Day 11 : More Dead People than Alive...

From Hazard, KY to Berea, KY - ~100 miles

we awoke this morning at 5 am and were out of the hotel room by 6:15 am, only to discover that we had another minor brake problem that needed attending to. by 6:45 am we had things all figured out and were on the road.

we rode in clouds and what looked like threatening weather most of the morning, but managed to avoid the rain all morning, which was very welcomed. there were even some points that we came to where the road was wet, but thankfully we stayed dry all day.

we have been riding on fairly busy roads the last couple of days and the busy roads continued for the morning stretch again today. i was really starting to get sick of high traffic and coal trucks. it is not that i feel terribly unsafe, it is just that it wears you out to have to focus and concentrate so much.

we stopped for lunch in booneville, va at a little home town dinner. it reminded us of the little diner in morocco that grandma merchant likes to take us to. it was a great lunch, and after about an hour of eating and relaxing we were back on the bikes. while we were stopped eating, the clouds broke, the sun came up, and the temperature must have gone up by about 15 degrees. which made for a hot and sunny afternoon of cycling.

shortly after lunch we finally turned off of the busy roads and onto a nice quiet back road. this road was up at a pretty decent elevation and it wasn't too far into this road that we started noticing cemeteries. and in retrospect, i wish that we would have been counting how many of them we passed...because there were a ton! there is no doubt in my mind that we passed way more dead people than alive people today. we also noticed that many of the cemeteries were up on these insanely steep hills. we began to wonder how on earth they got the bodies up there to bury them. we decided that they must use 4-wheelers to get them up there. cailyn also decided that they bury the people up on the hill tops because they think that they are closer to God that way...that was her theory anyway.

before must longer, we began to cycle through what almost appeared to be a jungle. there were parts where the trees were grown completely over the top of the road, making a tunnel. and in many places the hillsides were covered with this amazing vine type of stuff.

and then before much longer, we had left that scenery, and found ourselves riding in a valley between two small mountain ranges. and in the middle of the valley, next to us, were large, beautiful farms with horses and cows. cailyn said that this was some of her favorite scenery of the trip so far and that it made her miss home (she grew up on a cattle farm in northwest indiana).

as the day wore on, we realized that we may have bit off a little too much. our legs and bodies were starting to be immensely tired, and we still had a number of miles to cover. thankfully, we came upon a gas station where we were each able to get a gatorade and a package of twizzlers and we quickly got back on the road. we rolled into berea, ky at about 8:20 pm, quickly found a pizza hut where we ordered a large supreme pizza, loaded it in our trailer, and headed for the campsite. it was a long day to say the least...but good to have accomplished map section #11. and i think that the mountains are pretty much behind us for a while, which is awesome!

today was also a big decision day. we made the decision that we are no longer shooting to make it all the way to the west coast. we have come to realize that it is likely that we will not be able to make the coast in the number of days we have set out to do the trip. and the pace that we are trying to keep is pushing us past much of the stories and encounters that we really feel like the trip needs to be about.

also, i am on sabbatical from the campus ministry...and as a part of a sabbatical, i feel like there are 3 main things that i need to be accomplishing. first, getting away from the normal grind and getting filled up and energized. secondly, as a result of the first, to grow to a place of really "missing" the normal grind. and lastly, to get spiritually rejuvenated and ready to return. as i analyze these first couple of weeks of sabbatical, i feel like the first two elements are happening quite well, but i just don't feel like the third piece is happening like it needs to. and hopefully with a little more time to settle into routine, and with being able to slow the pace down a little, that will come around. but today we also decided that we are going to cut our trip one week shorter than we were planning. this will allow us to get pervis's bike back to him and then go to my parents lake cottage in northeast indiana for a week and just spend time reading and studying and praying and seeking to get filled up with God and His Word. this will also allow us some time to not be in such a chaotic environment as this.

we had been mulling over this decision all morning, and then when we stopped for lunch, i had a message on my phone from pervis. he had caught up on the blog and wanted to offer a few pieces of advice. and the very first piece, don't feel like you have to get coast to coast, just do what you can and be happy with that. and those words felt like a very direct confirmation of our plan. really, in every sense, it feels like the right decision.

so, we are not positive, but we are thinking that our new destination will be yellowstone. we will see how things continue to progress.

i am excited...in the morning...we are going to the cracker barrel that is just down the street...we have a gift card from christmas or something long ago like that!