PowerCycle

03/30 Today was perfect. Lots of time in the saddle (64 miles) and I made it to Indiana. It was so nice to wake up to the sun shining for a change. My knee is a little sore but it’ll get over it.

Something kind of bad happened this morning and I’m kind of mad at myself for not moving a little faster to help. I was still in my tent asleep when this horrible yelping noise woke me up. It got closer but it really sounded to me like a bird was being attacked and chased by one of the dozen cats that live on the property. I didn’t think there was much I could do if the cats had already caught the bird but as the noise got closer I knew it wasn’t a bird. By the time I crawled out of my sleeping bag and opened up the zippers on the tent whatever it was had left. Roy told me when I was talking to him later what it was. It seems that a guy had been walking his dog when it took off on him. Apparently his way of finding the dog was to activate the shock collar he’d made the dog wear so he could follow the noise. Roy said that poor dog was in so much pain from the collar that it was running into trees and at one point had jumped down into this freezing cold creek. He confronted the guy about it but he said it was like talking to a 3 year old (no offense to 3 year olds). We thought about tracking him down and making him wear it. Also have to say thanks to Roy for the MREs he hooked me up with. I’ve never had them before but they can’t be much different than the other freeze dried stuff I’ve eaten.

Getting into Indiana was a bit of an adventure. The bridge that crosses the Ohio River from Owensboro (SR 161) was horrible. No bike lane so I ended up riding next to a cement barrier taking up a good chunk of the 2 lane road. Fortunately there wasn’t a lot of traffic coming up behind me so I just peddled like crazy and made it across. After that I had a nice ride along the Ohio River for a bit. Toward the end of the ride I was greeted by a road closed sign. The road was supposed to take me under I-164 without having to ride on US 66 which was very busy. Since I couldn’t see if a bike would be able to squeeze past the construction I ended up trying to cross 4 lanes of traffic on US 66 (4? Maybe 3–it seemed like a lot).

I’m trying to get better about taking pictures of everything I like or find amusing in some way and then deciding later which ones I want to keep. A couple times now I’ve seen something kind of cool but just kept going. 5 minutes later I’d end up regretting it.

FedEx, I have to bust on you for a little. I wasn’t going to say anything but I’m seeing a pattern. Incident #1 about a month ago. I was a little “lost” in an industrial area so I went to flag down a FedEx truck on the gravel road (he was going 10 mph). Instead of stopping for 20 seconds and helping me the driver points to his watch and drives right past me. Incident #2 about 2 weeks ago. Driver passing me comes waaay too close. Incident #3 today. Driver in FedEx semi-trailer moves into oncoming lane to pass me. Fine, but it’s better not to do that if there are cars in that lane coming toward you. He had to make a very quick move to get back into his lane or it would have been a catastrophic head on collision. All he had to do was slow down a little.

Staying at the Baymont Inn tonight. Yes, I know I’ve been staying in a lot of hotels but that will change once I get out West a little more. At least that’s what I keep telling myself. Besides I’m still trying to adjust to not having a home so its comforting for me. This was stop #3 on the local hotel circuit (price shopping). The nice lady at the front was telling me about what they offer here and I stopped her very quickly and said, “You had me at Happy Hour.”

More rain in the forecast for tomorrow. Is it spring time or something? I’m watching The Weather Channel as usual. 37.5% of people thought North America was the driest continent? Yikes.

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03/29 What a morning! Left the motel and was greeted by 30 mph winds and light rain. Fortunately the wind was from the side most of the way. Amazingly enough I was pretty warm for the hour ride to the campground even though it was 40 F out. Trying to set up the tent in strong winds was complicated by the very rocky ground that I was trying to ram the tent pegs into with a rock. That was a lot of fun with cold hands. My neighbor came over and let me use his hammer which helped a lot. He also asked if I needed anything from the store since he was heading over there. Nice guy. The park office was closed so I’ll have to pay them the $6 in the morning.

Its supposed to clear up this afternoon and the winds should start dropping so I’ll try for Owensboro tomorrow morning.

Update: It’s a little later in the evening and dinner has warmed me up nicely. Those little Knorr Sides pasta things are pretty good. The wind finally died down but it’s a bit chilly. The guy next to me is Roy and he’s living here in his RV while he looks for work. He’s only paying $200 a month to stay here which includes water and electricity so it’s not a bad deal. If he can rig up his satellite dish with this adapter he’ll have internet thanks to one of the houses about a mile away.

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Decided this morning that it would probably make sense for me to rest my knee for a day just in case its something more serious. Right now it’s feeling a lot better so I’m heading out in the morning. Tomorrow is going to be interesting though. A huge front came through this evening and brought with it a tornado watch for this area. The clouds looked just like they do in South Florida before a hurricane hits. Nothing came from it down here but not far to the NW I heard a house was leveled. Being in a hotel room is a little more comforting than being in a tent so from now on I’m always going to listen to my knee. The storm alert function on my watch was going crazy so I’ll pay attention to it too.

The front is also bringing some cold weather and some strong winds tomorrow (20+ mph right in my face if I go the way I’d planned). Might even see some snow. Have to push on though. I might just go to Ohio County Park which is only a few miles up the road if the wind is really bad.

03/27 Another wet one. 40 miles of non-stop rain and even some wind to go along with it. The plan for the night was to hit up Ohio County Park but I was beat and it’s hard to resist a motel when you’re soaking wet and tired. My knee still hurts a bit but its not as bad as yesterday. If it’s raining tomorrow I’ll relocate to the park and hang out there for the night. It’s only 5 miles away. Yes, I know, wimping out with only 5 miles left is pretty sad. I picked a bad town to stop in though. Ohio county is a dry county so probably no cold beer for me. I’m not liking this dry county thing. Apparently prohibiting liquor sales seems to increase DUIs because people go to another county to drink and then have to drive all the way back home. Good stuff. I guess most of the dry counties are in the bible belt which I’m sitting smack in the middle of.

Rode on the 231 for the day. That sure wasn’t a nice quiet country road. Lots of traffic to keep me on my toes considering there wasn’t a shoulder and most of the time there was a good drop off into the ditch. For some reason I had the theme song to The Fall Guy stuck in my head which almost had me hoping someone would hit me. Yes, I’m old.

Checked out Morgantown for a little bit. Neat town. I would have ridden around a little longer but its not as much fun taking pics when the rain is coming down on you.

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