Day 20: Berea, KY to Mackville, KY
June 5, 2011

After another delightful night’s sleep in a real bed we said goodbye to Berea and continued West. The route today was a cyclist’s paradise with gentle rolling hills throughout the day. In addition to the smoother terrain, we appreciated the transition out of coal country and back into farm land. Not much of note happened today other than a brief interaction with a nice, older gentleman (with an Obama bumper sticker on his car) who was immensely amused that we’d travelled all the way from New York. New York City?!? (think of the old Pace Picante commercials.) There was a dearth of accommodations in the area but we had a very successful first use of warmshowers.org (a website that lists households across the world that are willing to host cyclists–some provide a backyard for camping, others, full accommodations). We stayed at the home of Keith and Alicia Katterheinrich who have been hosting cyclists for the past 5 years. After a nice shower, some laundry, and a delicious meal we settled in to the living room to hang out with Alicia and her kids Joel and Benjamin. Another incredibly generous and hospitable family! Andrew also test-rode their Co-Motion tandem bike and is now obsessed.

  • Starting point: Berea, KY
  • Ending point: Mackville, KY
  • Slept: the Katterheinrich home
  • Miles: 64.1
  • Average speed: 10.0
  • Notes: Nice, easy day after the Appalachians

Day 21: Mackville, KY to near Hodgenville, KY
June 6, 2011

In the morning, we had a big breakfast of eggs, sausage, biscuits, and oatmeal. Keith helped Andrew with some bike maintenance (cleaned the bottom bracket) while Hillary and Collin got an early start. More of the same, farm-y landscape with more horses today. Some nasty dogs chased us but didn’t attack. Another thing of note: we had an usually number of people yelling at us from cars–some nice “don’t get too hot, drink some water!”and some not-so-nice “hooooooonnnnnnnnkkkkkk, hoooooonnnnnnkkkk.” Not sure what to make of this…maybe people in this part of Kentucky like to express themselves while driving? Despite assurances from 2 places that rooms would be available, there were no vacancies when we reached our destination (“destination” = near Hodgenville and the birthplace of Abraham Lincoln). But, the nice man at the Nancy Lincoln log cabins said we could camp there and use the showers, so it worked out pretty well.

  • Starting point: Mackville, KY
  • Ending point: near Hodgenville, KY
  • Slept: camped
  • Miles: 72.66
  • Average speed: 10.5
  • Notes: Even the rolling hills are getting a little old…

Photos: hay, bike maintenance, the Katterheinrich family, muscle milk!, the log cabins we didn’t stay in