Up this morning at 5am….was already light enough to roll, but not sure I’ll be getting up at 4:30 to do so in the future. 67 degrees with a high of 88 today….possible t-storms starting around 11am—check that “possible”, they happened 🙂
About 5 miles in this morning saw a guy walking down the road toward me—seems like a lot of people walk in the roads around here. He stopped me and told me he was the preacher at a baptist church down the road and wanted to know how to contact someone about letting cross country bicyclist stay at his church. I gave him the contact info for the Adventure Cycling Association…..that’s where I bought my maps and they have lots of places to stay marked on them.
Lots of climbing some pretty big hills all morning. These aren’t mountains but they are very steep hills that will give you a workout. I think the WKU mascot is called the “Hill Topper” or something like that—I see where they got the idea today.
Stopped at the Diner in Fordsville about 23 miles in for breakfast. Country ham, eggs, potatoes, biscuits, gravy, coffee and orange juice—may have to cut out the country ham in future—the salt makes me thirsty for a couple hours after eating it.
While at the Diner some of the cyclist from the Adventure Cycling group came in—they stayed in the same campground as I did last night. I first caught up to them in Hindman, KY but when I took a day off in Lexington they got in front of me again. They’re stopping in Utica tonight — I’ll be passing through there before noon so won’t be stopping. Have a feeling this is the last time I’ll see them….nice group of people.
10:30 and 30 miles down. I can hear a huge thunderstorm off in the north-east. About 11am and it caught me. I stood on side of road under three limbs for some relief from the rain—it was a big tree and the trunk was at least 30 yards away so I felt safe. The rain was coming down in buckets—Waited it out for about 30 min. I was soaked from the bone, but at least it cooled things off nicely.
Got to Utica about 12:30 with 49 miles down. This is where the ACA group is stopping for the night staying at a fire station here. I pushed on through planning to stop in Grenville about 6 miles down the road at a cafe that is on the map for lunch. Got there and it was closed….Sunday, oh well….rode another couple miles then pulled over in a nice little spot to finish off a Rice Krispie treat and some Gatorade.
Stopped at a Marathon station in Beech grove for a late lunch. Had chicken strips and potatoes, Diet Coke with ice, and orange juice. Left there to do the final 9 miles to Sebree where I’ll be staying the night. Passed through a long valley on the way to Sebree with about a 3 mile stretch of straight flat road. I was heading Southwest and a strong wind was coming out of the south….was nice and cool and didn’t hamper my forward progression much, but was trying to blow me off the bike sideways. I was imagining this was just a small warm up for what I may face in Kansas.
Rolled into Sebree with 75 miles for the day. Really wanted to do another 15-20 miles, but there are no services or places to stay after Sebree for about 45 miles and I didn’t feel like going that fast.
Staying at the Baptist Church here in Sebree…this place is AMAZING! The church serves as a cyclist hostel. The lady let me in and told me to make myself home. I have the entire youth center to myself. There is a cyclist area with bike pumps and all kinds of bike stuff other cyclists have left behind over the years. A hot shower with towels, a full kitchen, and washer/dryer. My cloths were soaked from both today and yesterday so I’m washing/drying nearly everything I have. Staying here was the right choice—better than a hotel, but this is a small town and there are no hotels anyway 🙂 I’m sitting in a recliner enjoying the air conditioning after just having a great shower and putting on dry cloths—life is good! 5 stars to Sebree Baptist Church in KY. I may just sleep in this recliner tonight 🙂
Going to hit the road early tomorrow. Calling for thunderstorms by 1pm here….hopefully, I’ll be in Illinois by then and will out run them—or run into them, who knows 🙂
Another good day of cycling!
