Day 20: Chimney Rock Campground, KY to Bardstown, KY (62 miles, 916 total)

First off, we'd like to apologize for the late posting of the previous entry. The rain caused some delay and then we couldn't find a phone to use along the roadside.

For the most part, it rained all night on us, and I am happy to say that my little REI Half Dome Plus tent did the trick. It kept us warm, dry and cozy all night despite the pitter-patter just above our heads. When we woke up at six, it really started to come down. We decided that we shouldn't wait it out, so we just made a break for it. We broke camp, packed up, ate some Fig Newtons and rolled.

About 5 miles down the road, we arrived in the town of Burgin. On the corner was a small diner. Since we knew the Fig Newtons wouldn't keep us going for long, we decided to stop. The place had great food and it was cheap too; for the both of us, our entire meal was under 8 bucks. I've discovered that my best morning fuel is oatmeal. I always seem to ride with more energy throughout the day when I have oatmeal; unfortunately, I hate it.

Anyway, we learned from chatting with the waitress that James was in the same resturant days before us. He must be blasting miles.

Just after breakfast, we stopped by a post office to mail home our second completed map. We finished the second map in Berea; we blasted through that one. We are now making good progress on the third map.

At some point in the day, we passed a mailbox that was painted to be completely like some NASCAR car, complete with sponsor logos and flames. It was pretty impressive. We've seen several impressive mailboxes over the miles. My favorites include the mailbox dressed up like a John Deere tractor (I've got a photo of that one) and the traditional mailbox mounted on a coil spring.

Speaking of mail, so far in VA and KY on these country roads, mail is delivered on only one side of the road. So no matter what side of the road your house is on, everyone's mailbox is on the same side. The mailman seems to drive his personal car with a few magnetic USPS signs on it and a yellow light on top. If the mailman had to deliver to the right side of the road, he gets in the pasenger side outfitted with a gas pedal and a brake pedal and sits over there while at the same time reaching over to the driver side to steer. It is sort of funny looking, but it makes sense. I noticed it about on the first day or so, and when I mentioned it to Anne Katherine, she was convinced that there were two people in the car each time. It wasn't until about a day ago (after seeing this about every other day) when A.K. finally realized that I was not full of it. They really could use some old-school postal jeeps out here... gold ones... Spray-painted gold ones... with fake cow-skin seat !
covers, 8-track players and a rear door that is fiberglassed shut.

Anyway, after breakfast we biked through Harrodsburg, Mackville, and Springfield in a light rain. It wasn't enough to warrant the rain gear, but it was rather damp and required frequent wiping of the glasses. Luckily, it wasn't very cold, so we gathered the powers of the Masters of the Universe and biked on.

The entire way to Springfield I sang two words to a song from a Simpsons episode... "Springfield, Springfield!" Unfortunately, those are the only words I can remember, but something tells me that Rebus can inform us all as to what the rest of the words are, which episode it is from, who co-starred in it, and other funny things about that episode.

Springfield was about 30 miles down the road, and it was the largest town on the route for the day so we decided to stop in and see what was going on. We stopped outside a resturant for a moment just as a woman with a big camera was stepping out. It turns out she was from the local Springfield newspaper. Her name was Becky and she took lots of photos of us as we discussed our efforts with the FFB and our website with her. She told us that she'll write a story about us that it should be online sometime this weekend. So since we don't have internet access you all can check on that for us; see what you can find.

Becky recommended the local resturant so we decided to stop in. We stepped in and discovered a packed resturant. It had to be a local favorite because the place was packed with locals from all walks of life including seniors, businessmen, nurses, bluecollar workers, teenagers, college students, etc. Plus, they all seemed to know each other.

Today marked a first for Kentucky. We came across our first two Route 76 Bikecentenial signs in this state, and they were about 10 miles from one another. So that means that so far, Kentucky is averaging two route signs about ever 300 miles. That makes for easy navigation!

From Springfield we biked past the Lincoln Homestead State Park and stopped in to see replicas of the logcabins that Abraham Lincoln's grandfather built.

Inside one of the cabins we discovered the smallest mice ever. These little guys were not afraid of us at all and seemed to hop around like frogs (they had oddly large back legs). I think they were a type of titmouse. They weren't scared of us at all and AK got so close to one that she touched it with her shoe! It backed off a few inches, but didn't run away.

Onward we biked through Maud and into our destination for the day, Bardstown. We are camping in the My Old Kentucy Home State Park Campground. The place is very empty and peaceful, plus I was able to get a beer with dinner, so I am a happy guy.

There is a lot to see around this town. It is called the "Bourbon Capital of the World" and the famous Churchill Down is nearby, so we were thinking that it might be a nice place to take a full rest day.

As we were pondering the logistics of how to go about the rest day (everthing to see and do is a good car ride away), Anne Katherine got a phone message from her father. He has generously booked us a rental car for tomorrow to see the local sights. In addition to that, he also booked us a hotel room. Awesome! Thanks Joe! Glad to hear you are getting better since the wipe-out.

Anyway, it is time to get to bed. We've got some relaxing to do tomorrow!

Oh, I almost forgot. I tried another new soda tonight. It's called Ski, and it's another "citrus soda". It is no Big Red, but it is nothing wonderful.

Jeff