Day 15 : A Stinky Kind of a Day...

From Utica, KY to Cave in Rock State Park, IL - ~82 miles

last night when we arrived in utica, we realized that we had crossed into the central time zone…we were glad to take in our extra hour of sleep. however, we did decide that being in a new time zone would give us light earlier in the day and so we would try to get out on the road even earlier to try to avoid some of the heat. so we were on the road by a little before 6 am, trying to beat the heat. we quickly knocked off 25 miles before the heat got up too high, and we decided we would stop at the sebree dairy bar for a quick breakfast. they had great biscuits and gravy…and interestingly, they were located on highway 41 which is the same highway that runs through kentland, where cailyn is from. we ate quick and tried to get back out on the road before it got any hotter.

we continued into dixon, where we stopped and got some powerade and filled our bottles up with ice, and then on into clay, where we stopped at a great little deli/diner and eat had a chicken salad sandwich and got our camelpacks willed with ice again, because it was going to be 22 miles from clay before we got to our next services. while we were in clay, cailyn had a great conversation with a cute, seemingly lonely, gentlemen who was leaving the restaurant as we were coming in. it is those types of interactions that really make this trip great!

we got back out on the road a little before two, and it was most definitely hot. as we began to ride, we noticed that there were clouds building out in front of us a little ways. often we are hoping to avoid any rain that we can, but today we were just hoping that we could get to the clouds and rain, because the thought of it raining on us sounded like a wonderful thing to say the least. we never really caught up with the rain, but we did catch up with the clouds and with a fair amount of wet pavement that indicated that it had rained just out ahead of us. and let me just say, those clouds were about the biggest help we could have gotten today. it helped to keep the temperatures down at least a little and they also gave us some shelter from the sun, which was much needed as we are both suffering from some sun poisoning.

as a side note, and in reference to the title for the day…today has been an incredibly smelly day. during the morning hours, we rode passed a bunch of huge chicken farms, which smelled awful to say the least. and if you have not had that experience before, just consider yourself lucky. and then in the afternoon, we went passed a number of large cattle operations where the cattle were just laying 6 inches deep in their own “stuff”…which as you can also imagine, made for quite the smell. all in all, a pretty stinky type of a day.

we made one final stop in marion to get a couple of power bars to give us the needed energy to make the final 12 mile push to get to the ohio river to take the ferry across to Cave in Rock State Park where we would be meeting mom and dad. we started in on our last 12 miles and watched as the miles counted up (we have noticed that in kentucky they seem to do some unique numbering of miles on their county roads. there doesn’t always seem to be a method to the madness…they appear to usually be counting either up or down from some intersection. and in this case, they were counting up from the intersection that we had been at in marion.). so, as the miles passed by, we got closer to the ferry and to our first rest day of the trip. we quickly reached the ferry and rolled right on to a mostly loaded boat. we parked our bikes on the side of the ferry and watched as a massive barge of coal passed in front of us. before long, we were off across the river, and then it was back on the bikes to roll off the other side (and surprisingly, it was free to cross over on the ferry, which I couldn’t believe).

we had just another ½ mile or so to get into the state park, with one last big hill to get us up to the lodge. we arrived at the lodge and called mom and dad to discover that they were still about 30 minutes away, so we were able to check in, get the bikes settled in, and get showered up before they arrived. the place that we are staying here is super nice, much nicer than any of us expected, and certainly the nicest accommodations of our trip. thanks mom and dad!

we headed up to the lodge for dinner and about half way through our meal, there were some other people that walked in and sat a couple of tables down from us that looked like cyclists. then when we saw that they had a map out on the table and a drysack along side it, we were pretty positive they were cyclists as well. so as we finished our meal, i walked over and asked them if they were cyclists as well, and sure enough they were. it turns out they are riding from memphis to maine, using two of the other adventure cycling association routes, and this is the one location on our two routes where our paths intersect. just so happens we were both at the right place at the right time. they had been living in memphis this past year, but are originally from maine and have a home in maine, and so they are cycling back home. they both had great, what I would assume are, maine accents. they seemed like a really great couple. i was telling mom as we walked back to our room, there is something really cool about meeting people that are also doing such a unique thing. no matter how different we may typically be from them, we can now almost always be great friends, simply because of the uniqueness of what we are doing. i think there is something there to be learned about loving others and about being friends with people as Christ would have been with others. i guess it is really about seeing the uniquenesses instead of the differences.

well, it is nice to know that we will not be cycling tomorrow. that we will just get to relax, hang out with the family, and let the legs and skin rest. it is much needed to say the least! it will be nice!

Day 14 : Some Awesome Company...

From Sonora, KY to Utica, KY - ~92 miles

we awoke this morning from a very very muggy night of attempting to sleep, at 5 am. we had the bikes loaded, a breakfast of muffins leftover from yesterday in our stomachs, and were out on the road by 6:20 am. we really wanted to be on the road early since yesterday was hot and windy. the best way to try to remedy both of those things is to get out early and get the miles logged.

the beginning of our ride was awesome! we logged miles super fast, and we didn’t see our first car (in either direction) until almost an hour into our ride. we quickly knocked out our first 26 miles, and decided to stop for an early “lunch” (it was about 9:30 am) of sandwiches. we scarfed our sandwiches and then quickly got back on the bikes to try to cover the miles while it was still fairly cool. however, it wasn’t much longer and the heat was up, however the wind was not as bad as it was yesterday.

the day moved along pretty normally, with the exception of the heat. we decided to take a break from the heat and get some much needed calories into our system at a little ma and pa restaurant just outside of fordsville, ky. it was much like all the other ma and pa restaurants in small town america. lots of local folks, local service, and greasy food.

we ordered a large pizza, an order of breadsticks, and some sodas…which hit the spot for sure. and let me just say, we were not in any hurry at all to get out of the air conditioning and back onto the bikes. so after we finished our food, we just kind of relaxed in hopes that it would get cooler. in the meantime, we struck up a conversation with the two guys sitting at the booth behind us. a father and son, who could not have hidden the fact that they were father and son if the world depended on it.

they were incredibly nice and very interested in our trip…what we were doing and where we were going. we told them that we were trying to make it 30 more miles today, in order to leave us 82 for tomorrow so that we could meet cailyn’s parents at Cave in Rock State Park. at that point, the guy just up and offered to put us and our bikes in his truck and drive us to Cave in Rock. i believe his words were, “it should only take us two and a half hours”. and as tempting as it was, we said that we should probably stick with riding…it kind of felt like cheating. then he said, “well I could take you as far as utica.” (where we are staying tonight) but again, we really appreciated the offer, but felt like we should just ride the miles. the guy was just amazingly nice, and it was apparent that he genuinely cared about us and was interested in helping us.

we chatted a little longer, and then they said that they needed to get going to make it back for church. they went up to the register, paid, and hit the road. we decided it was time to fill our waters, pay for our food, and get on the road as well. cailyn went to get started on the waters, while i went to pay for the food…however, when i got to the register, our waitress informed me that the guy that had been at the booth behind us had paid for our food. man…people are amazing…it may seem like there are no good people left in this world…but that is simply not true. a complete stranger just moments before, and he paid for our food!

i think the biggest thing that I have learned and been challenged by to this point in this trip is generosity. i don’t feel like i am always the most generous person, and to have people like this guy and my friend pervis, and the guy that gave us a ride when we broke down, be so generous…it is working on me in a great way i think.

so, we got our waters filled and got ready to tackle the last 30 miles for the day in what was still an absolutely blistering heat. before we got out of the parking lot, though, a truck pulled in with two older guys in it, who I wasn’t sure if they were smoking their cigarettes or eating them, and began to ask us questions about our bikes. they just seemed to be astonished by the way that they worked. and actually, for whatever reason, we seemed to get a lot of interest in our bikes and their uniqueness today.

after talking to them for a few minutes, we finally got back on the road. we actually were able to finish the last 30 miles without too much trouble, although we did have to stop again for more gatorade. (it was probably our third gatorade stop of the day) i just have to say, if you have stock in gatorade, we did our part today to pay for your retirement. we just couldn’t get enough gatorade today!

from the beginning of the day, we were planning on getting to utica, ky because we had heard from another cyclist that they had a nice fire station that hosts cyclists. as we rolled into town, we immediately noticed what looked like a fire house, but it looked brand new, to the point where it may not even be open yet. so we went to the gas station across the street to see if they knew anything about it. they suggested we ride over to the fire house and just see if there was anyone here (which we didn’t think there was anyone, because there weren’t any cars). however, as we rolled up to the building, we could see people inside. next thing we know, the front door pops open, and a young girl, maybe 11 or 12, says come on in. we wheel our bikes inside, to find that there are 5 other cyclists here for the night. a family…well, part of a family. it is a family with 9 kids. 4 of the children and the dad are doing this trip. and get this, they are riding a recumbent tandem, a regular tandem, and one singular bike. they seem like an amazing family. this is like their 32^nd day of their tour…the same distance that we have gone in 14. but they are making it one day at a time. it was awesome to be here with them tonight! there is something so cool about watching large families interact!

tomorrow we will shoot for 82 miles…hopefully as quickly as possible…which should be aided by our excitement about seeing mom and dad and also about having our first rest day of the trip. man is it going to be nice to let the legs rest for a day!

Day 13 : You Ate What...

From Springfield, KY to Sonora KY - ~77 miles

we had planned to get up and out early, but when our alarm went off, there was a substantial amount of rain hitting our tent. so we decided that we would sleep a little longer while we waited for the rain to subside. we finally got up at about 6:45 and got the tent packed up. we quickly headed over to the grocery store across the street…got some muffins, bananas, and Gatorade…ate some breakfast and then got on the road.

we knocked out about 25 miles without too much trouble and then decided to stop for a late breakfast/early lunch. we found a place called huddle house, which was like a waffle house…and we ate more food than two normal human beings should really ever eat. and the crazy part, is that what we ordered was one menu item that we shared…i can’t imagine one person eating it. we ate 3 eggs, loaded hashbrowns, bacon, sausage, country fried steak with gravy, biscuits and gravy, grits, toast, and a waffle. needless to say, when we got back on the bikes, we weren’t in the best of shape for riding.

we stopped mid-afternoon to get some ice in our waters and to grab a cold treat as we were getting pretty hot. after a short stop at a gas station convenience store, we got our waters loaded with ice and got ready to get back on the bikes. as we were just about ready to leave the parking lot, two guys in a truck swung in to the parking lot just to see where we were headed. they asked us about where we had been, where we were going, and gave us some positive insight into where we were hoping to camp for the night. they then told us they were off to see if they could pull a catfish out of a log (otherwise known as noodling…catching a catfish with your bare hand). i guess that is what they do in these parts for some saturday afternoon fun.

we decided that we would try to make it to sonora, ky for the evening and see if we could find someone there that would allow us to put up a tent. just before we got into sonora, we pasted over interstate 65 which seemed like the closest to home that we had been, as interstate 65 goes through lafayette, in which is where purdue is where we both went to college.

as we rolled through sonora we were looking for someone to ask about camping…and as we were just about what looked like through the town, we saw a woman out walking in front of her house. so we rolled up and asked her if she knew of any place in town where cyclist can put up a tent. she said that sometimes people camp behind the church that was next door to her house. she told us to pull into her driveway and she would go inside and call the pastor and see if it was alright if we stayed there for the night. she came out a few moments later and said that it would be just fine if we stayed there…and then she said that we should come back over to her house and take a shower at her place. so we quickly took our bikes over behind the church, grabbed our clothes, and came back over to her house to take a shower. we took turns taking showers and talking to the woman. She was super nice…great to talk to. she lived alone, but her daughter, son-in-law and 2 of her grandchildren were coming over before too long. after we finished our showers, she insisted that we also wash our clothes, so we were able to get all of our clothes washed as well! man, what an amazing blessing that lady was.

after a little more time spent with her, we went back over to the church, got our tent set up, cycled back up to the gas station to grab some subway, came back and quickly ate our food, and then climbed into the tent to call it a night. we will see how the sleeping goes tonight…it is hot and humid to say the least. it is going to be a sticky one!

Day 12 : Wrong Turn...

From Berea, KY to Springfield, KY - ~72 miles

we slept in a little bit this morning, loaded up the tent, and headed for breakfast at cracker barrel. cracker barrel is always a good breakfast, and this was no exception. we got on the bikes and headed out on the route, to find that we had a bike path for the first couple of miles out of town.

the beginning of our ride seemed easy enough. about 20 miles into our ride, we read the directions on our map to find that they said, "turn left onto unsigned jack turner road". to which we thought...what exactly do we do about that. so, we started into our next segment hoping that we would find our turn. we rode and rode, and finally we were positive that we had gone too far, and so we stopped and got the gps out to discover that we had gone a good 3 miles past our turn.

we turned around and headed back in the direction that we had come...and as we came up on the turn that we had missed, we discovered that it was at the bottom of a huge hill that we had climbed...and when i say huge, i mean at least 15 minutes of climbing. and i am pretty sure that there is not much that is more demoralizing than climbing a massive hill, only to discover that it was all for nothing. at any rate, we got back on the right route...only to find another big hill to climb. as we climbed again, i said out loud to cailyn..."every good story has conflict"...and climbing that hill for what felt like the second time definitely felt like conflict.

as we have gotten into kentucky, you can definitely see a huge difference in economic status. when we were in eastern kentucky, it really felt like it was a much lower status..and then as we have gotten more into central kentucky, we have gotten into horse country and there is definitely a much higher economic status. it has really left me thinking about what causes the difference. it has caused me to think about poverty and about work ethic. i don't know that i have come to any solid conclusions at this point in time, but hopefully it is something that i can continue to process through this trip.

as we finished our riding for the night, we arrived into springfield, ky and called the local police to see about camping in a local park that was listed in our maps. they took down our names and told us we were welcome to put up a tent wherever we wanted to in the park. so we stopped in to wendy's, grabbed a quick dinner, and headed to the park to set up for the night. they had bathrooms, but no showers...but all in all, a good location for no cost.

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!

Day 19 : A Justin Kind of a Day...(he wanted me to call it that)

From Chester, IL to Johnson Shut-ins State Park - ~80 miles

we awoke early, excited to make it to our fourth state of the trip. we took a few pictures of the bulls and then hoped on the bikes, ready to ride. we quickly got to the mississippi river and crossed into missouri. (honestly, i am not sure that i really ever thought we would make it this far) we had a nice, easy 10 miles to start the day as we continued through the valley.

and then things changed...the next 35 miles as we rode to where we were going to meet justin and tracy were brutal to say the least. looking back on it, i am not exactly sure what made them so tough. we were climbing some really serious inclines again for the first time in a number of days, it started to get pretty hot, the winds were up, we started to run short on water, and we probably hadn't eaten as much as we should have. some combination of all of that made it a rough morning.

nevertheless, though a little later than scheduled, we made it to farmington to meet our friends. we enjoyed a excellent pizza at the heart of town at a place called bob-a-rino's pizza. after a couple of hours of eating, drinking, resting and having some great conversations, we got back on the bikes, along with justin, to ride another 35 miles for the day.

we rode about an hour or so, and the clouds started to roll in again...and as the rain started to spit we ducked into the closest driveway to find a house with a good sized porch on the front. we put our bikes on the porch and knocked on the door to see if we could wait the storm out there. however, no one answered the door, so we just waited on the porch and fortunately it only took 20-30 minutes for the storm to pass and we were back out on the road again.

we rode another 25 miles or so to finish up the day, and they were about as opposite from the morning miles as they possibly could have been. they felt largely downhill and seemed to go by easily. maybe it was the freshness and newness of having justin with us. it was really fun to have him along with us kind of trying to figure out the ropes as he began his adventure with us.

we arrived at johnson shut-ins state park to find some very nice rangers who gave us a very discounted price ($6 - cheapest state park on our trip thus far) and as we got into the campground, we found it to be by far the nicest campground that we have stayed in to date! turns out, they used to pump water up to the top of this mountain by the park during the night, and then during the day the water would run down producing energy. and a few years back, in the middle of the night, the levee at the top broke and there was a huge rush of water that basically wiped a bunch of the park out, and i guess that much of the park just opened back up earlier this year.

regardless, they get the award thus far for the nicest state park to camp in for sure! i hope that they are able to continue to maintain it and take pride in it...because it was nice enough that they should!

Day 19 : A Justin Kind of a Day...(he wanted me to call it that)

From Chester, IL to Johnson Shut-ins State Park - ~80 miles

we awoke early, excited to make it to our fourth state of the trip. we took a few pictures of the bulls and then hoped on the bikes, ready to ride. we quickly got to the mississippi river and crossed into missouri. (honestly, i am not sure that i really ever thought we would make it this far) we had a nice, easy 10 miles to start the day as we continued through the valley.

and then things changed...the next 35 miles as we rode to where we were going to meet justin and tracy were brutal to say the least. looking back on it, i am not exactly sure what made them so tough. we were climbing some really serious inclines again for the first time in a number of days, it started to get pretty hot, the winds were up, we started to run short on water, and we probably hadn't eaten as much as we should have. some combination of all of that made it a rough morning.

nevertheless, though a little later than scheduled, we made it to farmington to meet our friends. we enjoyed a excellent pizza at the heart of town at a place called bob-a-rino's pizza. after a couple of hours of eating, drinking, resting and having some great conversations, we got back on the bikes, along with justin, to ride another 35 miles for the day.

we rode about an hour or so, and the clouds started to roll in again...and as the rain started to spit we ducked into the closest driveway to find a house with a good sized porch on the front. we put our bikes on the porch and knocked on the door to see if we could wait the storm out there. however, no one answered the door, so we just waited on the porch and fortunately it only took 20-30 minutes for the storm to pass and we were back out on the road again.

we rode another 25 miles or so to finish up the day, and they were about as opposite from the morning miles as they possibly could have been. they felt largely downhill and seemed to go by easily. maybe it was the freshness and newness of having justin with us. it was really fun to have him along with us kind of trying to figure out the ropes as he began his adventure with us.

we arrived at johnson shut-ins state park to find some very nice rangers who gave us a very discounted price ($6 - cheapest state park on our trip thus far) and as we got into the campground, we found it to be by far the nicest campground that we have stayed in to date! turns out, they used to pump water up to the top of this mountain by the park during the night, and then during the day the water would run down producing energy. and a few years back, in the middle of the night, the levee at the top broke and there was a huge rush of water that basically wiped a bunch of the park out, and i guess that much of the park just opened back up earlier this year.

regardless, they get the award thus far for the nicest state park to camp in for sure! i hope that they are able to continue to maintain it and take pride in it...because it was nice enough that they should!