Sonora, Kentucky to Utica, Kentucky
Breakfast in Sonora - biker friendly town. Hate starting the day soaking wet - well, shoes and socks, at least. Kinda the opposite of yesterday. Two AMAZING MILESTONES today. First, 1000 MILES!!! WOW - Second, I crossed into another TIME ZONE.
This day has a certain magic to it. It has been raining since I woke up and I have just finished 63 miles so far. It is only 2:45 PM and I intend to ride another 25 - 30 miles still. Because of the rain, my body is very cool and I hardly went through one bottle of water in 5 hours of riding!
Two other things happened today that are what I hoped this TAT would spur. In a little town called Big Clifty, KY, I stopped to make the phone call to Goreville, IL to set up my next general delivery mail drop. In the past 150 miles I have only passed one library and only a handful of telephones. In Big Clifty I walked into the Double L Grocery and asked about a pay phone and Lee Mims handed me her personal cordless phone. I called the Goreville, IL Post Office and set up the mail and the clerk said there was already a package waiting there for me! I also asked about Saturday hours and she said, “9 to 10 only!” I hope this isn’t gonna turn into another Berea sprint.
You have to see this scene. I am completely soaked like I jumped into a river and I come dripping into this country store and the people in there could not have been nicer. Lee came over and asked me to sign her book while I was having a hot cup of coffee. Her book had 800 names of bikers that have stopped in there since 1993, when she started keeping track. A lot of the entries were people from Europe and a lot of them noted having just crested 1000 miles on the East to West Run. All of a sudden I am no longer feeling so special. In fact, one entry was a guy from Denmark who came through going West to East yesterday and did the same trip one year ago so he had 2 entries in her book. Since it was a rainy day, several local farmers were just chillin’ at the store - smoking and drinking coffee. I thought I was only gonna stop here for a phone call and I ended up staying almost 2 hours.
I mainly talked to Carl Goff, Marie Dennis, Ricky Dennis and Lee Mims. There were a couple other fellows in there but I didn’t catch their names. In those 2 hours I learned more about farms and cattle and found it all fascinating. I felt really stupid and ignorant about not realizing cows get slaughtered for their beef - that there are dairy cows and beef cows. I now know what a heifer is and what feeder cattle are and how if they are really efficient, they can crank out a new calf every 11 months so over the years the birthing efficiency is maximized. I also learned that a 30 year old beef cow’s meat is what goes into TV dinners and a younger animal would be slaughtered for ground beef in the grocery store. Hmmm... I never really ate TV dinners much, but I doubt I will ever again.
Marie told me all about picking pickles. How getting them when they’re small was desirable and if you don’t pick them when they’re small, they grow too big and don’t bring as much money. She said the pickle money would pay for clothes for the kids.
Carl Goff answered a lot of my questions that I had amassed through the miles and miles of farmlands. One of the crops I could not identify, that I kept passing, was soybeans. Now I know what fields of soybeans look like. Tags on fields and tags on livestock - all decoded for me by Carl.
Carl also asked me if I was going through Wycliffe, KY. He said that it is the largest INfluence in the world, where the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers converge. I corrected him and said, "You mean CONfluence." Then I politely apologized for correcting him and said, "I can't help it." He didn't take offense - just took a drag on his cigarette and smiled.
These people could not have been nicer or more friendly. After sitting there, they all felt like old friends. They told me about one hill I had to deal with before Hardin Springs. The good news is it was very short, but it was very steep. An eighth of a mile but 15° grade - needed lowest great!
Their zip code is 42712. I hope to drive this route somewhere in the future and stop at all these places again.
As I went back outside to continue my ride in the rain, I felt rejuvenated. I felt the power of people - talking to them and how their hospitality can be as good as food to energize a “pedaling dude”. I realize more and more this trip is as much mental as it is physical.
Yesterday I had wonderful weather and little people time. Today I had horrible weather and a lot of people time. Today was the better day of the two. It really is about the people you meet along the way. This TAT is treating me well today.
When it rains it pours - the saying goes. Well, the next stop was for lunch about an hour later. I walked into Boogie’s Restaurant and a fellow asked me how far I was going and then asked me to join him and his wife at their table. I met Honus Shain and his wife, Debbie. He handed me a brochure for the Pine Knob Theater which he owns and runs. His wife stars in the shows and she autographed a picture of herself in the brochure for me. Honus collects old cars, including a 1957 Crown Victoria which he travels the country in. They had a lot of interesting stories about their travels around the USA. He also had an interesting career owning and operating radio stations years ago. I’m sitting there having lunch with total strangers and I have to stop and think about it for a minute. Nothing takes the edge off the sometimes lonely miles on a bike better than people that make you feel at home and welcome at their table.
Riding later, I kept thinking about something my friend Laura told me the other day on the phone. She said people in West Virginia (and I’m gonna say most of the heartland) believe you are a good person when they meet you and trust you from the start... it is up to you to do something to cause them to think otherwise. Growing up in the east, I feel it is the opposite. We don’t trust anyone until we get to know them and feel comfortable with them. Honus and Debbie were so generous that they not only asked me to join them, but also paid for my lunch. Thanks folks! I should have bought THEM lunch. Their company was more satisfying than the meal itself. I had a BBQ sandwich and tried fried okra for the first time. It was pretty good.
As I rode the next 20 miles in the rain, through a back road in Fordsville that Honus recommended to avoid trucks on Rte. 54, I kept thinking about the miserable weather and how the friends I made today made it feel like the sun was shining and how much extra energy I seemed to have. Last push - 30 more miles to Utica firehouse. It’s raining, I’m wet, I feel strong, and it’s cool - so I’m going for it. 10 miles at a time. One guy stopped and said, “You’re not going that way on a bike are you?”
I said, “Yeah.”
He said, “You’re not gonna make it. There’s a lot of water!”
I said, “Ya - Road Closed!” and kept going. It turned out to be a lot of puddles and all the creeks were swollen with muddy water, but I kept going.
Saw two deer hopping through an acre of soybeans (see, I can identify it now - the agricultural expert that I am thanks to Carl). I tried to take a picture of them because it was quite a sight. They would practically disappear on their downward trajectory. Anyway, by the time I pulled out my camera from under the rain covers, they were too far away.
Made it to Utica at 6:30 Central Time. 94.15 miles for the day (HIGHEST SO FAR). 7 hrs. 41 min. riding time. 1074.4 total miles.
Knocked on the door of Utica firehouse and no one answered. Door was unlocked so I went in and changed into dry clothes. This is My Old Kentucky Home for the night. Was kinda hoping some other bikers would be here, but no dice. Better go look for dinner. Made phone calls. Met Ken Shepherd of the Utica Fire Company. He said that there’s a cot upstairs that I can sleep in and to make myself at home. So I have my maps spread out on desks and wet stuff hanging up to dry everywhere. Two more days of rain predicted but this fire house stay is very, very welcome. THANKS UTICA FD!!! Good night.