Day 75, Lebanon to Berea, KY

Miles – 63

Miles From Start/To Finish – 3,538/807

Ave Riding Speed – 3-27 mph

Hours Start to Finish – 6.75

Weather – Mostly Sunny and 90

Mine and Kim’s alarms went off at 5:30am this morning. Honestly, I was ready to get up after rolling over so many times waiting for my alarm to go off. Funny thing, on Eastern time it’s still dark outside at 5:30am.  We both slowly moved about the room with the bathroom light on and trying to get into our morning groove. We made it down to the hotel breakfast at 6:30am for scrambled eggs and sausages. Kim had oatmeal.

During breakfast we were mapping out our options, via Google Maps, for todays ride to Brea, KY, and join back up with the TransAmerica Bicycle Trail. Since we weren’t confident of having cell service along the way Kim wrote them out and the hotel desk clerk was nice enough to make a copy so we could each be in the know along the way.

We exited the hotel at 7:30am and rode the city streets through Lebanon to hook up with Hwy 68 heading east. Hwy 68 was a major roadway and had a shoulder for much of it. We pedaled 19 miles to Perryville through some nicely rolling hills and more farmland.

In Perryville we stopped for a Gatorade and some crackers at the corner convenience store and jumped on Hwy 150 heading east to Danville for another 10-miles. It was more of the heavy traffic, but we had a shoulder. Even with the shoulder, cars coming up behind us would cross of the center rumble strip to give us room. The temperature was rising but the sweat we were working up was comfortable.

Kim and I were rolling into Danville and I noticed a bike sign off to the left. It was the Danville Bike and Footware store. I did a double-take and didn’t see any cars in the parking lot, but thought I pull across the street to see if there were any lights on inside. It was dark and the store hours sign said it was closed on Sundays. I pulled away and heard a voice say, “do you need anything?” I stopped and look back and saw a man standing outside the bike shop entrance. I said I was hoping to get some air for our bikes. He said we can do that. Kim pulled in from across the road and we met Ernst, the bike shop owner.

Ernst brought out a bike pump and I filled up our tires to 75lbs. All four tires were down around 60lbs. What a difference it makes. Ernst invited us in and we got to chatting. He said he rode the TransAm in 1977 and showed us the TransAm crossing “bible” from the initial 1976 ride. He also showed us the tandem bike he later rode the route with his 10-year-old some years later. Ernst asked us if we’re prepared for the dogs as we head into the Appalachian Mountains. I said we were planning to stop at once of the “dollar” stores for some pepper spray and he said he carried some spray, so Kim and I are each carrying a small bottle on our hip for the foreseeable future of the ride. Ernst was super cool and we were so thankful that he happened to have stopped at his store after church today.

Ernst gave us some easier directions for the remaining 30+ miles of the ride today. We continued through Danville and picked up Hwy 52. It was more of the same awesome ride with manageable rolling hills and a shoulder until we hit a turn-off to Hwy 21, which took us 10-miles through some less traveled roads to Berea. The traffic was light with few climb-mentionable hills through the Kentucky backroads.

We rode through the tree-lined hills into an opening and arrived in Berea. Our Holiday Inn Express was right there. We were checking in and told the manager we were staying for an extra day to rest up and he upgraded us to a suite on the first floor. That was awesome!

Kim asked the hotel manager if he any recommendations for getting a bite to eat. He said that Berea is in pretty much a dry county. Only places that can seat 75 or more people can serve alcohol and proceeded to give us a list of all establishments in town and noted those that we could get a refreshing beverage.

Kim and I both agreed that the ride today was awesome. 63-miles and nothing to take away from a perfect day on 2-wheels.

We rolled our bikes into our room, took a quick shower, Kim threw a load of clothes in the hotel coin operated washer and I was caught up on my text messages from back home.

This whole circle of life thing is hard to wrap my head around. It’s real, yet it’s difficult to imagine anything other than what we’ve ever known, on this earth anyways. My dad, who has been a walking miracle, as the doctors have said, is going to be 87 this month and the body and mind have been to the peaks and back again. His heart has been at the forefront of his health scene since I graduated high school, but that’s running like a machine. It’s the rest of him that’s working overtime to keep the machine going. Right now, the Interstitial lung disease, a progressive irreversible scarring of the lung tissue, is the major culprit and the doctors have recommended a meeting with a Palliative Care professional. I had to look up Palliative Care and it’s the relief from the suffering of symptoms and stress.

My mom, brothers and sisters have told us to keep the wheels rolling and they’ve got things handled back home, so we’re going to keep moving east. I spoke to my dad yesterday and he’s aware of everything going on and said to keep going and give my wife a hug.

Kim and I walked across the Hwy 75 Freeway bridge to Cracker Barrel for a glass of wine to go with a side salad. Kim had the Grilled Sirloin and I had the meatloaf. The meatloaf is nothing like my mom’s but it was pretty good. After dinner, Kim was cruising the Cracker Barrel store for something to fulfill her sweet tooth and found the M&M bar in the picture. Pretty tasty.

Tomorrow is a rest day while we gear up to cross the Appalachian Mountains. We’re focusing on getting over some fear, from what we’ve read of others travels on 2-wheels through this area, of the coal trucks that don’t move over and out running the gauntlet of dogs.

 I’ll have to sure-up our remaining miles number tomorrow, as a quick glance at the maps say we’re within 700-miles of Yorktown, VA.