Total distance:805.58 miles
Average speed: 9.1 miles
Time on bike: 4 hrs and 7 min
We met our first mean person today. I guess it had to come sooner or later because we have met so many nice people already! It happened early this morning...
As I mentioned in my last post we were due for some pretty severe thunderstorms last night as well as a possible tornado. We arrived at the campsite and asked if there was a pavilion to hang out in and planned to set up camp under there once everyone left for the night. Those weather men were right on target, because we did have some pretty severe thunderstorms starting around 8pm. We could see clearly because of all the lightening and we couldn't even hear each other over the thunder! It was pouring rain so hard, we were so relieved we had set up under a pavilion. Around 11pm the tornado siren started going off!!!! We sprung up so fast in our tent because it was so loud and we were terrified! We had nowhere to go if a tornado did come through because they had locked the doors to the bathrooms inside the pavilion. The siren went off after about 30 minutes but needless to say we didn't get much sleep last night!!
Because we didn't get a lot of sleep we decided to sleep in and we woke up around 7am. A lady that worked in the park came around 8 and proceeded to yell at us for sleeping under the pavilion!!! She said that this was NOT the designated camping area and we needed to get out now. She hung around for a bit while we were packing and told us once more that we really needed to get out now. We were mad because first of all, no one was even in the pavilion, second of all there was a TORNADO warning last night, and third of all, she was mean!!!
She finally left and another man from the park came by and asked us if we slept under the pavilion last night. We hesitantly said "yes" and he said "good, that was a rough storm last night". He also told us there was a funnel cloud less than 10 miles from where we were staying!!! Yes, yes it was a rough storm and after that reassurance we didn't let that mean lady who didn't care about our well-being get to us!
We got a late start and were on the road by 9:30am! Now when we cycle we only stop for important things such as thunderstorms, grandmas crossing the road, and distilleries! Not more than 4 miles down the road we saw a Kentucky bourbon distillery and stopped to take a tour/tasting! As we pulled into the parking lot a couple pulled in beside us and said that they had seen us a few times cycling this week!! They were from Maryland and had passed us in their car!! We got to talking and they ended up paying for our tour as a graduation gift! Thanks!!! We had so much fun meeting them and hearing their stories!!
The distillery was so interesting! It was my first time but Joe's second taking a tour of a distillery. The one we visited was very small and had been running since the early 30s. It still uses most of the original distillery methods and equipment from when it started and it is family owned. Of course the best part was the tasting! We were able to taste a 4 year old rye bourbon as well as a 12 and 24 year old bourbon. yummmm!!!! We were sad to leave but it was already 12pm and we had only cycled 4 miles!!! ( I guess you don't have to be worried about us drinking and driving rather drinking and cycling!)
We got back on the road and cycled through beautiful country roads! We were cycling on one road for about 8 miles when a dump truck going the other way informed us that we had to turn around because the bridge ahead was out! We were really disappointed because that involved adding an additional 16 miles to our day! We decided to go to the bridge and see if there was any way around on bikes. The construction workers were so nice and helped us get across safely! Thanks for saving us 2 hours of cycling!!!
We realized we were hungry right when we saw a cute little mart! We were going to just stop for bread to make PB and J but we decided to eat there. It was a good life choice because the owner, Carissa was so nice! We talked about her goats and how she makes goat cheese, ice cream, and goat milk soap! She even gave us a free bar of the soap! She became my best friend when she gave us a short cut to the town we were headed to for the night! It saved us nearly 8 miles of riding and the road was beautiful! Thanks!!
Currently we are in a library and plan to stay the night in the town park! Not sure what we are doing for dinner yet but probably something yummy!!
Tomorrow we will be taking a detour to Mammoth Cave State Park!!!! We plan to take Saturday off and tour the caves!! It will add about three days onto our route but we think it is totally worth it!
Mary and Joe
PS Mom, I'm still alive.