Bike touring is a full time job and I’m finding it hard to find the time to both write a personal journal and blog posts. So, this one will cover almost a full weeks worth of riding. I will then follow this one up with a post on the lessons that bike touring teaches that are translatable to success in life.

My last post left off with me leaving my friends after a visit to the Cedars Camp in central Missouri. After a 24 hour break I continued east through the hilly Ozarks. After getting dropped off in the afternoon I rode just 37 miles to Alley Spring State Park.  Before setting up camp I visited the spring, which was beautiful! An estimated 81 million gallons of clean and blue water bubble out of this spring and then, within a half mile merge with the Jacks Fork River. The mill and spring were beautiful.  It was inspiring to think about the constancy of that spring, spilling out all that water constantly over the centuries.

Day 12 – Redemption! What a difference a day makes. It was a beautiful day for riding; not to hot, not too many hills (it turns out I had cleared the last of the Ozarks in the rain), and beautiful, varied terrain. By 10:45 I had descended my last hill in Missouri, ridden into the floodplain of the Mississippi River, crossed a big, old ugly bridge (luckily being repaired which allowed me to cross in two spurts behind the one-way traffic) into Illinois. After a great lunch I enjoyed the afternoon riding between and on top of the levee’s protecting this fertile land. The roads included some of my favorites so far in the trip. Total mileage of 85 for the day and I stayed in the college town of Carbondale.

Day 13 – A big day of riding. The terrain and roads SE of Carbondale were beautiful! Most notably the Crab Orchard Wildlife Refuge.  I ended up the day in Cave In Rock State Park right on the border of Kentucky.  A place my son Ben and I had camped four years previously. I was familiar with it and there weren’t any good options from 50 miles onward. So I rode…. Almost nine hours in the saddle, over 5,300 feet of climbing and 86 miles.  Phew!  Instead of camping, I booked a cabin that had a great view of the Ohio River and was a few steps from the restaurant.  It is the most serene place I stayed and I loved letting the day fade away while watching the moon rise over the river.

Day 14 – Into Kentucky!  I really like riding in Kentucky. At least in the northwestern part of the state, the roads are lightly traveled and the scenery is good.  It felt different from the other side of the river.  One of the highlights of this section of the trip is that instead of the bridge, there is a free ferry at the small town of Cave In Rock that traverses the Ohio back and forth all day long.  Starting my day floating across the river was an amazing start. You think you are a pretty good parallel Parker?  The ferry driver’s tug articulates so he can push his barge both ways and the current is moving! This guy nails it every time! I recognized the assistant who ties up the barge with chains every five minutes from four years ago.  I wonder how many thousands of trips he has made across that river since I last saw him? 

The destination for my day was the Cyclist Hostel at The First Baptist Church in Sebree, Kentucky. That church has been welcoming cross country cyclists since the 1980’s and have converted their basement into a hostel with cots, a kitchen, a shower and laundry.  The driving force behind this organized hospitality is for pastor Bob and his wife Violet. I met them straight away when I cycled into town. Just as I pulled into the parking lot of the church, Bob came from his house directly across the street and waved me down. “Hi I’m Bob, and we are just sitting down to a late lunch and we’d love for you to come join us.”  I happily agreed to a second lunch (I’d already had two breakfasts as well) and tucked into their sweet home and had a lunch of tuna salad, potato soup, sweet tea and freshly picked tomatoes and cucumbers from the garden. They had me sign their guest log, this one had entries all the way back to 2009 and we got acquainted.  After our meal was completed, Bob showed me around the hostel and invited me to accompany them to the bluegrass festival in Henderson that night. After getting organized with a shower and some laundry in process, I accepted.

What a treat is was to go the bluegrass show with Bob, Violet and Darlene, Violets sister. I could tell they liked to have fun and joined in with some gentle ribbing and a series of questions which uncovered the depth of their lifelong ministry of hospitality. What a rich life they have had by just finding a place where they could welcome in others and bless their lives. Mine certainly was. Day total 56 miles.

Day 15 – Off The Map!  I had been plotting my move north for a week. The route ahead has been interrupted by flooding and I am shifting to a more northerly bike route that I will connect with SE of Indianapolis. So this afternoon was the day that I took a left and broke free of the safety of the route that lays out all the options for services and lodging. The riding was scenic and the roads were good. I was happy. There was a motel on my route at just about the right place and I called to check availability.  No answer…  I left a message.  I called again a few hours later. No answer.  I showed up at around 4:30 after riding 70 miles and it had a little bit of a Bates Hotel feel.  Not much maintenance. It said it was open and to ring the bell, I did. Nobody…. I waited a while and then called again.  Nothing, I moved on. I checked VRBO, Airbnb, checked the airport to see if I could camp there, checked the fire station – doors open, but nobody home, asked at a diner, no luck. So, I decided to keep riding and see what I could I find. I found a church and texted the pastor for permission. The reply came back “You can stay if you want. But this community is pretty tight and defensive.  You may get a visitor who…might give you an earful.”  Not exactly a ringing welcome, but It was getting late and I didn’t have any other options. So I decided to lay low behind the church.  I cooked, wrote most of this blog post and I did get a visitor who scoped me out and in the end thought I was ok enough to stay. I assured him that I’d leave it better than I left it. I didn’t even put up my tent.  I slept against the wall. Not well.  The cats from the neighborhood who hang out by the dumpster kept a curious eye on me during the night. The pastor visited me around 6:30 am and we had a good conversation. I left without making breakfast.  79 miles.

Day 16 – Movin’ on up, to the top….  The riding today was beautiful! Small roads for the most part, favorable winds and just a bit of rain which I was able to wait out under a tree. I was hungry and decided to go out of my way almost four miles each way for a good breakfast. I could have scrounged something together, but I was running out of gas. So, I put my head down and took care of myself. I felt much better after a big breakfast and was able to ride all the way into Louisville on that fuel. I crossed into Indiana soon after breakfast and again was really pleased with the roads. The last 20 miles was along a busier highway right next to the Ohio River but it had a huge shoulder, was recently paved and the winds were right at my back.

After riding along the greenways on both sides of the river and crossing the pedestrian bridge which was busy with people out on a Sunday afternoon, I checked into my 16^th floor room at a nice high rise hotel right on the river.  The photo below is the view from my room. The hot shower sure felt good. And dinner with Beth’s son and his girlfriend who live in Louisville was really great.  77 miles. 

The total for the first 16 days of riding so far is 1072. 

Onward!