Kentucky---"He leans back against the starting gate like he's in a hammock in the Caribbean."

All of us loved Columbus-Belmont State Park. The park sits on a bluff high above the Mississippi river and the views from a dozen or so of the campsites was beautiful. Liz and I left around 6:45 and headed north on some back roads towards Wycliffe. I kept seeing signs that said MRT with a little bike insignia on it...and it dawned on me that there must be a route called the Mississippi River Trail that uses some of the same roads we were on.












It was Sunday, and there was no traffic. We stopped in Bardwell for a bathroom break and the framed picture of Punaho Bay, Tahiti in the women's bathroom made me smile. When I came out of the bathroom the clerk asked me if I was the one riding 100 miles. "Yes, how did you know?" I asked. He nodded towards the parking lot where Karen was filling the tank of the truck. "Be careful," he advised. "Always," I answered. It's the same short conversation I have every time I leave my parent's house...be careful...always.
Liz and Karen changed places about 12 miles into the ride...about the same time I came to the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. What a large expanse of water!




Kentucky is pretty...with fields of corn and soybean, and even some tobacco. Flat Stanley inspected some of the plants, but he is not allowed to roll his own.




I got my second bee sting of the trip. The first was in California and my jaw swelled a bit, making me look as though I had some of Stanley's tobacco in my mouth. (yuk, by the way...). Today's sting was on my thigh. What is with these bees? Are they flying around butt first? The worst part is never the sting itself, but the three or four days of itching that you have to endure.
Perhaps this western tip of Kentucky is in much better financial shape than the rest of the state, but we saw farm after farm that looked well kept, even thriving. Most of the houses were brick and in good condition. There were times when the trees (mostly oak) that lined the roads would form a sort of canopy over the road, and that was very fun to ride through.








I had heard about the dogs of Kentucky. I think Neil Gunton of Crazyguyonabike fame had a dog come after him and tear a hole in one of his panniers...in Kentucky. But the dogs we saw were pretty mellow. It was a warm day, and most of them couldn't be bothered even to get up from their shady spot in the driveway to give a good bark at us. Fine with me.
I rode the last 25 miles or so alone, and when I came up on Karen and Liz they were parked in a farmer's driveway. His name is Pat and he has lived in Kentucky all his life. He grows wheat, soybeans, and corn and the only trip he has taken outside of Kentucky was a trip to California where he was stuck in traffic on the Bay bridge and it took him four hours to drive from San Francisco to Napa. He kept asking us if there was anything at all we needed. So kind. He reminded me of a character Wendell Berry might write about.

I finished the day with 100.1 miles, a 14.2 average, and 2701' of elevation gain.
When I hopped in the truck, we headed south to Memphis. We are staying with some dear friends of Liz's...Eli and Patty. Patty called to see if we wanted to go swimming. She said she was thinking like a cyclist...what would a cyclist want to do after a long, hot ride? Yup...jump in a pool. Patty's friend and neighbor whose name is also Liz (do I have y'all confused yet?) obliged us. Thanks so much to you both!








maybe you can't...because you won't...