Day 74, Sonora to Lebanon, KY

Miles – 43

Miles From Start/To Finish – 3,475/870

Ave Riding Speed – 3-29 mph

Hours Start to Finish – 4.75 Weather – Mostly Sunny and 86

Big shout out to Stan and Shirley! Today is my dad and mom’s 66^th wedding anniversary. Amazing people and parents! Things have been a little rough lately with some health issues, but they are working through them together and I know my brothers and sisters are right there helping them through it. Kim and I love you so much!

We rode into the Eastern Time Zone yesterday so our clocks moved ahead an hour. My alarm went off at 6am and walked into the kitchen to turn on the loaded coffee maker. I fumbled around our dark room with light from the bathroom with the door cracked open. I returned to the kitchen for a cup of coffee and Charlie pouring himself a cup of brew. He said we forgot about washing up our biking clothes last night so we should throw in a quick load. I gathered our clothes and Charlie started the washer.

Charlie and I sat in the kitchen and had a nice chat for about half an hour. Soon Kim joined us and we chatted more about life and had some yogurt for breakfast. After our clothes were dry, we packed up and loaded them on our bikes in the garage. We snapped a couple pictures in front of the house and wished Charlie the best and said we’ll look forward to seeing how those log cabins turn out.

We headed east a block to hook up with Hwy 84, which would be our route for the entire day. At the intersection we ran into a group of retired guys, old friends meeting up for a boy’s weekend, who were out for a morning bicycle ride and find a spot for breakfast. We chatted for awhile and Bill introduced himself. He was on the inaugural 1976 ride across the country. Pretty cool. We handed him our business card, snapped a picture and headed down the highway.

We decided to cut our planned route to Berea, about 90 miles, in half today and had to go off the route to be able to find a place to stay in Lebanon. Kim was feeling like her old self today and commented that today’s ride was very nice. A little climbing, but we mostly rode through the rolling hills and farmland with a little more traffic than we’d have liked. The drivers have been exceptionally courteous and wait behind us when climbing a hill before they pass. We were happy that we had cell reception for mapping as Lebanon is south of our maps.

We pulled into in the Hampton Inn on the northeast edge of town at 1:30pm and Morgan, who was working the front desk was very accommodating and found us a room for an early check-in. The first task upon rolling our bikes into our room was to decide if we are taking a rest day tomorrow or moving on to Berea, another 65-miles east. The kicker in Lebanon is that the closest place to eat is a couple miles into town or the Walmart on the way there. Kim did some research on places to stay in Berea and we decided we would ride tomorrow and take an extra day there.

We then unloaded our bike gear and rode to the Walmart to pick up some groceries for the day. We bought pickles, salsa, chips, Hillshire polish sausages, buns, mustard, microwave popcorn, raspberries and lemonade mix. Carrying a couple bags of groceries is no easy feat, but we made it.

We’re busy updating our social media sites and even got a picture and message from Bill, the rider from 1976 we met back in Sonora.