Day 15: Breaks Interstate Park, VA to Pippa Passes, KY (69 miles, 677 total)

We are both really tired tonight, so this is a group entry. Jeff will start the writing...

Today was rough! By far, it was our longest day of saddle time. By saddle time, I mean the total time that we were on the bikes and physically moving. Our cyclo-computers measure it for us, and today A.K. clocked in 7 hours of saddle time! We had three pretty major climbs today, and they really took their toll on us.

But anyway, we are in Kentucky! We are both very excited to have finished our first and toughest state. So far, eastern Kentucy has been a lot like western Virginia. One big contrast, sadly there seems to be a lot more trash on the side of the road. The number of dogs around has certainly increased, but so far most have been tied up or behind fences. We hope it stays that way! (I unholstered my halt several times today but never had to use it. I pointed it right at one black dog and he stopped on the spot. He must have been hit before! -AKB)

The people here are super friendly as well. We spoke to a nice family today just outside of Pippa Passes. They offered us water and took photos of us, very friendly people!
We wished we could have stayed longer to talk with them.

Oh, one great thing, it turns out that we may have lucked out as far as the coal trucks go. With the long Memorial Day weekend, we may be able to get past all of the trucking zones while the truckers are off for the weekend. That is well worth the circus camping we endured last night. We saw maybe three coal trucks today, must be over-timers. There certainly was a lot of evidence of ther coal business on the side of the road though.

And know A.K. writing...

First, though let's go back to last night. The night in the campground wasn't as bad as we thought it would be. I (AK) had my best night of ground sleeping yet. The sorority girls were loud but I just tuned them out eventually.

We were definitely some of the earliest up and out of the area in the morning. The three of us all went to the park restaurant for breakfast buffet and really chowed down. Our waitress was super hovery and quick to clear things. At one point, she started clearing James' plate as he was taking the last bite! She took all his silverware and we to get him a new set. What really pushed us to hysterics was that she cleared his coffee cup when she had just brought it out! (They bring a mug and then a small pitcher of coffee for you to pour from yourself. Anyway, Jeff was gone from the table at this point, but James and I were trying to flag down the lady for a while to get a new mug. So here is how the conversation went:
James: Could I get a new coffee mug please?
Waitress: What was wrong with your first one?
James: Um, nothing...but it just isn't here anymore.
Waitress: pauses...I took it, didn't I?
James: Um, yeah, but it's ok. I just need another one.

It may not be funny to any of you as you read this, but we were laughing so hard I had tears rolling down my cheeks. Jeff and I have also laughed about it several times today.

So back to today's ride. This was the longest, hardest day of riding I've had in my entire life. The mileage is longer by 7 or so than my longest total before this, but the saddle time was the toughest. I can't believe I spent 7 hours on that thing, and yes, all of those parts hurt right now. Even my tailbone is tender!

Back to Jeff...

So we started riding a bit late today. We finally got pedalling at 9 AM and we paid for it at the end of the day. It was sort of raining this morning, so we were slow to get rolling. Once we did, we got to Kentucky in just a few miles. We took a few photos at the state line and had a brief celebration.

The morning portion of the ride was very scenic. We pedaled along an amazing cliffside that paralleled the river; it was rather impressive. We turned up road 195 which haunted us with the barks of dogs and resulted in a tough and unexpected climb. At one point we came across a hen with at least 15 chicks crossing the road. There was a lot of "peeping" going on.

Eventually, we stumbled upon an IGA market and stopped for food for lunch and dinner. They had a small deli that offered up lots of good food. Apparently our eyes were amazingly bigger than our stomachs, so we packed up the leftovers for later (which was a good call considering our late arrival tonight). While eating our picnic-style lunch in the parking lot we overheard another man using the expression "bad fer it". It must be the real deal.

After lunch, we felt the usual sluggishness but pedaled on toward two big climbs. The first one was long, but not terribly steep. The second one was quite steep. It is what I would call a "drooler"; it takes so much out of you that you cannot even find the energy to keep the spit in your mouth.

From there we just had rolling hills to Pippas Passes, but it was getting late. We finally made it to Alice Lloyd College in P.P. at about 6:45! Now all we had to do was find the Madden's home (they run a small hostel for cyclists out of thier home). Well, we made a wrong turn and went about three miles past where we needed to be.

We didn't get going the correct direction until we met Mr. Slone (Mrs. Madden's cousin). He is a very interesting man with a huge interest in bikes (he has about 20 in his living room). His biggest passion is bluegrass music. He used to travel and play music, but now retired, he is building a small venue in his backyard!

Anyway, we finally made it here! The Maddens are out, but we were greeted by a dog and several cats (one is really plump). We scarfed our left over food, took showers and now we need to sleep! So it is time to kill some z's...

Jeff