October 5, 2010 - Big Clifty to Bardstown, KY

We left Ben and Wanda's place about 9 a.m. and headed towards Bardstown, KY, a distance of about 66 miles.  It was hard to leave after 3 wonderful nights with them.  The night before we left my cousin Vic treated all of us, including my Aunt Gladys, to a wonderful Italian meal at B.B.'s in Leitchfield, KY.

Wanda, Aunt Gladys, Vic, Fran, Donna, Dana and Ben

Fran and Donna ready to leave Big Clifty for Bardstown, KY

The ride to Bardstown was uneventful except for the last few miles into town on Hwy. 49 - that road is busy, with no shoulder, and DANGEROUS!  Bardstown is the bourbon capitol of the world; Dana, Fran and Donna went to one of the distillaries for a tasting.  In the evening we went to the Talbot Tavern - had a nice evening and dinner and talked with some of the other guests.  The Talbot Tavern is the oldest stage coast stop west of the Alleghenies.  We stayed at My Old Kentucky Home State Park - nice campground.

Rest Days in Big Clifty, KY

We are really enjoying our rest days in Big Clifty, KY at the farm of Nancy's cousin Ben Duvall and his wife Wanda.  We arrived Saturday afternoon and were also greeted by Nancy's cousin Jane and her husband Jesse from Nashville, TN and Nancy's Aunt Gladys.  Nancy's cousin Victor came over later.  So, we had a mini- family reunion!  We had lots of laughs and were only too sorry that Jane and Jesse had to leave.  Ben and Wanda took us on a tour of the farm before dark - what a beautiful farm they have!

On Sunday we all went to church and Nancy saw an old friend she hadn't seen in 50 years!  We had a family lunch after church then Ben took Dana, Fran and Nancy fishing on the farm.  We actually caught enough bass to cook for dinner!

Nancy with her fish!

We also had a chance to visit some with Ben and Wanda's son Eric and his father-in-law Gary.

On Sunday evening Ben and Wanda entertained us with their music talent on the guitar, mandolin and bass.  They are really talented Bluegrass musicians!

Ben and Wanda

On Monday Dana, Fran and Donna went to Mammoth Caves National Park while I (I was at Mammoth Caves last year with my granddaughters) stayed on the farm and visited with Wanda.  We're having a family dinner again tonight with Victor and Joyce, Aunt Gladys, and Ben and Wanda.  Wanda is making a REAL pumpkin pie for us right now out of homegrown pumpkins - can't wait to have a piece!

Tomorrow we'll be back on the bikes and riding to Bardstown, KY.

October 1, 2010 - Marion to Diamond Lake, KY

Today's ride was about 50 miles and really not too hard.  We rode through lots of small towns and still had some hills.  We did have a pretty strong north wind which made the ride a bit more difficult than it would have been without the wind.  Dana and I went with Fran and Donna to Diamond Lake and Lisa rode on to Utica, KY where she camped outside the fire station.  Diamond Lake is a beautiful RV park SW of Owensboro, and is run by great people.  We had a fun surprise with Andreas deciding to rent a car in Tennessee and join us for dinner and the evening!  Andreas drove back to TN the next morning (cutting out several of what he had decided were dangerous miles he didn't want to do on a bike) and we rode in the RV/car to Bowling Green, KY to get a part at Camping World for the RV.  We will spend the next few days with my cousins at their beautiful farm in Big Clifty, KY.

September 30, 2010 - Eddyville, IL to Marion, KY

Today we crossed the Ohio River!  We had a hilly ride again in the morning, and I again missed a turn (probably saved me from some really safe hills but put me in "harms way" with a busy highway - again, lots of coal trucks - and no shoulder.  However, we all ended up at Cave in the Rock, IL about the same time so that Dana, Lisa and I crossed the Ohio River together on the ferry.

Lisa, Dana and Nancy crossing the Ohio River

We rode into Marion, KY where we managed to find an RV park (good, because the lodging selection was pretty much nonexistent!).

September 29, 2010 - Lost Again!

Today we rode from Murphysboro Lake State Park, IL to Eddyville, IL.  Dana and I almost immediately got lost trying to get out of Murphysboro and to the city of Carbondale.  Getting lost probably didn't cause us to have to ride many more miles but it did cause us to ride through the fairly large town of Carbondale the the campus of Southern Illinois University.  After getting through town I was fairly tired from my 100 mile ride the day before so decided I wanted to take it easy and Dana went on ahead at a faster pace.  I then got lost again because I missed a turn (Lisa ended up missing the same turn) and ended up riding on a busy highway with way too many coal trucks into the town of Goreville.  I had a great lunch with the locals at Delaney's in Goreville though, and got a "second wind".  The rest of the ride of a bit hilly, but not too bad.  Dana and Fran ended up picking me up a few miles outside of our destination; so I rode 54 miles that day (plenty after my 100 miles the day before!).  We spent the night at a RV horse camp outside of Eddyville, IL - not an experience any of us would recommend because of the smell and the flies (convenient for horse people though since the rate for camping includes stalls for your horses!).

September 28, 2010 - Not Reading the Map Cost Me This Time!

Today started out as a hilly but beautiful morning in the Missouri countryside - still with lots of hills.  In the early afternoon we crossed the bridge over the Mississippi River into Chester, Illinois.

Bridge Across the Mississippi

Welcome Signs into Illinois and the town of Chester (Home of Popeye)

We were riding into Murphysboro, Illinois that evening and had a choice between two routes.  Dana and Lisa decided on the hilly route with less traffic, and I decided to ride the busier route along the Mississippi River.  I'm really glad I chose the latter.  It was very busy with coal truck for the first 6 or 7 miles but then the traffic became almost non-existent.  It was a beautiful route except for the coal plant (however it was interesting to watch the coal being transported to a barge on the river).

Field of Sunflowers near Murphysboro, IL

Unfortunately, my lack of map reading skills punished me.  I managed to turn the wrong direction about 70 miles into the ride.  By the time I reached Murphysboro Lake State Park where everyone was camped I ended up having ridden 100.41 miles - a LONG day!

Hills, Hills and more Hills

We are on another rest day. This time with Nancy's relatives in Kentucky. Staying in their beautiful quest home--the cats get an entire barn to roam in.
Missouri/Illinois and western Kentucky can be summarized as hills. Some are super steep but they are getting less steep as we head east. We did more climbing in Missouri each day than in Colorado. We rode across the Mississippi and took a ferry across the Ohio Rivers.
We also had this strange notion that we would be heading more into civilization. Actually we still have very spotty cell service and only limited opportunities to stop for overnite or even food.
Andreas has come and gone a few times--perhaps now for the last time. We will all miss him very much.
The tow hitch had broken some days ago and Donna had been driving the Elephant. We got that fixed in Bowling Green so the girls can now sit together in the motor home and chat as they drive their short miles each day.
Here is the re-cap since the last rest day:
September 25-to Houston, Mo: 66 miles, 67-78 degrees, 3412 feet of climbing.
26th to Ellington: 70 miles, 53-60 degrees, 4931 feet.
27th to Farmington: 65 miles, 53-70 degrees, 3763 feet.
28th to Murphysboro, Ilinois: 88 miles, 53-77 degrees, 4307 feet.
29th to Eddyville: 67 miles, 57-80 degrees, 3612 feet.
30th to Marion, Kentucky: 46 miles, 57-88 degrees, 2936 feet.
October 1st to Beech Grove-Owensboro: 53 miles, 60-75 degrees, 2100 feet.

We will resume riding on tuesday 5th. On our rest days we will visit Mammoth Caves and just generally relax.