Perryville, Kentucky to Sonora, Kentucky
Welcome to September! Happy Labor Day! I’ll be laboring today on a bike.
Up at 5:30 AM. Clear sky and lots of Kentucky stars out. Quick coffee and egg biscuit, a post office stop, and I’m off at 6:52 AM. OK, I’m re-invigorated. It’s a spectacular morning! Cool, dry, water color skies, a chorus of roosters greet the sun as it comes up over a hill to the east. Life is good and I’m sailing along at 18 mph. Nobody is on the road (holiday morning) and I adjust my side view mirror to keep an eye on the sunrise and sky. It is basically pointing up, so I see no road in the mirror. Feel much better, especially after conquering the storm last night. That tent is FANTASTIC! Resistant to all kinds of attack! :)
Spooked a couple of horses close to the road, as I silently came up on them at 20 mph. No roar of a car engine, so they didn’t expect me. The both bolted away. One more pesky dog, but I just kicked it up a notch. Hey those four legs can’t outrun me!
Stopped to take the picture of the day. A cow standing in a creek.
It’s been a pretty decent day for riding. Sun and clouds so I get a break now and then. Dead possums and frogs seem to be the predominant roadkill today. Saw 3 dead possums in a 3 mile stretch. Only one monster hill - tons of rolling ones. Passed a family of about 10 sitting on a porch having a yard sale as I struggled up a fairly steep hill. I called over to them, "ya got any motors?" They all laughed...
Just kept pressing on and made it to Abe Lincoln’s Birthplace National Historic Site at around 2:30 - 61.7 miles so far. Will try and ride more later.
The cabin Lincoln was born in is housed in a granite building with columns. The interior of the building is just large enough to walk around the perimeter of the cabin. I know these are meaningless connections, but I am standing next to the building where Lincoln’s mother went into labor on Labor Day, which is a national holiday, as is Lincoln’s Birthday! So.?. Well, I just thought if I expanded that thought far enough, I could connect it to a Kevin Bacon movie... but it didn’t pan out. Maybe I’ve been riding that bicycle too long...
There are some trails weaving through the park to a still-active spring, where young Abe’s water came from and a Visitor’s Center with exhibits. February 12, 1809. Lincoln’s date of birth. There are some cabins that are replicas of the one Lincoln was born in that you can stay in overnight. Wonder if you can get one with a jacuzzi?
It’s 4 PM now. I’m gonna take a nap and let my bike shoes and socks dry out in the sun. Still wet from yesterday.
Wrote a postcard to Evan and the boys at Bikeline, plus one to Peg, the kids, and Ben.
Back on the bike at 6:00 PM and rode 10 more miles west to Sonora, KY - population 290. But there was a truck stop on I-65, so I decided to eat dinner there. All you can eat fried chicken, soup and salad bar, and it was really good. Many heaping plates for a very hungry biker. It was nearly dark when I left there and I asked the waitress if she was from around there and she was. So I asked about where in Sonora I could pitch a tent and she said, “There’s a grassy area by this little store when you come into town and a lot of the bikers camp there.” I was hoping someone would already be there so I could finally meet one of my traveling comrades, but no luck. Didn’t exactly like the spot either. So I found another churchyard that looked good.
76.12 miles. 6 hrs. 47 min. 982.3 total miles.
Cool sleeping - light breeze. A train came through and a dog started barking. He yelped for about a half hour. Had to listen to Nancy with headphones so I wouldn’t hear the damn dog. Finally he shut up, then another train came through and he started again - process repeated. Though the night, I stopped hearing the dog, but the freight trains were pretty regular. Woke up at 5:15 and decided to go back to sleep. Fifteen minutes later, out of nowhere, it started pouring. Rude awakening - everything got soaked. Ran for cover to the overhang at the church entrance and packed up the bike. Well, this is actually Day 16, isn’t it...