Bike Across the US - August

After the original town flooded in 1785 it was moved two miles to its present location. The receptionist at the Microtel was quick to supply us with maps and information for the area.  She graciously let us check into our room early, and off we went in search of lunch and the information center.  Lunch was delicious at a wonderfully quaint café called Stella and Me.  The food was delicious!  The café itself was in historic downtown, and used to be an antique shop.  After lunch we went to the museum, which offered plenty of items to study and then walked next door to take a look at the beautiful Catholic Church.  Afterward, we toured La Maison de Guibourd-Valle, built in 1806 for Jacques Jean Rene Guibourd de Luzinais.  The tour led us through the rooms, then up to the attic to admire the hand-hewn and numbered Norman truss system.  Quite impressive!  Most interesting to us about this home is that one of our friends Doris Siewert, who lives in Paderborn, Germany, has a beautiful home in Paderborn with this same construction. This was one of six historic homes that are available to tour in the downtown area. 

The second home we toured was the Bolduc House, constructed in 1785 by Louis Bolduc.  The home itself was interesting to look at, but more awesome was the 18th century French herb gardens and grape arbor.  Wow!  They have rebuilt the kitchen (which was constructed as a separate building as the French were frightened of kitchen fires) and turned it into an herb drying house.  It smelled wonderful in there as you walked through the door! After all this excitement it was time to eat!  Brian decided on the Lam’s Garden. Great Chinese food!  After filling up once again, we headed back to the motel to review tomorrow’s ride.

Good-bye!

We ate a great breakfast of fruit, yogurt, kefir, and cottage cheese before leaving this morning.  We pedaled down Highway 70 toward our first stop in Center Town, and were quite surprised at the large quantity of traffic.  There are numerous coal mines in Kentucky, and I guess we experienced shift change traffic.  Not so bad really until the coal trucks started up about 8:00.  We didn’t experience too many trucks today as our route left the busy coal travel area. We stopped in Center Town and purchased cheap bathing suites in anticipation of the cool swimming pool awaiting us.  As we rode on I kept imagining how wonderful the water would feel!  We stopped once at a BP station for a little snack, then once again in the small town of Hadley. There was a couple who owned and operated a small convenience store there.  We walked in to cool off and grab a drink.  The lady said, “I don’t think we have anything healthy here for you to eat.”  We proved her wrong though.  They had home grown ripe tomatoes for sale, so I ate a whole tomato!  Brian drank a diet Sprite, and off we went for the last 15 or so miles of the day. When we arrived in Bowling Green there was an awesome  paved bike lane following our route for a couple miles.  Better than a narrow road with no shoulder!  We rode through town about five miles, and stopped for lunch at a Mexican Restaurant.  After lunch we only had another couple miles until the hotel.  Boy did the pool feel great! Adios!

Pam

By the time the sun rose we had already logged 24 miles and had stopped for coffee at rural general store and started the usual argument with the locals about the best route to take. (Boy that will get them going!) Now that the sun was up we could enjoy the slowly changing scenery. Another very nice fact about our first 24 miles was the terrain was more flat then normal Kentucky. All in all a nice start for the day. Once the sun was up we started seeing the school buses out on our route. We made the comment, “You know you have been out on the road a long time when school was in session when you start the ride, and now school is back in session and we still have 16 more pedaling days remaining!” We also came across “Kentucky Down Under” which had kangaroos and emus. At 42 miles (our half way point) we stopped at Cave City and Michaels Café and had one of the best omelets on the trip. Pam agreed. Too bad about the coffee…… At 68 miles into our ride today we crossed into the Eastern Time Zone. Thus the difference in our ending time today. About that time we also started getting into more farm fields, more hills, and a 7 mph head wind. The farm fields make a difference as we have found since when we are in forest areas the wind can be blowing and we never feel it. When all we have is fields the winds make a difference – and Pam and I can forecast the winds better than NOAA or the Weather Channel. If we are pedaling North the winds will come from the North…. Etc…. At least we don’t have rain…..The Wm Bell Inn – destroyed by fire in 1860. It was a popular place for people to disembark the train on the way to Mammoth Cave. Just after 1PM Eastern time we arrived at our destination, Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Park. This has an old log cabin home, enshrined in a marble building, which was supposed to be the actual home of Abraham Lincoln, here in Kentucky. We toured the facility and then went across the street to our hotel, the Cruise Inn. Lets just say you get what you pay for…. For $29 a night you get the shower that drains slowly, the scent of a cheap hotel room, the window that does not close…. you get the picture….. We chose this so we would not have to ride 4 miles off our route (and then 4 miles again in the morning to get back on our route) Oh well, we were looking for adventure! Until tomorrow! Brian

Pedaling Day # 55

Miles today – 85.7 Daily ride time – 7 hrs 5 min Average – 12.1 mph Daily Climb – 4,504 feet Total BRAA mileage – 3,806 Weather leaving Hodgenville, KY @ 05:05am – Clear skies, 66‘F wind calm Weather arriving, Harrodsburg, KY @ 2:10pm – Clear skies, 84’F wind 5 from NW Leaving our lovely (smelly) motel room at 5:00 a.m. eastern time, we pedaled in the dark again for a couple of hours.  Nice chilly morning, best time to do hill climbing!  Brian wrote the first two hours worth of directions on his palm since today we traversed many various small county roads all within the first 35 miles.  I actually got out the pepper spray this morning as two large dogs started chasing us a little too closely.  Several more dogs chased us in this area around twilight, but as Brian looked their way with his helmet headlamp they shied away.  One of the little a-holes almost ran into a garbage can while chasing beside us!  Quite the morning of entertainment. On our way into Bardstown, the planned breakfast stop and half way point of today’s ride, we experienced a high volume of commuter traffic.  Turns out Bardstown, population 10,000+, has a huge bourbon distillery on the outskirts of town.  Most of the traffic passing us this morning were on their way to work.  We stopped to take photos of the huge buildings that looked like an old prison complex before we passed the office buildings and signage.  I guess there’s lots of money in bourbon!  Needless to say, we didn’t stop for the free tour and tasting… After a good country breakfast, we set off again to tackle the remaining half of the ride.  The heat, humidity, and hills were on in full force by this time.  We stopped for a break 20 miles later at Lincoln Homestead State Park.  This is a very beautiful place with old buildings and relics to look at, and an awesome golf course if that’s your thing.  We stopped again five miles away from Harrodsburg to have a cool drink and rest a bit in the air conditioning. 

We rolled into Harrodsburg (population 8,014) around 2:00 p.m., and found a nice, cheap, mom and pop motel the Bluegrass Inn.  After checking in we went to eat at the first restaurant we found called the LaFonda Mexican Restaurant.  They have awesome fajitas!  Afterward we went to the Old Fort Harrod State Park.  Unfortunately by this time we only had a little over one hour to look around.  We didn’t spend much time in the living history part of the old fort area, but spent most of our time looking through the mansion/museum.  Lots of interesting information indeed!  If we’re ever back in this area again I’ll definitely go back for another tour.

                                                                                    Linda's Victorian Rose Bed & Breakfast ($55 - yeah!) Miles today – 64.9 Daily ride time – 5 hrs 38 min Average – 11.6 mph Daily Climb – 3,432 feet Total BRAA mileage – 3,919 Weather leaving Berea, KY @ 05:55am – Clear skies, 70‘F wind calm Weather arriving Booneville, KY @ 12:00pm – Clear skies, 86’F wind calm When we woke up this morning refreshed and ready to go, Kirk got up with us bright eyed and bushy tailed to see us off.  Thanks to Kirk we’re able to make it through the next two weeks of riding with ALL of our gears!!!  Last evening while Kirk and Brian were putting the “Kirk Mod” on our bike they noticed that one of the shifter cables was frayed at the top…  Bad news if we weren’t able to locate a bike shop with extra long cable…  and not very likely in this neck of the woods.  Kirk offered us one of his cables from his bike, and it works great!  THANK YOU KIRK for everything you’ve done!!!  You are awesome!  We definitely needed each and every one of our gears today (and then some) to ride all these hills (more like mountains).  The Rockies have nothing on the Appalachians!  Boy, I’m sure glad we didn’t start in Virginia because I don’t know if we’d have made it!  Sure am glad for the 4,000+ miles of conditioning we’ve had so far… Today’s ride was absolutely gorgeous over this hills and through the hollows.  The creeks (or licks as they’re known locally) are so beautiful with the limestone carved out in different patterns, and all the foliage to view along the way.  We noticed that there are pockets of kudzu that covers everything!  The panoramic views today were outstanding, but unfortunately the camera battery was dead this morning as I’d left the camera on last evening after taking photos of Brian and Kirk doing bike maintenance.  Oh well, I got a couple photos of the huge preying mantis on Kirk’s truck this a.m., and one more of a hollow along the way.  I’m definitely going to double check the camera after each use from now on!!! We arrived in Booneville at about noontime, and ate a home cooked (style) meal at the local café.  Yum!  After filling up there, we headed over to the grocery store to pick up stuff for dinner and breakfast before heading toward Linda’s Victorian Rose B & B.  This is the only place to stay within forty miles, so off we went with directions that Brian had received from Linda the previous evening.  When Linda called last evening we were eating dinner with Kirk, and didn’t have our map with us to mark down the exact location.  WELL, we misunderstood her directions, and ended up ten miles away from her home!  Thankfully she came to pick us up in her truck and haul us back up the hill to her home.  What a wonderful lady!  We found out that she has refurbished this old school house/church that was built in 1915, and is now her B & B.  She has also redone the three bedroom home up on the hill right next door too.  What an incredible job she’s done with her property!  She has lots of bicyclists stay at her place in the summertime.  It is so peaceful here!!! Time to rest up, there’s a big day of hills awaitin’  ;-) Pam

Just after our second big climb this morning, we decided to find some type of cable or cord to hook up to the drum (drag) brake that I can activate from the back seat.  We stopped in the town of Melvin at a hardware store, and the owner helped us rig one up using picture hanger wire and a lawn mower pull handle.  It worked fine, and we definitely used it on some of the down hill runs.  I guess it does look a bit “hill billie”, but who cares! Photo Left: 50 years later after the mountain was strip mined for coal.  Photo Right: Kudzu vines take over the hills. During our lunch stop we decided to take another route in order to avoid two of the huge climbs remaining for today.  We examined the Adventure Cycling map, and figured we’d veer off the route, and remain on a four lane road that looked to be about five to six miles more than planned, but with less climb.  We learned an extremely important lesson:  Do not trust the Adventure Cycling map when they show roads that are not part of their trail (even if they have them on their maps).  We ended up traveling 12 more miles than planned, and the four lane road we diverted to had a brutal and lengthy climb.  The up side was once we turned off the four lane road, the next 23 miles were basically down hill following the Elkhorn Creek.  Everything was going along fairly well throughout this part of the journey, and we stopped in Elkhorn to have a bite to eat before pedaling the last 8.5 miles of the day.  Thank goodness we did!  We found another mistake on the Adventure Cycling map, and this one was on their route…  We climbed another mountain for five or so miles at an excessive grade once we crossed into Virginia, up 500 more feet!  By the time we rolled into the Breaks Interstate Park we were beyond exhausted.  Well, we do have a day to recuperate! Here’s to better days ahead! PamWednesday, August 19, 2009Today was a day of (mostly) rest. After a nice breakfast we gathered our clothes to head the one mile to the laundry shack. Half way there it started to rain – then it rained for the remainder of the day. It was a good excuse to sit in our room all day and watch Starz, nap, and plot our alternative route through Virginia. We think we found a route that will cut off over 11,000 feet of climb from the Adventure Cycling map route. We have determined the people who found the routes for the map were looking for some of the best views along the way – which is also the most mountains and hills. Our bike is not designed for hill climbing which is why we chose the Lewis and Clark Route to cross the Rocky Mountains. (We should have done the same for the Appalachians…)   Well our clothes we wore to do the laundry are almost dry now and it is time for dinner…..

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Pedaling Day # 60 Miles today – 67.3 Daily ride time – 5 hrs 36 min Average – 12.0 mph Daily Climb – 3,815 feet Total BRAA mileage – 4,140 Weather leaving Breaks, VA @ 05:55am – Cloudy skies (fog), 70‘F wind 3 from SSW Weather arriving Tazewell, VA @ 1:15pm – Cloudy skies, 84’F wind 8 from SSWThis morning we were off a half hour before sunrise – being up in the mountains there is almost a perma-fog with the clouds forming on the mountains. It’s really cool to watch the clouds come up the mountain at you then you see nothing for a minute or so then it goes by. Well trying to get out of the forest (national park) in the dark was no easy task with the fog. We pedaled 3 – 5 mph for the first mile through the park, then once we were on the highway we could see the lines on the road – and the trees were cut back to allow the twilight onto the road to help us as well. Once we were 3 miles into our ride the clouds moved out and we had full visibility. Yeah! We changed our route so today the first 9 miles was on a different two lane highway leading to our new adventure, the four lane highway.  The ones we had been traveling on so far this trip have been very nice roads with nice big shoulders. The biggest clincher for us though was how they chop through the mountains and make the grades up and down less steep. Our first hill of the day on the two lane road was 9 – 11% upgrade and was 10 – 17% downgrade. We ended up applying brakes the whole way down and kept the speed below 10 – 15 mph. (booo!) As expected, once we turned on the 4 lane highway they kept the grade to a maximum of 7% but most of it was 4 – 6% which is doable for us. The first big climb on the four lane was 12 miles long so by the time we finished we still were whipped, but we did not have to walk up like the two lane road. (yeah!) At 8:30 we rolled into a Hardies for breakfast. Just after we ate we came across our first rescue mission of the day, a turtle had crawled out on the highway and was dodging traffic. We pulled over and picked him up and put him back in the ditch. Could not figure out why he wanted to leave the creek/forest side of the road for the steep mountain side but I guess he thought the grass was greener over there.The weather forecast (and weather radar we watched before we left this morning) showed a huge storm coming from the West and was to arrive around 11am(ish). We opted to skip our lunch and keep pedaling to hopefully avoid the rain. Because the route had less climb, and less grade(s) we felt ok for the remainder of the ride. We rolled into Tazewell at 1:15 and found the first restaurant and pulled in. We did beat the rain so we were happy about that. This afternoon I also finished our route since we were happy with four lane travel today. We now will travel to Virginia Beach to dip our tire into the Atlantic. We called our friend Judie who lives there and she said we can stay at her place while we box up our bike. We also were able to buy new one way tickets on US Air for $89 one way to PHX three days sooner. Our new route shaved off two days of the original route as well as 50 miles. Going home sooner, 11,000 feet less climb, 50 less miles, free place to stay in VA Beach - moral has been improved amongst the troops!!!

Until tomorrow!

Brian

One thing I forgot to mention on my report from the other day:  Thanks Kirk for swapping me the new foam for my bike seat!  My bum hasn't felt better in months!!!  Pam

Friday, August 21, 2009

Pedaling Day # 61 Miles today – 50.2 Daily ride time – 3 hrs 20 min Average – 15.1 mph Daily Climb – 1,139feet Total BRAA mileage – 4,192 Weather leaving Tazewell, VA @ 07:25am – Cloudy skies, 68‘F wind 3 from S Weather arriving Pearisburg, VA @ 11:30pm – Cloudy skies, 78’F wind 5 from S We decided to leave late this morning to avoid a bit of rain.  The wireless internet at the motel was inoperable early this a.m., so we looked at Weather Channel’s local info and decided to wait another hour or so to depart.  We ended up with about five minutes of light rain after our first five miles of pedaling, but it was kind of welcome since these first five miles were up hill and we were already warm.  We waited under cover of a tree for about 15 minutes for the rain to subside, then off we went down hill for the next 40 miles.  We stopped at a the only convenience store in the town of Rocky Gap, which was our half way point, and had a snack.  The terrain changed a bit after this town, no longer quite as much kudzu and the creek widened as we rode along.  The hills of Virginia are a lot nicer to look at as there are fewer abandoned homes and trash along the roadside (unlike the eastern part of Kentucky). The last four miles into Pearisburg were mostly up hill, but we really can’t complain because we know what we’re missing!  After lunch we discovered that there is a lack of wireless internet service around town, so we’re struggling to plot out tomorrow’s route.  We’ll finish one way or another!

PamSaturday, August 22, 2009Pedaling Day # 62 Miles today – 51.2 Daily ride time – 4 hrs 18 min Average – 12.0 mph Daily Climb – 4,113 feet Total BRAA mileage – 4,249 Weather leaving Pearisburg, VA @ 07:15am – Cloudy skies, 68‘F wind calm Weather arriving Roanoke, VA @ 11:55pm – Cloudy skies, 78’F wind 5 from S Yesterday we ended up traveling 1.7 miles from our hotel to find internet service at a Wendy’s restaurant in the afternoon. The town was 0-3 on hotels with internet. The Subway restaurant said they had internet but no longer offered it. It is incredible how we went from Iowa, where everyone had it, even the rest areas, and for free – to where you cant find it – even if you wanted to pay for it. (this tidbit of info becomes relative later….)Our route today takes us through some very remote areas of the Appalachians so we figured we better eat breakfast before leaving town. The first restaurant that opened was the Friends and Family Restaurant that opened at 6:30 so we loaded up the bike and biked over so we were there at 6:28. There was one other fell’r (as they say here) that was waiting for them to open and as the waitress saw us pull in stared out the window and flipped her sign to open. The other fell’r sat at the table next to ours and was real inquisitive about our bike and where we were traveling - So much that he (unbeknown to us) paid for our breakfast. He had left the premises before we had finished and never got to thank him. So at 7:15 we were off – only today not only did we not have our internet to check the weather, but the weather channel was not working on TV as well. So into the mountains we ride with no knowledge of what we would endure. At 8:17 it started to rain so we donned the full rain gear and restarted our journey. Riding in the rain is not that bad but for the first 45 minutes we were on a 4 lane divided highway with no shoulder and the cars did not seem to want to get over and their rain/wind from their tires was bad. That’s when Pam’s fun meter went to pegged – or overload. The hills are getting to here and now the traffic is turning sour as well.  We then turned off the main road (as pre-planned) onto the two lane road for the remainder of the trip and had a better (riding in the rain) experience. The two lane road winded around the hills and was like a roller coaster ride and kept Pam and myself shifting, climbing,, shifting, braking down hill, and repeat as necessary. At 11:12 the rain stopped, just as we were starting to come into the Roanoke area. At 11:55 we arrived at our hotel, the Knights Inn. The Knights Inn is part of the Wyndham Rewards program and the only other one we stayed at was in Iowa and it was very nice. This one is trashed. They claim they have wireless and HBO, both of which are false in the rooms. Most of the hotel is being remodeled (and needing it) so there are construction materials everywhere. The water was off to the motel when we checked in so we went to lunch and after we were back the water was back on. Oh well, you get what you pay for ($45) and the bed seems ok……

Until tomorrow! (by the way... if we had internet and knew...... and left around 11am..... we would not have been rained on.....)

Brian

We stopped in the town of Burkville for breakfast at the only café within miles, and enjoyed a terrific meal with the locals.  Of course the first question was, “What kind of gas mileage you get on that thang?”  The answer, “The best.  We only have to eat enough food to keep the energy flowing.”  Our waitress was also the cook.  She made a very presentable six egg omelet for Brian, and she was impressed with herself. We only stopped along the way for a break one other time along side the road since we didn’t spot any convenience stores or picnic tables… or really anything else but trees!  We had shade most of the time today, and we loved it.  The last ten miles were quite nice through a residential area, and a few miles of it was flanking the Petersburg National Battlefield, National Park.  Plenty of shade along the way through here, and with the temperature reaching 89 degrees Fahrenheit by this time we definitely appreciated the treesJust as the motel sign was in sight, we spotted “Nanny’s” restaurant.  They had tasty southern style cooking with a buffet too.  Very nice staff, who had many questions about our bike and journey.  Oh the looks we get when you tell people you’ve ridden from Oregon.  It takes a while to comprehend, and then they unload with the questions and comments.  Funny!

That’s it for now.  Tomorrow is the big day, and I can hardly wait!  It kind of feels like the day before a competition…

Until tomorrow,

This morning we started extra early due to tomorrows weather forecast – cold front from the NW bringing bad weather and a possible tropical depression coming from the SE. The squeeze was on to try to get the ride completed before the weather went sour. Our route today would take us on highway 460 which mostly would not have any shoulder and during rush hour would get pretty busy being a main artery into the Norfolk area. We rigged two flashing red lights and one flashing white light on the back of the bike and Pam’s helmet so we would ensure the vehicles would see us. The plan worked great! At 5:15 we pulled into Wendy’s for our first breakfast. We already had 19 miles on the day and the sun was not even in sight. We then made it into Suffolk by 8am and started looking for our second breakfast spot. We were unable to find a sit down breakfast spot and ended up riding out of town in hopes of finding something down the road. By 8:45 we started to get into the greater Norfolk area.