Day 22: 78 Miles

Louisville, KY to Falls of Rough, KY

My day yesterday in Louisville was filled with rain so I was hoping all of the rain would be out of the area by the time I woke up this morning. I took a look at the radar and most of the rain appeared to be east of Louisville. I thought I would be good to go, but the storm circled back on itself which meant I rode through rain for about 35 miles this morning.

I left Louisville using the 15 mile long bike trail that heads south out of town. The trail was paved and perfectly nice, but not in a great area. I had to ride through a fairly sketchy neighborhood to get to the trail and once on the trail the scenery was mostly factories. At this point the rain was coming down pretty hard, but the wind was coming in from my right side so I was not getting hit directly in the face with water. I took a couple stops along the way to wait out some stronger rain and managed to make decent time along the trail.

When I got to the end of the bike trail I was happy to see Jeff’s Burger Shack. It was only 11:00 and I had a footlong Subway sandwich waiting for me in my bag, but I decided to stop in and at least get dry for a few minutes. I ordered a couple of hot dogs and sat down to eat them. Sitting at the table next to me was a guy dressed in nurse scrubs eating a burger. From my first impression of him I would not have guessed he’d be interested in my bike trip or even going outside himself. I couldn’t have been more wrong. After finishing nursing school he had spent 4 months on the Appalachian Trail. We talked about his trip and my trip and he was able to give me some pointers on the roads coming up on my route today.

My route then took me through Fort Knox. I knew I was passing through an army base because every 15 feet there were signs posted stating that this was a restricted army base area. I didn’t really get to see much of the base, but there was a neat looking tank on the road when I entered into the area. Once I left the base I was on back country roads for another 35 miles. By this point the rain had stopped, but there were still strong headwinds which made the ride very slow. I don’t think I averaged more than 11 mph for the day, mostly due to 15 to 20 mph headwinds. These back roads were fine, but there are no stops for food, water, or bathrooms. I got through it but it was a fairly boring second half of the day.

Tonight I am in Rough River State Park. After the long day in the rain I opted for a room rather than camping. I did hit a couple of nice milestones today. I’ve passed the 1,000 mile mark for this trip. My cumulative miles are currently at 1,040. I also crossed into the central time zone today. This made my long day feel a little shorter as I got to the state park at 5:00 instead of 6:00. Tomorrow I hit the road again heading further into western Kentucky.