Hindman Kentucky

The mom found the greatest camp spot at the settlement school in hindman. The first rural settlement school in the US to teach mountain children. Nearly everyone in town told the mom to stay clear of the historical society arrangement. Apparently it is run by a guy who likes to financially take advantage of passerbys. Instead the settlement school is free camping showers and bathroom. Yeah. The ride today was great. We have been sitting under a big tree for the past 5 hours watching for other cyclist. The tree is so big we did not even feel the raindrops from the afternoon showers. Tomorrow we ride into Virginia, a long hilly day.

Heels (hills?)

Today Jackie and I began the Appalachian heels. They were not too bad yet, especially since we didn't have our panniers. Instead we enjoyed the beautiful scenery and amazing descents. We are marveling over the fact that we have a week left to go. I can't believe how close we are after all of these weeks of pedaling.

The campground is nice and quiet and the mom had everything set up when we arrived. Furthermore, for the past three nights we have been camping at the same campgrounds as another couple. They are very friendly and let us borrow their floor pump. It is nice to have our tires at their optimal inflation. Tomorrow we are going to Hindman.

Appalachia here we come!

Jackie and I had a relatively short day to Berea. We would have liked to go further but the next place we could have stayed was 80+ miles.

The mom went ahead and found the campsite. She also reconnoitered the artisan district in town and found the best slow food movement restaurant! I had a roast beef, cheddar, horseradish sandwich on homemade bread. It was easily one of the best things I have eaten in months (aside from the cooking of Nora Vrakas). From the cafe we walked to the ice cream/fudge/chocolate shop. We were just like kids in a candy store! After contributing to the local economy, we crossed the tracks and went over to the evil empire... Walmart. Walmart was great, we found everything we needed and played a little bingo while we were there.

Tomorrow we begin the big hills!

Love the 4th of July. 5 days of fireworks not so much.

Last night as we settled into our tents for the night we were once again involved in someone's fireworks display. Unfortunately this time they were a little close. The were from the neighbors of the campground and the debris from the fireworks were landing on our tent. Not so hilarious. Add to that a freaked out barking dog 50 feet from our tents. After about an hour of this craziness we walked to the camp office and called the owner. We found a new flat spot away from all the craziness all at the lovely hour of 1100. Argggggg. Hopefully tonight will be uneventful.

Appalachia here we come!

Jackie and I had a relatively short day to Berea. We would have liked to go further but the next place we could have stayed was 80+ miles.

The mom went ahead and found the campsite. She also reconnoitered the artisan district in town and found the best slow food movement restaurant! I had a roast beef, cheddar, horseradish sandwich on homemade bread. It was easily one of the best things I have eaten in months (aside from the cooking of Nora Vrakas). From the cafe we walked to the ice cream/fudge/chocolate shop. We were just like kids in a candy store! After contributing to the local economy, we crossed the tracks and went over to the evil empire... Walmart. Walmart was great, we found everything we needed and played a little bingo while we were there.

Tomorrow we begin the big hills!

Addendum: I wasn't lost I just didn't know where I was

While driving the route this morning I took a turn at hwy 458 instead of hwy 438. Needless to say I did not catch up with the girlies. They were no where to be found. Anyway my drive was amazing. One lane bridges. Covered bridges. Dark winding curvy hilly roads.
Kind of missed my bike. Really a great road. When I did finally find the girls Katy was fixing her first flat of the trip.
Not too bad.

Happy Fourth of July!

We woke at the hotel and prepped for our day's ride (aka affixed our USA flags to our bikes). This whole trip had been such an American experience, it seemed appropriate.

The ride was mediocre. I got my first flat tire of the day. Then while changing it, I could not find what caused the flat even though I looked for almost ten minutes. We determined that the culprit must have fallen out of the tube. We were wrong, about a mile later the tube was flat again. Fortunately, this time I quickly found a stone through my tire and patched the hole. The one good thing about the ride was that we saw two baby bunnies. Very cute. We were disappointed that we did not see any Fourth of July parades and only one BBQ.

We arrived at the campsite to see the mom's fine sag work. Tents pitched and ready to go. After dinner we asked about dessert and were told they only had berry fried pie. They even fry their pies in the south! Needless to say, none of us were about to turn down fried pie. Delicious.