Day 78, Corbin to Harlan, KY

Miles – 68

Miles From Start/To Finish – 3,663/682

Ave Riding Speed – 3-22 mph

Hours Start to Finish – 7.5

Weather – Partly Cloudy, Humid and 91

We’re over $16,000 currently with the Lobular Breast Cancer Alliance Fundraiser and working hard to earn more. We appreciate ever dollar toward raising awareness and early detection. Just a reminder that they are the only organization in the country dedicated to lobular breast cancer.

It was tough to get out of bed this morning for Kim and I. Our alarms went off at 5am, but we didn’t get up until 6am. I had some things to catch up on last night and didn’t get to bed until 11pm. I need my beauty sleep and like to get 8 hours. Plus, the temperatures and the humidity are on the rise and draining. The heat index for today was 104 degrees.

We were both dragging this morning. After getting up we walked to the hotel breakfast nook and had a lite breakfast of scrambled eggs, bacon and toast with coffee. After returning to the room, we got our act together and made it out the front door at 7:45am and headed southeast on Hwy 25/Cumberland Parkway. The Hwy was 4-lanes and had a wide shoulder with a lot of glass and blown semi-truck tires for 36-miles. There’s always a give and take with the roads we’re traveling. Hwy 25 was heavily traveled, but it was safe and a more direct route. No flat tires today though!

On the way to Pineville, we passed through Barbourville and stopped at a convenience store for a Gatorade and crackers. A middle-aged guy was walking into the store to pay for the gas he pumped into his old white pickup truck with a couple old push mowers and other junk in the bed. He asked where we were riding to. I told him and he stopped, put out his hand and said, you’ve got my respect. We shook hands and he asked me my name and I met Jerry. He departed and he said to travel safe.

When we rolled into Pineville there was a Dairy Queen off to the right. It was getting more humid and hotter so we both had a small chocolate dipped ice cream cone and stood out in the parking lot while the ice cream dripped through our fingers to the ground beneath us. It was very tasty.

Once we rode through Pineville, we headed east on Hwy 119. This was a 2-lane highway and any shoulder was hit or miss and we found ourselves having to ride inside the white line at times. The drivers were very respectful and swung over the center rumble strip when they could to give us room. Hwy 119 seemed to go through the heart of the Cumberland Mountain range of the Appalachian Mountains as we climbed and zig-zagged. It was like riding through a hilly Rain Forest and everything around us was plush green.

After riding the additional 30-miles on Hwy 119 we rode through Harlan an additional 2-miles and pulled into the Quality Inn on the east end of town. There were a couple people standing out front having a smoke and we immediately struck up a conversation. We met David who is in town doing mobile home repair work and Vicki, an elderly lady who had gone through Inflammatory Breast Cancer. We giggled as they questioned us about our ride and after about 10-minutes they realized that we are actually riding our bicycles, with no support, across the entire country. We spent about 20-minutes catching up and they were a joy to speak with.

It had rained in Harlan about a half-hour before we got there. We could see the black clouds as we were riding in and could hear the thunder, but by the time we got there, the downpour and sideways rain was over. The sun was out and the heat was baking us.

We checked in and immediately walked to the grocery store about a quarter-mile back. It was highly recommended by the hotel desk clerk. She was right. It was awesome. We went for the salad bar, Kombucha, watermelon, pickles and broccoli salad. We walked back to the room and held back from eating until we showered and put on our cleanest dirty clothes and then chowed down.

I spoke with my dad after we ate. He seems to be trying to get used to his temporary surrounding not at home. We’ll see what’s next. He sounded good and is having some short-term memory issues.

We’ll be in Virginia tomorrow! We also might have to add Tennessee to our states visited list as we’ll be near the border and might have to travel a few miles in to find a place to stay tomorrow night.