Monday, June 5, 2017

First I need to complete the thoughts from last night. The B&B I stayed in was phenomenal. The owner was a geologist in Louisiana/Misssippi for a long time. 14 years ago he moved back to his home town in Kentucky and bought his classic family home that hadn't been lived in for 35 years. The home was built in the late 1800's. He used a lot of the original wood,added some great touches and a bunch of square feet. He ended up buying a lot of his original family furniture, books, metal bed warmers, etc.

So the B&B is classic!!!. But he didn't stop with the inside.  He created some amazing outdoor spaces that can be used for weddings and other large gatherings. He dug out his own pond, landscaped like crazy, renovated barns. It was beautiful.

   The other 4 guests were all cyclists. Two newly retired from California. And two brothers who originally came from Lebanon. Just before the Lebanese civil war in the 70's, the brothers came to the U.S. to go to grad school.  They are Lebanese Christians, who were caught in a tough situation. One of the brothers is head of the computer science department at San Jose State. The other one works at the UN in developing agriculture. They were real fascinating and fun.

   Today was a full day. We all started in the rain. For me, it lasted about 5 hours, which was ok since I got a good hour to dry out on the bike to finish the ride. Riding in the rain is ok. It calls for extra vigilance since the road is slick. On dry pavement one can go full tilt coming down a hill and get a head start for the going up part. When it is raining, one can't do that. Time for more caution.

   I had read about an area south of Lexington called the "knobs". Today I got to ride through a section.

The "knobs" are a geological formation that is hard to describe.  They look like a gigantic top half of a scoop of ice cream with green tree sprinkles all over the top. Sometimes they are found far apart, and then there are fields between them. Sometimes they are stacked next to each other and on top of each other, like a huge ice cream Sunday. Sometimes they are really close to each other with just enough room to fit a road in between. No roads go over them. All the roads go around. Really interesting formation. I ended up in Loretto, Kentucky - home of Makers Mark distillery. My brother and sister-in-law did a tour of Kentucky distilleries, and I think Makers Mark was their favorite.

   I had a moment of truth on the road today. I was following the route and came upon a sign that said the road was closed 3 1/2 miles ahead. The only other way I could figure on getting to where I needed to go was to take a 20 mile detour( after going 40 miles already) I went back into town and flagged down a mail carrier.  He didn't know what was going on and suggested I try it. So I did.  I got there and there seemed to be a bridge problem. The road had barriers across the road and two giant pieces of construction equipment stretched across the road. Luckily, I was able to go under and around the equipment, and got to the other side of the bridge. Then, it was weird. There were no other cars/trucks on the road. I rode  for 30 minutes and started getting nervous about being in the right place. The first car that came around I flagged down. Sure enough, I was on the right road. It was kind of an uneasy situation all the way around. But victory. And a good day. In Springfield, Ky. Til next time.