Days 20-24: Eastern Kentucky Summary - Breaks, VA to Berea, KY

Friday, July 5th, 2008 through Thursday, July 9th 2008

I've had a hard time keeping up to date with the blog during this trip. As Kinsey stated, it's been "nigh a fortnight and a half" since the last update. To rectify this situation I am going to summarize what's been happening for the past 3 weeks, in a couple of installments, beginning with Eastern Kentucky. Hopefully this will make it easier to keep up to date.

Here's the itinerary:
Day 20: 7/05/08 - Breaks, VA to Elkhorn City, KY
Day 21: 7/06/08 - Elkhorn City, KY to Hindman, KY
Day 22: 7/07/08 - Hindman, KY to Buckhorn, KY
Day 23: 7/08/08 - Buckhorn, KY to Booneville, KY
Day 24: 7/09/08 - Booneville, KY to Berea, KY

The morning of July 5th we awoke in Breaks, VA to a dreary drizzle. We put our tents away wet, which doesn't help the smell. Anna and Aaron have a leak in their tent which dampened their sleeping bag. That must suck, but my REI half-dome tent has been working splendidly.

Once we got packed up and biked away from our tent site, the rain really began to come down. Sometimes you just have to grin and bear it and keep on truckin', but it was annoying enough - and we were hungry enough - that we decided to eat the breakfast buffet at the Breaks Park restaurant and wait out the rain. We came in soaking wet wearing our funny bike clothes, and the hostess sat us down in the corner, away from all of the regular customers.

Once we were finished it was getting to be 11:30, which is a late start. The trouble is that Elkhorn City is 5 miles from Breaks and the next town with camping is Hindman, which is 67 miles away from Elkhorn. Instead of biking 72 miles in a drizzle, we decided to just bike the 5 miles to Elkhorn City. But at least we made it into Kentucky! Our first state line! And it only took us 20 days!

Our Elkhorn Motel.

Beer bottle opener in the motel bathroom.
Ironically, this is a dry county.

Don, a local Elkhornian.

We ran into Don who recommended the Mexican restaurant in town and told us about the local economy in Elkhorn City. Elkhorn is an old Appalachian coal mining town, though the coal was pretty much exhausted years back. There's still plenty of coal in KY and in the US, as we all know, buy Elkhorn has been dried up and spit out. The town is falling apart and oozes poverty. And the Mexican food was only so-so.

After a Law & Order Criminal Intent marathon the night before, we were back on the road the morning of July 6th, albeit late, since there was more Law & Order on. We've heard so much about the dogs of Kentucky that we've been getting paranoid about them. I bought a dog spray back in Salem, VA, and after a VA dog incident when Anna and Aaron were chased uphill by some mutts I gave the spray to Aaron. Don warned us that there are a lot of loose dogs in the next 5 miles or so, so we rode the entire day on dog alert. We were riding on eggshells, if that makes any sense, just waiting to spray any dogs who dared chase us.

Back on the road in Kentucky.

Slow children at play.
Dem Kentucky kids ain't none too bright.

Is this Kentucky or some Haitian village?

Eastern Kentucky can be pretty sad looking in some parts. Old decrepit homes with confederate flags, trash on the side of the road, 7 year olds with mullets riding around on ATV's, and of course dogs running around loose. The mountains - the most beautiful resource - are often stripped, literally, of their beauty for the coal they contain.

Waiting out the rain at the top of a big hill,
about to pass in to a dry county.

Coal mine operation.

Nice retired old man who likes to talk with passing bicyclists.
Worked on this road his whole life as a flag man for the highway road crews.

After hours of biking, we finally finished the day in Hindman, KY (pronounced high-nd-muhn). We once again got the Blizzard of the Month at Dairy Queen (Thin Mint flavor) and some take home subs at dusk, and biked the next 4 miles to the Eighty Motel on Route 80. We didn't arrive at the motel until dark. Wi-fi is always the big plus of going to motels, so we asked the motel manager whether they have it:

"Do you have Wi-Fi?"
"Do we have what?"
"The internet. Do you have internet here?"
"No, we just have regular TV here."

The motel was dirty and dingy on the level of the Rebel Motel. It felt gross to even walk around on the carpet. But shelter is shelter.

The next day, July 7th, we left Hindman for Buckhorn Lake. We left late again. We were on the road around noon, just in time for the hottest part of the day. The road during the beginning of the day was big, and didn't make for the best bike riding. There was coal on the side of the road too, and we passed various strip mines.

We graciously shared our bike path with big rigs.

Confederate flag sock on the side of the road.
Standard Kentucky litter?

Coal is so plentiful, it's on the side of the highway.

Kentucky strip mine.

"Where is the bathroom sir?"
"Uh, most people just go 'round back."


Typical.

Ups and downs.

My mom likes chickens.
This picture is for my mom.

After plenty of big ups and downs on the bikes, we made it to Buckhorn lake campground and set up our tents, built a fire, made pasta and washed our clothes. Biking cross country keeps us busy on and off the bikes.

The convenience store next door was manned by a nice young guy and Jabba the Hut. By that I mean a man overflowing from his chair - he probably needed another on either side of him for support - who told us to come for breakfast sandwiches the next morning. When we arrived the next morning at the store, Jabba was still there in the same spot. Something tells me he hadn't moved.

After breakfast we began to bike westward. Since we began Kentucky, dogs have been an issue. In general the dogs just bark like crazy and usually stop running at their property line, but occasionally they chase us down the street. And although most dogs pose no threat, they occasionally seem more threatening and one even bit Tony's pannier. Aaron therefore uses his Halt! dog spray occasionally and, of course, judiciously. It doesn't seem to cause them pain, but hopefully they will learn to stop chasing bicyclists and stop running into the street:

Bad dog

At the top of a huge hill (another county line divider), right before the screaming downhill, we met Alan from Victoria, Canada. He was sitting waiting in his van for his life partner Dennis to bike up the hill. He's Dennis' support (SAG), and they are traveling eastbound, opposite our direction. SAG'ing seems incredibly boring to me, just driving a few miles ahead of the bicyclists waiting for them to catch up, but Alan was having a good time. We said goodbye to him and began soaring down the hill, passing Dennis along the way. Dennis must've been really confused when we said hello and called out to him by name!

Alan from Victoria, Canada

Biking uphill, 2 abreast.

Berea is the end of our 2nd cross country map (out of 12), and also marks the end of the Appalachians, so we are eager to arrive. However, when we reached Booneville we saw black skies approaching us, so we rolled under the awning of the Dooley Diner and had lunch, including a delicious Heath Pie dessert.

Waiting out the rain at the Dooley Diner,
Booneville, KY.

Dooley Diner's Waitress, Aaron, and Anna.

A rare group photo.

After lunch, when the rain died down, we did the math and decided that it was too late to press on to Berea, and Booneville was our last chance for camping. So we rolled over to the local church, which welcomes cyclists, and set up our tents.

2 older British men were setting up tents as well. Turns out they were waiting for 3 younger Brits whom they were SAG'ing. They arrived soon after, 2 guys and a girl. The young bicyclists were quiet but the older guys were great conversationalists. We found out they were retired police officers who trained and used police canines. Did you know that when a human runs through the woods (fleeing from the police, let's say) that person leaves a trail of scent and crushed vegetation that is traceable by police canines for 3 to 4 hours? It was news to me.

The older men, both named Paul, were enjoying their first trip to the US, even though they woke up early every day, gave the kids their breakfast, and took down camp while the kids rode away worry free for the day. Then they would meet up with the kids later to give them their lunch, then go ahead to the campsite for the night and set up their tents and make them dinner. We were so jealous of the British kids - how nice it must be to not have to worry about taking down camp, putting stuff away, washing dishes, washing clothes, and making dinner! And to not have to carry everything on your bike! But a couple of years back the kids rode across England on their own, carrying their own stuff, so at least they know what it's like. Here's their website.

Love to see that "Cyclists Welcome" sign.

The Brits.

Another rare group photo.

Finally, on Day 24, June 9th, we are riding to Berea and out of the Appalachians! Berea, by the way, is rich in racial history. It is the site of the first interracial college in the United States, which was later shut down and then reopened. Today it is a thriving college town, quaint, and a welcome change from the small Appalachian towns we've been subjected to up to now.

Go Tony!

Ghost house?
Look closely:
riding with Cocoa Crispies.

We decided to celebrate getting out of the mountains by paying a visit to Papaleno's, an Italian restaurant in Berea. By the way, since the beginning of Kentucky until now, I have not personally seen any black people, although the others claimed to have seen one back near Hindman. But I saw a black couple at the restaurant: they were chuckling at my butt padding when I was getting soda!

Berea College.

Waiting for our rootbeer floats.