STL2ATL Days 6-9

The next four days took me from Cave-in-Rock State Park, IL, through Kentucky, and into Nashville, TN.

Day 6 – Cave in Rock, IL to Princeton, KY

I started day 6 in sunshine, liquid sunshine. It poured so hard in the morning that I delayed my start by two full hours. Once the worst of the storm passed, I donned my rain gear and took the ferry across the Ohio River.

I put on both the rain jacket and pants to be sure that I was warm enough for the first half hour, until I could pedal enough to generate some heat. I started the ride shooting down the hills out of the park to the ferry dock. Then stood around waiting to board and then during the crossing. Once I was riding up the hills from the river, I took off the rain pants and was very comfortable.

This was my first ride on a small ferry and it was totally cool. Even in the rain, the ride was so smooth that the only way I could tell we were under way was to look back and see that we were moving away from the dock.

The entire day was varying degrees of wet, all the way from raining hard to misty and back to raining hard again. I learned that my Pearl Izumi rain jacket works really well and that my Rhinowalk panniers do not leak. I also discovered that riding in the rain is just fine. I thought that I would be miserable but not so. I was able to keep a comfortable body temperature and my hood kept the worst of the rain out of my eyes. The only real downside was that it was too wet for photos, other than the two quickies with my phone while I was on the ferry. I also learned that rural Kentucky is really really rural. There was not much along my route except farm fields and occasional livestock.

Cows will inevitably look up with interest when I talk to them as I ride by. Horses usually ignore me. Yes, this means that I talk to cows.

Day 7 – Princeton, KY to Hopkinsville, KY

Day 7 was another grey, wet day riding through rural Kentucky. There was so little color that I was excited enough to take a picture when I found a pink trash can to counterbalance my yellow panniers.

And I found a cool tree. And that is about all I have to say about this day’s ride.

When I got to Hopkinsville, I took a rest day, did not ride my bike, and sorted out my photo editing software.

For the tech curious, I rsync the image files to my laptop at home. I am running x2go in the Linux subsystem on the Chromebook that I have with my on the bike. Using x2go, I launch Darktable on my laptop at home, displaying remotely. It works surprisingly well.

Day 8 – Hopkinsville, KY to Pleasant View, KY

This was another day of… you guessed it… rain. Click here if you want to see a 10 second video of me in the rain in Pembroke, KY. The good news is that the rain did eventually stop. I actually finished the day with scattered sunshine.

I rode past an aviation RADAR dome in Elkton, KY. Once upon a time, when I was flying IFR in my own airplane, I would have had a good guess about which facility uses this antenna. Now all such trivia has vanished from my brain.

I got to learn first-hand about new cable installation techniques in Trenton, KY. I do not know which amused me most, the proximity to the ground or the nest.

I want you to admire this next photo. Note that it is not raining as I cross over I-24 just a few miles from my hotel in Pleasant View, KY. You can even see distinct shadows on the ground.

This turned out to be a long, tough day: 47 miles with almost 2,500 feet of ascending and headwinds all day. I guess I had to pay the piper for those early flat days with tailwinds.

Day 9 – Pleasant View, KY to Nashville, TN

Having done a tough day, I had an easy one into Nashville: just 29 miles and less than 1,600 feet of ascending. The winds even gave me a bit of a break and I did not get rained on once during the entire ride.

I found another cool plank bridge.

The unexpected highlight of the day was the pitstop that I made at Rocky’s Wing Shack just a few miles northwest of Nashville. Very very unfortunately, my timing was all wrong to make a lunch stop but I am quite sure that the food is outstanding.

I thought that my day was pretty much complete as I pedaled up the hills from the Cumberland River into Nashville. Wrongo! I heard what sounded like bleating to my right as I rode past a small house, well inside the city limits, with a nicely painted white picket fence. I stopped to look and saw a friendly looking dog. It was not bleating. But right behind the dog, wearing a collar with a tag, was the bleating culprit. The goat hustled right over to the fence to have its picture taken.

After picture time, the goat popped its front hooves up onto the fence for head and face scritches. And that got the dog jealous so it was also up on the fence for scritches.

The two of them made me feel very welcome in Nashville.

I took another rest day in Nashville. I visited Cheekwood. I highly recommend seeing it, even though it is infested with a half dozen giant trolls through the summer. I also ate way too much and tried more than a few beers. It is way too easy to do in this town.