Mood:  a-ok

I left the B&B shortly after 8 AM.  The owner was very pleasant, and made my stay wonderful.  It had rained last night, and was threatening thunderstorms today, so I put raincovers on all the panniers.

The ride into Boonevile was pleasant because it was all downhill.  The downside of that, of course, is that once I pass through Boonevile, it is all uphill again.  And steep.  I hoped this wasn't what the whole day was going to be like, and it wasn't.  It was what most of the whole day was like, but not all of it.  There was probably 15 miles that weren't hard.

The climbs actually took me, a number a of times, into my lowest gear on the bicycle.  This is a gear that I had only been in three times up to this point--once  at the start of Loup Loup, once for 20' in Spokane, and once near the top of Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park.  None of these today were as steep as the little 1/4 mile hill yesterday, but they were steeper than any of the mountain passes that I had traversed so far. 

I had lunch at Buckhorn, and was told that after a few hills the road leveled out some.  This ended up being true, but those few hills were exhausting.  Taking a break 1.5 hours after lunch, I had only made an additional 9 miles.  During one climb, I looked out through the trees expecting to see another hill in the distance, and was astonished to see that I was above the treeline.  Is that possible?  No, it must be something else.  I decided, correctly it turned out, that I was looking at the backside of a denuded hilside that was hiding mining activity on the other side of it.  Soon I could hear the mining activity.  This area is full of coal mining and coal trucks.

Finally I saw a sign that showed where the turnoff was to the town of Hazard.  I hoped the motel was close.  It wasn't.  In fact the road went downhill seemingly forever before turning near the motel.   Good Lord, I would have one heck of a climb first thing tomorrow just to get back to the trail route.

Once checked in, there were no discernible restaurants nearby.   I was directed me to the VFW, which, apparently served meals, and then there was a KFC not too much further.  Both were within easy walking distance.

The only way I can describe the VFW is that being there was like sitting in an ashtray surrounded by a bunch of alcoholics.  I left.

The KFC was a bit further than anticipated, but it felt good to walk and stretch the legs a bit.  After eating, I sat awhile sending and replying to emails.  I thought I saw a flash outside.  Was that lightning?  Maybe I had better be getting back.  Stepping outside, it was starting to rain, so I went back inside, to see how long the rain would last.  Then it started to pour and pour.  It was a furious thunderstorm that must have dropped 1-2" of water.  The side streets, all going uphill, were solid water flowing out onto the main highway.  It began to look like I might be at KFC for quite a while.  Then suddenly it stopped raining.  Everything outside was soaked.  The side streets still had water flowing down them onto the main drag.  There were massive accumulations of water on the main street, so that when walking back I had to make sure that I was not near one as traffic passed by.  But I got back unscathed and dry.

It might be wise to check the Weather Channel to see what tomorrow weather would be like.  Unfortunately, the lightning had knocked out cable TV for the area.  Tomorrow would be what tomorrow would be.

Sleep has been coming easily, unlike at the start of this journey.  I seldom am not asleep by 9 PM EST.

Tomorrow I will be going on a short ride to a town called Hindman, followed by a long, hard ride on Friday to Elkhorn City.  Dividing up the rides in this manner makes the ride to Elkhorn City managable.  Otherwise it would have been an 80+ mile day to Elkhorn City.  The noteworthy fact about Elkhorn City is that it is on the Virginia/Kentucky border.  The rides in Virginia will also be hard, but, at least I will be out of Kentucky and into another state.  It is likely that I will take a day of rest before tackling Virginia.

Will McMahan