The travels of the Rambling Roses: Morton's Gap KY to Leitchfield, KY April 25

April 25.....94 miles in 8:08...it's been getting harder and harder to get out of bed and go, as my mileage goes up and up with no days off. I figured my off days through this stretch would be determined by bad weather days, but we've had none. We had rain two days in a row, but it occurred at night each day, and the sun shines during the day. The Weather Channel has been threatening severe weather and tornado possibilities for days, but we are staying ahead of it all. Tornado Alley has been getting lit up, but we are out of that section of the country. Now they are saying we are going to get slowed down in a few days. But in the meantime, I'm pounding it out every day. Today, I didn't get rolling until 10:30. Once I get out there, however, things loosen up, and I am fine. If I stop, I tighten up pretty quick, and it takes a few strokes to loosen up again. Today's ride wasn't supposed to be 94 miles, but US 62 had a bridge being rebuilt, which cost me a 15-20 mile detour, which made my arrival at the Walmart in Leitchfield, just before sundown. We are getting near the Eastern Time Zone, so it's getting darker, earlier. Tomorrow night at this time, it will be an hour later....know what I mean?

I had to take KY 813 for about five miles, to get back to US62, which I was on for the rest of the day. It was a back road, and the rolling hills began, that started my total elevation gain for the day at over 3600 ft. Still, there were plenty of flat areas and valleys of flatness along the way, that I didn't expect in Central Kentucky. There were plenty of swampy looking, bayou type areas along the way, especially early in the ride. There were also many lakes and creeks, even though I crossed no big rivers today. I had a series of small, and then smaller communities to look at as I rode, and there were even a couple medium sized towns. Most of the trip was in what they call the Western Coal Fields, and I did see some coal mine entrances, and some acid mine drainage, but there were no coal trucks or coal trains to be seen. I think maybe, the coal fields are pretty tapped out, but I'm not sure. There were some areas that were quite nice, and there were some areas where I thought I was in the deepest of Appalachia. Lots of people sitting on their porch, just staring as I rode by, made me think of the movie 'Deliverance.' It seems like just about everyone smokes here, which is something I had heard about Kentucky. I saw tons of cemeteries today, maybe one or two churches in each small town had their own cemetery. I also saw the Ten Commandments posted at the entry to just about each town. I think I'm in pretty heavy Bible Belt country, judging by the messages on buildings and mailboxes. Fortunately they drove in a way that was keeping with their beliefs.

My day started off on KY 813, then to the shoulderless US 62, but I'm getting used to that. Most drivers here a very cautious, slowing and patiently waiting until they can safely go way over in the other lane to get around me. Many people were too cautious in my opinion, refusing to go around me, even when it was totally clear and sight distances were good. I think some of them just didn't know how to handle me. I don't think I've seen another bicycle since Arizona, as biking is NOT fashionable in the areas of Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, and Kentucky that I've been though. I just had to keep my eye out for the occasional hoopie who had to gun his engine as he goes by, blow black diesel smoke at me as they go by, or yell out the window. Kentucky is just like West Virginia in that most people are really great, but the a#%#£¥s per capita is a little higher than the rest of the country, and you never know when one is coming.

I went through one area, Greenville, Powderly, and Central City, seem to be like one town, and the road opened up with four lanes and a nice shoulder for a while. The towns I went through, like Greenville, and Leitchfield, seem to be centered around their county courthouse, and for the second day in a row, I saw a town ( Leitchfield ) where there was almost a traffic circle in the middle of town, with the courthouse in the middle, and all traffic passing through the town go around the building. The first thing that occurred to me was the potential problem with pedestrian traffic, and parking. Everybody who goes in or out of the building has to cross the street. The small towns came one after another, as US 62 bounced north, then south, then north, then south again to connect them all. Rosine was the home of Bill Monroe, father of bluegrass music, and other small towns like Rockport, McHenry, Horse Branch, and Caneyville, looked like they were pretty dried up. There was some corn farming going on, some cattle and sheep, but not really many. Most of the scenery was old school residential, to put it nicely, and a lot of trees and rolling hills.

My biggest problem for the day occurred in the town of Beaver Dam, which was about halfway on my trip. The town was nice, and big enough to have its own Walmart. It also had a detour on US62, because a bridge was being rebuilt. That is the first time I've had a detour of any significance on this trip that I can remember, and it was a doozy. It added about 15-20 miles to my trip, like I mentioned above, but it wouldn't have been so long, if I didn't go 1.5 miles out to the bridge in question, because I wanted to see if it was a situation where I could walk across, wade across, or get around it somehow. Well, the bridge was totally gone, the water was too deep and way down there, so I had to turn around and follow the detour, which was into a dead north headwind. The detour route was pretty hilly, and the local hoopies were driving real fast on that shoulderless stretch of KY 69. It took me over an hour to get to the other side of the bridge, where I popped out less than a half mile from the construction. Over an hour to go one half mile, in actuality. That's what made me late getting into Walmart camp. Legs feel like 'Kentucky Fried' quads. Get it?