Kentucky Fried Bikers

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We're sending out love from Bardstown, KY! That's right- we've made it to our final time zone. Surrounded by history of several wars and accents thick as gravy, we think we are about 10 days from the Virginia Coastline and we've been making the most of it.

Missouri was bittersweet.

The Ozarks were beautiful, but hilly!
The scenery was fragrantly lush and mysteriously foggy, but that meant for buggy riding and sleeping.
The drivers were either very cautious or willing to KILL, KILL, KILL.
Yes, Missourians seem have a distaste for bicyclists. We even had a woman, who was driving in the opposite direction, slow down to 15mph, poke her head out her window, and call us every obscenity they have thought of in Missoury. She wasn’t that imaginative and, thus, ended up repeating herself several times. Were we taking something away from her Ford Bronco driving experience?

We later found out that some of the locals have good reason to hate cyclists - one in particular. The owner of the bicycle shop in Farmington proudly told us how he liked to strap a handgun to his ankle when he went on bike rides in “Bubba Country”. In fact, he had already killed two dogs while out on his little jaunts. “Can you believe that the owners had the nerve to get in my face after I killed their dogs! Here I am, standing there with a gun in my hand!” Hmmm, I guess killing the locals’ pets doesn’t exactly make them more enamored with cyclists. Who’s the real “Bubba”?

We also found ourselves riding through neighborhoods with numerous Confederate flags- one of which was accompanied by a black flag with an inspirational message "Kill them All!..." We didn't stick around long enough to read the "...Yankee bicyclists". Needless to say, being in this part of the country has led Forest to whistle Dixie at least once every hour or so. Or is it the theme from Deliverance?

Illinois seemed like a kindler, gentler place.

Nobody tried to kill us with a logging truck. Or a dog. Or a hot brown (keep reading...) A few people’s grammar was a little hard to read though. “I am wanting to baby sit children in my house.” or “Try are daily special!”

Kentucky or New/Improved Missouri?

By the time we crossed into Kentucky, we could felt a little nostalgia for the Ozarks. We saw a small family take a break from their afternoon motorcycle ride to have some cigarettes...with their daughter too, who we're quite sure was at least 13. Bubba-ness aside, people have been so friendly and warm. We like KY. (Partially because we have more fried foods here). Did you know that biscuits and
gravy are their own food group? Last night, we had fried green tomatoes, fried chicken and a hot brown (the grandmother of the McMuffin). We expect heart attacks by Wednesday.

As we head towards our final destination on the Atlantic Coast, we are relishing the best and worst parts about spending our whole day on bikes.

We will not miss:
-Affectionately picking bugs off each others faces.
-Being unable to dry our hair or clothes for days on end due to the humidity.
-Being stared at by Bubba, Billy Bob and Jillie Jo because we are on bicyles. (Yes, we knew you were staring at us)
-Testing which way the wind blows by whether you smell the road kill before or after you swerve around it.
-Not having to judge whether we’ll need our granny gear to get over a hill

We will miss:
-Sleeping under a different sky each night
-Eating sweet rice at breakfast(?)
-Having killer leg muscles
-Not knowing what day of the week it is
-Eating until we can’t breathe without guilt
-Meeting and talking with people from all walks of life



For the BikeTourists:

Day 31
Springfield, MO - East of Hartville
D, AD, KK, A, 38
No shoulder, but little traffic
Slept: Baptist Summer Camp
Miles: ~63

Day 32
East of Hartville - Eminence
38, 17, 106
No shoulder, but little traffic
Slept: Jake's Fork Campground
Miles: ~102

Day 33
Eminence - Johnson's Shut-Ins State Park
106, 21, N
No shoulder, some weekend traffic and some of the local drivers were not friendly
Slept: State Park Campground
Miles: ~42

Day 34
Johnson's Shut-Ins State Park - Saint Geneveive
N, W, 32
Finally a shoulder on 32 between Farmington and Saint Geneveive.
Slept: City park in Saint Geveveive
Miles: ~86

Day 35
Saint Geneveive, MO - Carbondale, IL
Ferry to Modoc, IL, 12, 23, 7, 3 to Kaskaskia Fort and Steeleville, 19, 2, local roads to Willisville, 4, 7, old 13 to Carbondale.
No shoulder, but

Day 33

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Anne and Paul - such a cool Dutch couple riding from East to West. Forest got Paul hooked on gummy worms and Annie got him hooked on powdered dohnuts. Glad to show our foriegn friends how to eat like the locals! (See, we're not the only couple to wear spandex!).

very little traffic
Slept: Super 8 motel
Miles: ~81

Day 36
Carbondale - Elizabethtown
12, 25, 20, 13 via Goreville, 12, 4, 147, 5, 146, 34
No shoulder, very quiet roads
Slept: City park in Elizabethtown
Miles: ~89

Day 37
Elizabethtown, IL - Sebree, KY
146, Tower Rock Rd to Cave in Rock, ferry to KY, 91, 120, 132, road to Lisman, 41 to Dixon, 138, 132
No shoulder, little traffic. Kentucky puts rumble strips along the sides of all of its roads, so it takes away any shoulders.
Slept: Basement of First Baptist Church in Sebree
Miles: ~80

Day 38
Sebree - Falls of Rough
56, 136, 140, 764, 1738, 1414, 54, 110, 79
No shoulder, very little traffic
Slept: Falls of Rough State Campground
Miles: ~83

Day 39
Falls of Rough - Bardstown
79, 259, 401, 86, 920, 220, 31w, 313, 434, 61, 62
No shoulder except on 31w and 313. More traffic after Rineyville.
Slept: Ramada Inn
Miles:~84
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