don’t care how their state looks
• most families seem to have trampolines in their yards – I couldn’t keep up with the count because there were so many.
• you get excited when you enter a small place on the map and they have a gas station with a general store (it’s “hopping” when you see a strip mall or an area with more than a gas station and general store)
• my GPS showed a Kmart was within 0.7 miles of us – that was something I didn’t expect to find or see at all.

This state is definitely different – the worst part is the dogs, I think… I have pepper spray just in case they become a problem, but I’m hoping they won’t!

Anyway, today was a slightly frustrating day – I also had my first spill of the day. I was biking slowly alongside a buliding when I was trying to avoid going thru a puddle – a car was oncoming and I was trying to avoid the car and puddle and my bags clipped this barrier thing and over I went into the puddle. Banged up my knee and had to bandage that up and it’ll probably be sore and stiff in the morning, but we’ll see.

The weather sucked leading up to lunchtime with cold, damp, rainy weather. Then it got really cold around lunchtime and warmed up a bit afterwards. Finally, around 2:30pm it started to brighten up and the sun came out and it cleared up for the rest of the afternoon. So that was a nice little relief – especially since we didn’t have to put up the tents in the rain. We hung out here at the Hindman library for a bit and then went to Arnold’s for dinner and came back around 9pm to set up our tents at dark behind the library. We never found anyone to ask if it was okay, so we’re just hoping it is:)

I think it’s time to hit the sack now though!

We’ve just about covered 650 miles of ground now and soon we’ll be at 1000!

Thursday, June 4th: Rosedale, VA to Lookout, KY

Kentucky here we are!

Today was a big milestone – we finished cycling through Virginia and are spending our first night in Kentucky!!!! Woohoo! It was a pretty decent day – started out cold and nasty out, then an hour or so after waking up the sun started to shine and it got muggy and humid… and we had hills to climb.

We climbed for the beginning of the morning and then got to the top of the first hill and coasted on down into Council, VA. On my descent down, I decided I wanted to try to break my max speed of 44mph, and so I cranked it on the beginning of the hill, passing Chris and going 47mph. I soon discovered my brakes wouldn’t stop me in time to make the sharp bend in the road – I braked as hard as I could without losing control of my bike and the tires skidded across the pavement. I thought I was doomed and going to wipe out at 40+ mph. Somehow, I managed to contain control of the bike and wound up slowing down enough to continue straight (instead of banking to the left to try and make the bend, which I knew wouldn’t happen. The bike would have skidded out from underneath me completely, had I tried). I kept straight into an area that had a gravel driveway – mind you, at this point, I was probably slowed down to around 20-25mph or so and ran into the gravel and then the grass behind it. Luckily, I was able to turn enough to avoid hitting the guard rail and regain full control of my bike. I smelled the rubber burning again and then got back on the road and continued down the mountain. That was my near-wipe-out for the trip… no more of that! I hit 47mph, so I think that’ll do it unless there’s a really nice straight stretch and no traffic, no bends, no rain, etc. Then maybe I’ll have a chance to break 50mph, but hopefully not by risking life again. After that, I think I scared myself good enough to be done with trying to max out any faster… my legs were shaking like crazy the rest of the way down the mountain… so enough is enough.

Shortly past Honaker, George broke his chain while cranking up the start of a hill. Lucky for him, I packed all the things he and Chris didn’t think to pack. I had bought a powerlink for the chain for just this, so I fixed his chain and we went on our merry way a short bit later. Thankfully, I packed medical (latex) gloves for just this, avoiding getting all that nasty grease and crap all over my hands. There was a ton of it too – we will need to degrease and re-lube the chains here pretty soon, I think. And of course now I need to buy more medical gloves since I mailed the rest home in an effort to lose weight. I mailed about 7.5-8.0 pounds of clothing and other odds and ends home last week and early this week to try to lessen my overall load. We continued on and had lunch in Haysi, Virginia at Subway inside a gas station.

My hands after fixing George's chain!

After lunch it was a bit hot and humid and we had some steep hills to climb. Finally, we entered Kentucky as we were coasting down from a hill. Things started to change pretty rapidly – to me it seemed as if the people cared less about trash and their state and just tossed whatever they felt like on the roadside. It was/is pretty trashy thus far in this part of Kentucky, seems like they burn their trash on the side of the road. We passed two pits of trash burning on the side of the road. We haven’t had any dog chases yet – seen a few dogs today, but none took the opportunity to chase us.

My gym mat for a sleeping pad inside the gymnasium in Lookout, KY

A storm was a-brewing and we knew we’d get caught in it, but decided to continue biking towards Lookout, KY to try to find a place to camp. We got here around 5pm or shortly before and stopped at the one and only grocer/gas station/general store type place and hung out there for a bit under the overhang to stay dry. We were already soaked, but why get more wet if we could avoid it. I found a hose around the side and sprayed my arms and legs off since my sunscreen was all nasty from the cold rain washing it off. The guys picked up a few things from the store and they were told we might be in luck and be able to camp out at the gymnasium up the road (we’d passed it on the way into Lookout). We went back up there and talked to a fireman next door and he said sure, we could camp. I wasn’t looking forward to putting up a tent on the wet grass and then being soaked in the morning (I don’t have a tarp at all or a footprint for the tent). I also hate packing away a wet tent if it won’t be able to dry out in a day or so. So I didn’t put up the tent but the guys did. I went and changed next door and used some good ole handwipes to clean off a bit. A short while later, about 6:30pm or so a car drives up – the people are friendly get out and offer to let us camp inside the gymnasium. So the guys go back and pick up their tents, bring them in and put them in front of the huge fan to start drying out. I hit the shower and then do a microwaveable dinner (Fettucini and broccoli packet by Knorr). It wasn’t anything to brag about, so I’ll try something different next time.

We played some basketball on and off this evening, I downloaded photos and started creating spreadsheets for tracking expenses and stats. Nerdy, I know. And now it’s late again – past 11pm and I must wrap up and hit the hay. Will upload all these blog entries whenever I find internet again!

Computer Stats:
60.71 miles
593 total miles
5:11:07 moving time
11.7 avg speed
47.0 max speed

GPS Stats:
59.6 miles
5:13 moving time
11.4 avg speed
46.2 max speed

Snake count: 1 today, 19 to date
Dog chases: I don’t remember, maybe 1 real attempted chase?