Madison, Indiana to Dry Ridge, Kentucky

Today’s Miles: 60.3 / Total Trip Miles: 1,219.2

Just a few photos today. They’re here.

Ho-hum, another day riding through Kentucky farmlands. That there aren’t many photos is not because I’m getting jaded (although I suppose I am, a tad - one can start to take for granted even beautiful countryside) but because I was in a rush to get through the ride. The forecast was 80% chance of thunderstorms and, as Ricardo had chewed me out for riding when there was lightning, I wanted to get in as many miles as possible before the heavens opened. Honest, Rick, I was going to hop a ride in the sag wagon or wait under shelter until the rain had stopped and the storm passed if there was thunder. But we were lucky - not so much as a drop of rain and a tailwind to boot. Thank you, Mother Nature!

Overall, I’d call today’s route flat to gently rolling. About a third of the way through, a climb up to a plateau, then a ride along it, and a descent back down. Many sets of railroad tracks which, after Joan and Judy J’s accident, everyone approaches hyper-vigilantly (by the way, both J’s are on the mend - sore muscles, scrapes, cuts, black and blue marks notwithstanding, both have ridden every mile since their accidents - they are real WW’s - Woman Warriors!)

There was a steep half-mile climb at 50 miles and towards top, huffing and without an ounce of extra energy, or so I thought, a dog came up from behind, barking & ready for a chase. Because I was climbing, I couldn’t get a hand off my handlebars to reach for my whistle but it is amazing how fast one can pedal when one has to - all of a sudden, my legs were going around like egg beaters - and I crested the hill as if the road was flat - would not have thought I had that much oomph left in me!

My recorded miles today are taken from the cue sheet not my odometer due to an encounter with what I thought for sure was an extraterrestrial force. I’d gone into a gas station to use the loo and when I came out, maybe five minutes later, my bike’s odometer was showing 25 more miles than when I’d pulled up and, according to its readout, was merrily cllipping along at a snappy 141.9 mph. Average speed had soared to 73 mph. Move over Lance, here comes Lois. The sonic boom heard in the area was, obviously, moi!

Marilyn was able to explain what had happened: apparently wireless computers can pick up interference from ambient waves broadcast nearby (maybe an electric eye security system?) and get messed up by them. For the rest of the ride the computer was out of whack - speed bouncing all over the place & mileage bearing no relation to what I’d pedaled. I found I was able to use the clock, which was working normally, to estimate distance (i.e., if it was two miles to the next turn, I figured I was pedaling around 15 mph and so I’d get to the turn in about eight minutes). That worked okay.

Found a Wal-Mart at the end of the ride and went in to buy a new battery for the computer (note to self: in the future, bring extras). Left the bike up against the fence in the garden department which must’ve been wired for security, because when I came out, the bike’s computer was racing at warp speed again. Twice in one day. I think I’ve learned my lesson about taking care where I park.

How’s this for screwy economics: Wal-Mart charges $4.00 for one battery. $4.63 if you buy two. Huh?

After dinner (on the menu: tortellini with sausage [chicken or tofu], salad, bread, and desserts - homemade brownies & cookies and ice cream - contributed by Ramsey, an ‘07 Southern Tier rider, who lives in the area) Kathy introduced an idea she’d thought up and gotten organized - the Tony the Tiger Award - to be presented each evening to a rider who’s been “Grreat!” (If you don’t understand the reference, it’s ’cause you’re not old enough) - and gave it inaugurally to Joan & Judy J.  Grrreat idea, Kathy!

Louisville, Kentucky to Madison, Indiana

Today’s Miles: 72.0 / Total Trip Miles: 1,158.9

Today’s photos are here.

Today was an easy day’s ride - partly because we were rested, partly because the route was short-ish (72 miles) and flat-ish.

First we went back across the Ohio River into Indiana and turned east, paralleling the river. There was a fair amount of traffic for the first 12 to 15 miles but as we got farther from Louisville and into farm country, it gradually thinned out. Short rollers at the beginning; one or two short, steep climbs; then the road flattened out and we had a long, gradual descent into Madison.

As in Florida, you could tell that farmland is being sold off piecemeal and townhome complexes and single family homes plunked down where not long ago cows were being pastured and crops grown. There was something of Stepford Wives-style about the new communities - lawns perfectly manicured, landscaping all tidy, very clean, very sterile. Much prefer the rickety farmhouses that often were right across the road.

Our motel is outside Madison, on the Wal-Mart/fast food strip. When I arrived, our rooms weren’t ready so I got back on my bike & went into town. Madison is a small city that has managed to keep its downtown area alive despite the strip malls that surround it. Seems to be a tourist destination - sweet downtown shops, nicely situated on the river, some lovely old homes. Not as much related to UGRR history as I’d hoped. Although the town is known for having homes that served as safe houses for slaves who made it across the Ohio River, all are privately owned and not open to the public. So I just took a peek at the Ohio River; snapped a photo of the nearby Lanier Mansion, dated 1844, the “crown jewel” of Madison’s historic district; and headed back towards Main Street to find my way back to the hotel. Ran into Kathy, Sondra, Anne, and Marni and rode out with them. On the way out we passed a plaque commemorating Georgetown, the neighborhood where freed slaves lived during the first part of the 19th century. Nearby is the African Methodist Episcopal Church, built 1850 and associated with the early freed African-American community.

On the tour, there’s been a staffing shuffle. Laurie is off having a break, will be back on Tuesday. Michelle has arrived to replace her. On Laurie’s return, Patty will leave and Michelle will take over the chef’s spot. A smoothly handled transition.

Dinner tonight: chicken or tofu with dumplings, salad, cheesecake.

Louisville, Kentucky

Today’s Miles: 0 / Total Trip Miles: 1,086.9

Today’s photos are here.

What a fun day! Wouldn’t mind staying here longer - there’s a lot to do & see. Add Louisville to the list of places I’d like to come back to - at the rate I’m going, I’m going to have to redo the whole tour!

First thing this morning I worked on yesterday’s post & got to talk to Rick on the phone! We hadn’t spoken since two weeks ago when my cell phone stopped working so it was good, good, good to hear his voice; to find out how Her Royal Majesty The Princess Ebony, Mlle. La Chatte, is doing (just fine, thank you); to be forewarned that, on my return, I’m going to have a hard time extracting him from behind the wheel of my Prius which he’s been driving in my absence.

Walked towards the east end of Main Street to what in the tourist literature sounded like it’d be a good place for coffee: the Blue Mountain Coffee House. My instincts did not mislead - both the coffee and muffin were first rate. And, get this: Nicholas, the proprietor, is doing a ten day charity bike ride in September in Vietnam. With a group of, I think, mostly Brits. Doesn’t that sound like great fun? If you’re interested, let me know & I’ll put you in touch with him.

That part of Main Street is actively being gentrified:  the Louisville Ballet is there, in a wonderful, modern building with the most perfectly appropriate bike rack outside its doors; old factories are being renovated into loft apartments; and it has Slugger Field stadium, home of a AAA farm team of the Cincinnati Red, who Spring train in Sarasota.

After breakfast, I stopped in at the city’s Visitor Information Center. The woman behind the desk asked if I was part of the group of ladies cycling to Canada - apparently others had gotten going faster than I this morning! She had great suggestions about where to go to get the most out of the day. After snapping a photo of the famous Kentucky Colonel, I followed her advice & took off to…

The Glassworks - a glassblowing studio and gallery

Frazier Historical Arms Museum - to see “Bobby, Martin & John, Once Upon an American Dream,” a multi-media exhibition of photographs, music, documentary film, and artifacts of the 1960’s.  Walking through brought to mind Longfellow’s words “…I find my lost youth again.”

Slugger Museum - where the official bat of major league baseball is manufactured. I didn’t go in but at dinner this evening Judy N. told us all about it - turns out she’s nuts for baseball & touring it was The Highlight of her day

Muhammad Ali Center - only because the woman at the Information Center had said, even with zero interest in boxing, it is a “must see.”   The Center is a close to 100,000 square foot tribute to Muhammad Ali - displays about his life, tapes of interviews with him, videos of fights, documentary films about him, showcases of awards and commendations he’s received.  My first impression was that it was a oversized tribute to a man with an oversized ego and there was an element of deification going on that made me uncomfortable.  But then I started to pick up on another theme:  Ali as röle model, especially to black youth, encouraging them to, in the words of the Center’s mission statement “be as great as they can be.”  And, if it’s not too much of a stretch,  Ali’s life can be related to UGRR history - as a step on a people’s path to freedom and towards eventual true equality (Obama’s viable candidacy is another step) - by his constant insistence on racial equality, when he gave up his “slave name”;  when he refused to be inducted into the Army, wanting no part in the killing of people of color; and by the charitable work he’s done around the world.  The woman in the Information Center was right: the Muhammad Ali Center is well worth a visit.

Walking back to the hotel I joined Marni and Kris, who were just finishing lunch at a sidewalk table at Proof on Main.  For a good meal in Louisville, go there - interesting menu, food beautifully presented.

After futzing with my bike for a bit at the hotel, I hightailed it back to the Visitor Information Center to join an hour-long walking tour of downtown.  Led by Charlie, a retired history teacher, it went back over parts of the Main Street area I’d been to during the day and also showed me things I hadn’t seen before.  Well worth doing.

The highlight of the tour was seeing the inside of the 21C Museum Hotel - a luxury boutique hotel that welcomes the public in to view its museum-quality collection of contemporary art on its ground floor and basement (even in the ladies’ room!).  Loved the poured concrete floors! Another “must see.”

Joined Marilyn, Judy J. and Judy N. or dinner at Bistro 301.  Had the 301 Salad, Turkey Burger, and totally decadent Caramel Walnut Cake.  Good food, good company.

A good - no, a very good - day.

Brandenburg to Louisville, Kentucky

Today’s Miles: 50.4 / Total Trip Miles: 1,086.9

Today’s photos are here.

It was COLD this morning - 50° with a northeast wind & wind chill. And, wouldn’t you know, we were headed northeast- straight into the wind.

Here’s another unsolicited commercial for Craft cold weather gear. My cycling wardrobe doesn’t include much in the way of cold weather clothing (which I’ll have to do something about before going on the Southern Tier next March) because, left to my own devices, I don’t get on a bike when it’s cold out! This morning I didn’t have a choice, so I dug out my warmest gear - a long-sleeved Craft base layer and layered a long sleeve Craft tee shirt over it (modeled by yours truly, here) and set out, hoping for the best. It worked great - comfortable, warm, & toasty in the morning and even when it warmed up a tad towards the end of the ride, I didn’t get overheated. Another miracle fabric. Happiness in the small things.

Leaving Brandenburg, we crossed the Ohio River into Indiana and made a big loop, following the river up and around and then came back over the river into Kentucky at Louisville. The first part of the ride was through farmland that gave way to suburbs; then to a series of small towns, which I guess are bedroom communities for Louisville; and then into downtown Louisville, the first “real” city we’ve been in since Mobile.

It’s nice to be in a city, not so nice to be on a bike around city drivers. What is it about cities: the closer we came to Louisville, the less considerate the drivers became. I just don’t get it.

On the route, we stopped in New Albany, Indiana at The Carnegie Center for Art & History to see their permanent UGRR exhibit, “Ordinary People, Extraordinary Courage.” Very well done. An unexpected treat was their other exhibit of contemporary quilts by a local artist, Juanita Yaeger. Truly creative: unlike anything I’d seen before and absolutely magnificent.

Louisville, it turns out, is a bike friendly town: the George Rogers Clark Memorial Bridge that we came over has a lane where vehicles are not allowed when there are cyclists using the bridge; there’s a system of “freewheelin” bikes parked at stations around town, and some wonderful creative bike racks on the streets. Nice, clean city.

We’re staying at a Courtyard by Marriott - very elegant compared to the small town motels we’ve been in for the most part. Will take advantage of the exercise room tomorrow to do some upper body work and definitely spend some time in the hot tub, jets pointed directly at legs.

Incidentally, after taking all those electrolyte pills on yesterday’s 92 mile ride, I felt great today - zero residual fatigue. Maybe it’s just the power of mind - and if it is, who cares? - for whatever reason, the pills work!

No cooking in the Marriott parking lot so for dinner tonight we’re going to The Old Spaghetti Factory, around the corner from the hotel. It’s going to feel strange, not eating with plates in our laps!

P.S. for Ashley @ Mailboxes, Siesta Key - the package you sent was here when I arrived - thanx for, once again, getting that organized!

Lewisport to Brandenburg, Kentucky

Today’s Miles: 92.0 / Total Trip Miles: 1,036.5

Today’s photos are here.

The day started out foggy and then gradually cleared until, by noon the sun was out full force - so much for the weather forecast of afternoon thunderstorms.

We were riding, once again, on wonderful farm country back roads. Difficult to believe, for one from beautiful but rapidly-becoming-totally-over-developed southwest coastal Florida, that there are places equally beautiful but unspoiled and under-populated.

Kentucky road surfaces have been uniformly excellent - better than Tennessee’s overall, I’d say. I think I remember reading that Kentucky is very active about attracting industry - we’ve ridden past a Kimberly-Clark factory that seemed to have be plunked down in the middle of nowhere, an enormous paper mill (that was not giving off the awful smell I associate with paper manufacturing), a vast quarry, and there’s a Toyota factory in the state. Seems like Kentucky has a tax base that allows it to, at the very least, maintain its roads.

Today’s ride was flat for the first 15-or-so miles then had some challenging, but not impossible, uphill climbs and some wonderful long downhill descents.

Because there were few services along the route, the sag wagon had again been sent out provisioned with lunch fixings. The third sag stop of the day, at 60 miles, was perfectly timed and located for a restorative break (well done Elaine, today’s driver!): we’d just completed a one-mile climb, the hardest of the day; I’d burned through all the calories from breakfast and could feel I was running on empty; and the morning cloud cover had burned off, so I needed a fresh application of sunscreen and some cold fluids to keep the temperature of my core in the comfort zone.

Remember how I complained of being exhausted on the ride going into Kentucky Dam, how the next morning I woke up “…feeling like I’d been run over by a steam roller. Total residual fatigue. Rubber legs….” & how I said it took the whole of the next day’s layover to get “back to feeling like a human being”? (weird, quoting oneself!) I think I figured out what happened: it wasn’t the week’s cumulative high mileage - I’d trained doing high mileage; and it wasn’t the heat & humidity - coming from Florida, I’m accustomed to that. I think I’d let my electrolyte balance get out of whack - I carry Hammer Endurolytes in my bike bag & had gotten lazy about taking them. So, on today’s long ride I popped one or two religiously, every hour. Willing to bet my legs are going to feel just fine tomorrow. Will let you know.

Tonight’s dinner: Italian sausage or tofu in tomato sauce; polenta; salad; dessert of local strawberries (purchased from an Amish family along the route), brownies (homemade, natch) & ice cream.

Today’s ride marks the half-way point of the tour - which is going by entirely too quickly!

Henderson to Lewisport, Kentucky

Today’s Miles: 66.8 / Total Trip Miles: 944.5

Today’s photos are here.

Strange things happened today.

At breakfast, Laurie (our guide, about whom I haven’t written much but who is Absolutely Fantastic, handling every situation and every person with good humor and grace) told us that one of the van’s tires had a leaky valve & she and Patty were going to take it to be fixed first thing. Instead of putting our luggage in the van as we do every morning, we piled everything into one of the motel rooms and later, after seeing to the tire, Laurie and Patty had the dubious pleasure of loading all our bags into the van by themselves.

The weather forecast was for temperatures in the 70’s with a 60% chance of rain and thundershowers. At the last minute, I put on my Craft base layer under my biking jersey. I don’t usually wear a base layer when the temperature is above 60°, but I remembered how thoroughly chilled I’d been on other rainy day and didn’t want to risk a repetition.

It rained, mostly lightly for the first 15 miles of the ride, then the rain stopped and it was overcast but dry for about 30 miles, then for the last 20 miles, “weather moved in” - steady, at times heavy rain with intermittent thunder & lightning. When it started pouring, I put the “pedal to the metal” as they say on Le Tour and gunned it for Lewisport and our motel. The terrain was flat and there was no wind so I made good time. Twice when there was thunder I stopped and took shelter. But I discovered that, once out in the rain, it wasn’t as bad as it seemed as when watching it come down for a sheltered vantage point. My core stayed comfortable - I didn’t get cold and wasn’t too warm.

But here’s the amazing thing: when I got to the motel I was, needless to say, thoroughly soaked. The chamois in my shorts had absorbed so much water I felt like a baby in need of a diaper change and my shoes were squishing (I’ll be surprised if they’re dry by the morning). On my top half I’d had on a sports bra, then the base layer, then the jersey. I had to wring water out of the bra and jersey but the base layer, which had been sandwiched between them was DRY. What kind of magic fabric could it possibly be made of? For sports undergarments - go with Craft! 

Two riders took bad falls today, going over a set of wet railroad tracks that crossed the road at such an angle that it was difficult to swing out far enough to get one’s bike perpendicular to them to be able to cross them safely. That in addition to the fact that wet tracks are always slippery. Judy J. has cuts on her knees and hand; Joan, a badly cut elbow, bruises up and down one side, a sore shoulder, and her helmet cracked in three places and is a write off.

Today’s second instance of miracle fabrics: although Joan’s elbow was cut and bleeding, the nylon wind jacket she had on over it was not torn. How is that possible?

The good new is neither lady broke bones and both their bikes can be ridden, Laurie having done some repairs and given them a thorough inspection. But, totally unfairly, today is Joan’s birthday: her year can only get better from here on!

There are two birthdays today in the group: Joan and Kathy, who turns 51 and is the youngest of us. The oldest is 71.

Great dinner tonight: salmon en papilotte, herbed noodles, salad, and for the joint birthdays, delicious homemade carrot cake.

Morganfield to Henderson, Kentucky

Today’s Miles: 51.5 / Total Trip Miles: 877.7

Today’s photos are here.

After yesterday’s 92 miles, today’s was a mere 28 - what could’ve been a 95 mile ride today having been broken up into today’s 28 miles with the remaining 67 miles tomorrow. Ninety-one miles are scheduled the day after, so had the 95 mile ride not been split up, we would have had three 90+ miles days in a row.  Do I have you totally confused?  

After lollygagging around over breakfast, we set out on a beautiful, deserted farm road (have a look here and here), that undulated enough to keep it from being boring but didn’t have anything remotely resembling a climb along the length of its 12 miles.  Felt so good that, when I got to the end of the road, instead of making the turn to finish up the last 16 miles, I turned around and rode it again.  Crazy Lady on a Bike.  It was glorious.

Unfortunately, I hadn’t considered the sag driver whose job it is to keep track of riders on the route and who was up ahead, waiting for me to ride by.  And waiting.  And waiting.  Although the other ladies had told her what I was doing, her sense of responsibility wouldn’t allow her to drive on until she saw me and knew I was all right.  Only when she got a call from another rider who had a mechanical problem and needed to be picked up, did she double back to see where I was.  When she found me, I’d finished my back-and-forth shenanigans and was on the second part of the route and, boy, did I feel bad, for having inconvenienced her.  There I was, having a glorious ride on a great road in picture-perfect weather.  And there she’d been, hanging around and twiddling her thumbs.  Bet she was thinking I was crazy enough to turn the 28 mile route into a century and she’d have to wait for me until the sun set!  Not well handled, on my part.

Coming into Henderson, a colorful flower and vegetable stand caught my eye and I stopped and had a chat with the vendor.  He said he’d been noticing cyclists on the road and was interested to hear about our Mobile to Canada route.  After yesterday’s ride, still in my cycling clothes I’d gone into a convenience store to get a soda. The man at the register asked if I was on my way to Canada, having spoken with other riders on their way through town over the past few months. When you think about it, the Adventure Cycling routes must generate a fair amount of business for the towns along the way.

Riding through a lovely residential area on the way to the motel, I ran into Sue and Frankie on their way to the Audubon State Park.  I tagged along and in the park we walked through the museum which has an exhibit detailing Audubon’s life, beautiful framed prints, and multiple copies of The Most Amazing original folios of his work - they’re called Elephant Folios - outsize prints, measuring perhaps three feet by five feet, bound in a book - I’d never seen anything like it.  Fantastic!

We wanted to walk around the park next but all of our lunch gongs had gone off so we went down the road to Mr. B’s restaurant and had a meal of good salads & good conversation.  After lunch, we all wanted to get cleaned up so we went to the motel and didn’t make it back to the park.  Would like to come back here sometime for that and also to do the walking tour of Henderson’s downtown area which has historic buildings and Audubon sculptures.  Maybe someday…

Got laundry done this afternoon.  A good feeling, to have all clean clothes again.

Dinner tonight:  turkey or tofu marinated in tequila and lime, roast potatoes, salad, angel food cake with strawberries and bananas.  Chef Patty’s repetory is such that she can work the Southern Tier cross-country trip, eight weeks, repeating a menu only if someone requests it.  Pretty impressive. 

G’night.

P.S.  If you haven’t already, check out Frank Rich’s NY Times Op-Ed column.  It’s a winner.  Have a good Memorial Day.

 

 

Kentucky Dam to Morganfield, Kentucky

Today’s Miles: 91.8 / Total Trip Miles: 826.2

Today’s photos are here. Nothing amazing.

Today’s almost-92 mile ride was not bad: two steep climbs, one a half-mile and one that our cue sheets had as three-quarters of a mile, but I think was shorter. Starting up the first, I wasn’t in a low enough gear and had to traverse back and forth across the road until the climb flattened out a bit so I could downshift and was then able to go straight up. Out of breath at the top, but I made it.

What I’ve learned on this trip is that, for me, a ride’s difficulty is determined not just by the hills but also, and maybe even more, by the weather. As we head north, we’ve left behind, touch wood, the South’s pea soup humidity that makes me feel like I’m riding in a steam room;  I don’t feel in danger of getting blistered by the sun; and, today anyway, I wasn’t fighting the wind.  I am not proud: I’ll walk up a hill, if that’s the only way I’m going to make it up. But heavy humidity, strong sun, and wind - there’s no escaping them and, for me, they’re what makes a ride a killer.

But today, no complaints in the weather department. 

The ride took us through Kentucky farm country - soy, wheat, and corn are the crops, I learned afterwards.  Low-traffic roads.  For a good part of the day, we were paralleling the Ohio River - the crossing of which meant safety and freedom to slaves on the Underground Railroad (at least until 1850 when The Fugitive Law was enacted and an escaped slave located in a free State could legally be kidnapped and returned to the South).

The high point of the day came at lunch - with no services on the route, Patty had a picnic set up for us at 56 miles.   A man and a woman who lived across from where the van was parked came up to find out about us and brought us organic homegrown vegetables and apples.  I gave each a Make-A-Wish bracelet, which I’m enjoying handing out along the route.  Thank you so much, Marie Riley and Mark Diorio of the Sarasota office of the Make-A-Wish Foundation for sending me off with them - they’ve proved great to have!

The gift of apples reminds me that today was an exceptional day, fruit-wise.  Patty had sent the sag wagon out with fresh apricots, amazing strawberries, first-of-the-season cherries in addition to the usual bananas, oranges, and apples.  What a treat!

Dinner was Mediterranean Chicken or Tofu in white wine sauce, Noodles, Salad, and Ice Cream Cake.  Not bad!

Kentucky Dam, Kentucky

Today’s Miles: 0 / Total Trip Miles: 734.4

Today’s photos are here.  

Not many photos today:  I spent the day gradually working my way back to feeling like a human being - hardly took the camera out.  Pity, because it’s really quite beautiful where we’re staying at the Kentucky Dam Village State Resort Park.  All rooms overlook the lake.  I’d like to come back some time & explore the area - there are a lot of State Parks and it doesn’t seem to be overly touristy.

Woke up this morning feeling like I’d been run over by a steam roller.  Total residual fatigue.  Rubber legs. And that after nine hours of good sleep.  Bob, yesterday’s solo cyclist, had said he found it necessary to take a day off after six days’ riding to let his legs recuperate:  I’ll drink to that.  

Today’s advance plan was to go for a ten mile spin, both to make up some more of the miles I missed and also because I read somewhere that one should do an easy outing to keep one’s legs loose.  Instead, I puttered the day away.  Totally pleasantly I might add.  

Spent the day writing up yesterday’s blog entry; doing enough hand wash to get me through the next two days when a short ride day’s ride will end us up at a chain motel where it should be easy to throw laundry into a washing machine; answering email that had piled up during the week; having a good, clean lunch of soup and salad at the Lodge restaurant; cleaning my bike; speaking about our adventure, along with Anne and Barb, with a reporter from the local newspaper; walking maybe ¼ mile to the post office to mail some things home; and enjoying dinner, again in the Lodge restaurant, with the good company of Sue and Frankie.

A restorative day.  Which I hope will stand me in good stead tomorrow - a 92 mile ride to Morganfield, Kentucky.  Hopefully  the route will take us via back roads - it’s a holiday weekend and traffic could be bad.

To bed early - bet I won’t have any problem sleeping despite not getting any exercise today.  Still feel a tad tired.  

Have a good, safe Memorial Day holiday. 

Dover, Tennessee to Kentucky Dam, Kentucky

Today’s Miles: 60.9 / Total Trip Miles: 734.4

Today’s photos are here.

Pumping up my tires this morning, I managed to break the valve on the stem of the tube of, wouldn’t you know, the rear wheel.  Nice way to start the day, doing a rear wheel tube change.  At least I could work on it in my motel room - better than on the side of the road!  Marilyn came in to give me a hand and some fine points on The Art of Tube Changing including, most importantly, how to disengage the pump from the tube without risking a broken off valve.  An ounce of prevention….

Because the day’s route was relatively short (55 miles) and relatively flat (read: easy), I started out with a detour into downtown Dover to see the Dover Hotel, now known as Surrender House, where after the Battle of Fort Donelson details of the surrender had been negotiated.   On the banks of the Cumberland River, the hotel was built in 1851 to accommodate riverboat travelers and restored by the National Park Service in the 1970’s.  Nice waterfront property!

In town, I stopped to read a big round plaque which described the iron industry, an important part of the local economy in the first half of the 19th century.  Later in the day I cycled past one of the 14 furnaces that had been in use in the county.  Across from the plaque there was some neat wall art.

I found a master’s thesis online that describes the lives of slaves in Tennessee and Kentucky before the Civil War and then after the Battle of Fort Donelson.  Apparently the 1862 Battle was a important turning point towards freedom for the local Afro-American population.  If you’re interested, it’s here. 

Backtracking to get back on route, I stopped at the Dover National Cemetery.   Even though it was only 8:00 a.m., groundskeepers were out in full force, sprucing things up for Memorial Day.  Not wanting to get in their way, I didn’t walk around but snapped a few shots from the entry gate.

Rejoining the route, I turned onto The Trace, the road that goes straight up the middle of Land Between The Lakes (LBL) an inland peninsula (or isthmus? Two sides bordered by lakes, one side by a canal, and connected to land on its fourth side, is that an peninsula or an isthmus? Anybody know?).

In 1959, the Army Corps of Engineers impounded the Cumberland and Tennessee Rivers, creating Kentucky Lake, to the west of LBL, and Lake Barkley, to the east — one of the world’s largest man-made bodies of water.  Then in 1963, JFK created Land Between The Lakes National Recreation Area to demonstrate how an area with limited timber, agricultural, and industrial resources could be converted into a recreation asset and stimulate economic growth in the region.  They did a good job:  we rode the entire length of LBL and it is lovely.

Passed a herd of breakfasting bison who had no interest in posing for pictures.  The brown lumps are bison. 

According to our cue sheets, there was a Visitor Center halfway up The Trace, about 27 miles into the ride.  I was hoping it’d have at least a soda machine:  I was dragging and needed a caffeine fix.  Mind you, the ride was not difficult: the road surface was excellent; the terrain wasn’t pancake flat but what hills there were you weren’t huffing to get up; the weather was perfect, not too hot, not too humid.  When I got to the Visitor Center several other riders were there and I discovered that everyone was feeling the same:  ready for a rest day!  

Sitting outside, working up the energy to get going again, we spoke with Bob Colvin, who is riding solo and self-contained from Muscatine, Iowa (which I’d heard of because we stayed there on last year’s Mississippi Ride) to New Orleans.  Read his travelogue here. 

One can of caffeinated soda got me through the top half of the LBL with much improved energy. The very end of the ride took us over the Kentucky Dam - two lanes, no shoulder, trucks.  I pedaled as fast as I could and didn’t look to see what was behind me.  Not fun.

Coming up the driveway to where we are staying, our spirits went straight up as we caught sight of the Kentucky Dam Village State Resort Park.  What a beautiful place!  And tomorrow is a rest day so we get to stay and relax and regenerate.  Woman Tours, you did good, putting us up here!

Marni’s birthday is tomorrow so, because we’ll be on our own for meals, there was chocolate birthday cake at dinner (the rest of the menu: southwest salmon, with a bean topping; salad, mashed potatoes).  Get this:  I was so tired, I left to go to bed without having any cake.  When Lois passes up chocolate cake, you know something is seriously off kilter!

Asleep at 8:15.  I think the sun was still up.  Who cares?  I was done in.