Steve's TransAm Adventure

64 miles, 5:25 riding time, don,t know clock time today, 11.6 mph avg, 1329 ft ascent We got a late start today from Jack’s house.  I think we got started around 10:00. Our first task was to find a grocery store to reprovisiom.  Bike touring is all about managing hydration and calorie intake. Today our route would take us through a 38 mile stretch with no services. We chose to take the Mississippi levee alternate route which would take us into the River valley. I was surprised at the amount of water; there’s a lot of flooding. Farming in a food plain is full of risk.  The white mound between the silos are sand bags. About 20 miles in we came across an intersection with 3 road closed signs.  We decided to proceed and found out the signs were not kidding...nowhere to go but back.  We backtracked 3 miles to the Bottoms Up bar and grill to get advice from a local. Cristy told us the water was only 6 inches deep on one road, so we backtracked again and decided to go ...

67 miles, 5:47 riding time, 9.5 hrs clock time, 11.6 mph average, 3527 ft of ascent On our way into Golconda last night we went down a big hill, so you guessed it, the day started going back up that hill.  There were three big climbs before we reached our breakfast stop in Eddyville, which was only about 12 miles but it was hot, sunny and very humid.   The rest of the ride today was brutally hot.  People kept telling us about their is a heat advisory in place.  Hydration management was a real challenge.  I usually drink one bottle of water per hour, which at my current pace is about 12 miles.  Every ounce of water I carry on the bike I have to haul up and down all the hills, so you can see the dilemma.  Dehydration is very dangerous, so when in doubt I carried more water.  There are sections along the route where there are no services for 10 or more miles.  After breakfast the terrain was a mixture of rolling hills and wide open valleys. ...

79.9 miles, 6:13 riding time, about 12 hrs clock time, 12.8 mph average, 3865 ft ascent We left Sebree at about 0615 this morning.  Out goal was 0600, so not too bad.  We rode the 20 miles to Clay KY before breakfast in order to take advantage of the cooler temperature.  The terrain was generally gently rolling. On the way to Clay I came across this sign.  IQ discrimination, smart people are allowed?  Would a “stupid” person know they were stupid? The ride to the Ohio river got gradually flatter with gentle grades.  You may wonder what cows do on a hot summer day, why of course, they go to the pool for a dip.   When we got to the ferry that would take us across the Ohio River into Illinois I saw the effect of the very wet spring that KY has had.  Lot’s of acres with no crops. We crossed the river into the town of Cave-in-Rock IL where I was lots of painted bicycles around the town.  I was not able to find a local to get the story.  We st...

76 miles, 6:10 riding time, about 10.5 hrs clock time, 12.3 mph average, 3465 ft of ascent It had just rained before we came to the Axtel campground last night, so everything was wet and the air was sticky humid.  We had eaten dinner on the way to the campground, so we only had to set up camp and get cleaned up.  Luckily it did not rain overnight, although nothing dried in the humid air.  I did laundry in the washroom sink and set up my “rolling clothesline”, which is a mesh bag attached to the back of my bike.   We managed to get an earlier start today, at 0615.  We decided to get 22 miles behind us before we stopped for breakfast at a diner in Fordsville.  On the way there I saw another variation on the traditional barn quilt. I also saw more of the “Just be kind” signs. There was a similar initiative in Columbia Maryland where I used to live where they gave out “Choose Civility” car trunk magnets.  This was not a fund raiser, but an effort to promot...

96 miles, 7:42 riding time, about 11 hours clock time 12.44 mph average, 3753 feet of ascent Today we tried to get an early start but they didn’t start serving breakfast at the Springfield Inn until 0600.  We finally got rolling at just before 0700.  The route for the first part of today was through a valley with rolling hills and fields of corn.  The corn looked healthy and was about 7 ft high, so although KY has had a lot of rain recently, they do not have the flooding that the farmers in the Mississippi River valley do.   The temperature was in the 70’s for the first few hours, which was ideal, but it gradually worked its way up. Into the 90’s again.   A common sight in KY are barn quilts, which look like quilts mounted on the gable end of a barn. I saw a lot like the one shown above (the photo is not very good because it was just starting to rain). I came across an interesting variation.  I was chased by 9 dogs today. Twice they were groups of 3, so I a...

79.8 miles, 6:41 riding time, about 10 hrs clock time 11.9 mph avg, 4065 ft ascent The day started at 0600 when a friend of Steve H’s named Shunnan arrived at Steve H’s house to ride with us,  Steve’s wife June drove us from Lexington to the same place in Berea where I left off last year (yes Rob, no gap!) The ride west from Berea was very green with rolling hills; much like riding in Maryland or Virginia.  This part of KY is about horses and farming.  The contrast with Eastern KY is striking; I did not see any billboards for rehab centers and the houses were very suburban until we got a ways from Berea, and even then I did not see the signs of dire poverty I saw in eastern KY.   I had beeen e-mailing a fellow Westbound TransAm rider named Duane who started his ride on 16 June.  I knew he was in Berea on the 4th of July so I was hoping to connect up with him.  At one point Steve, Shunnan and I missed a turn and as we were riding up a hill along come two cyc...

Today I took a flight from home to Lexington KY and met Steve H at the airport. I rode Part 1 with Steve last summer and he offered to let me start Part 2 from his house,  which was nice because I shipped my bike there and assembled it this evening. Steve and his wife June served a great steak dinner which I enjoyed immensely...,it may be awhile before I eat that well again. Tomorrow morning June will give us a ride to Berea, where I left off last year.  Steve is going to ride with me for the weekend.