Hendersonville, North Carolina

Surreal

A couple days ago in Demascus, Virginia I met up with the Jones brothers again. Dave and Neale and I first ran into eachother in Twin Bridges, Montana.  We rode together for a few days drafting off of each other pushing through forty mile/hour winds, getting drenched and tossed around through a random microburst, winding our way through the gorgeous Yellowstone mountains, and soaking in the Boiling river.  We parted ways in Mammoth, Yellowstone.  Dave and Neale headed East toward the black hills and I headed South toward the Tetons, all going towards North Carolina.  Biking through Virginia I kind of played phone tag with them, then a day or so before we met up, we realized we would both be going through Damascus very soon.  We got to Damascus within five minutes of eachother and rode down to Boone, NC together passing through three states in less than than a day.  We stayed with my friends in Boone.  The Jones brothers took off the next morning to Hendersonville where they have family and I stayed in Boone a couple more nights.  It felt so amazing to hang out in one place for a couple days.  Then I rode the Blue Ridge parkway, following the Jones Brothers to Hendersonville where we will now ride to the South Carolina coast together.  Three more nights on the road.

More On Random Thoughts

I was logged out of my computer.

Road kill here seems to be messier than other states I have been through.  Heads are smashed, intestines wind down the road, and sometimes it looks like a turkey dinner just pulled out of the oven.  Gruesome.  I know. 
I think the caterpillars here are slower than in Kansas.  I wondered all through Kansas why it was that I never saw any roadkill caterpillars, as many as there where wiggling(very speedily) along the roads.  It was always dead grasshoppers.  I thought they might just be sticking to the wheels of cars, but there are a lot of roadkill pillars in Kentucky, and they are definitely slower moving than the ones in Kansas.

What is with the mile markers here.  I swear that my first two days in Kentucky I only saw mile post markers one through four.  Now I'm pretty sure they at least go up to eleven.  Or maybe it was fourteen.

This is my fourth day in Kentucky.  So far the people here have been incredibly kind and generous.  I have had people pay for my food three separate times, offer me directions when I simply "look" lost, and offer me and tell me about places I can stay nearby. 
The dogs however, are a little less friendly, although, none so far have been a real serious threat.  It's more of a "grrr, bark bark, I'm scary" and some bouncing around the handle bars.  I still have a dog whacking bar that I attached to my bicycle just in case.  It makes me feel safer.

Day light hours are an issue.  I wish there were more.

Random Thoughts

I am in Berea, Kentucky right now.  Approximately 700 miles to the the Virginia coast, via adventure cycling maps.  I'm am finding myself wanting to prolong the trip, and yet I am also very excited to reach my destination.  It's right there!  I could easily get there in eight days.  The adventure cycling maps are also seeming to become much less direct with lots of turning on random roads, which makes me want to take different, more direct routes with less confusing directions.  But like I said, I also find myself wanting to prolong this bicycling adventure. :)

Fall is most definitely here.  And Absolutely gorgeous.

No One Talks About Missouri

Everyone talks about how windy and flat Kansas is, how the dogs in Kentucky chase cyclists, and how gorgeous the mountains in Colorado are, but no one talks about Missouri.  No one tells you that there are also vicious, cyclist chasing dogs in Missouri, or that oncoming traffic will give you the finger for no reason, or even that you will most likely be ridiculed and possibly asked "what age are you living in?" by a passing jeep full of yelling teenagers. You do briefly hear about the beautiful, roller coaster-like hills of the Ozarks, but that makes them sound fun and easy, not like the difficult, narrow, neverending, very steep ups and downs that they are.  Gorgeous, yes, but not a place I will ever cyle through again.
Fortunately, I was lucky enough to have some amazing company through this not so amazing state.  Three awesome, independant, solo cyclists happened to meet up just before their trek through Missouri.  Those cyclists would be myself, Michelle, and Charles. We had a blast, laughed alot, skinny dipped in a random lake, saved Urtle the turtle from a dog and rode with it on the back of Michelle's bike for a couple days, busted out hundred mile days, ran over a dog, and rode off and on with Megan, another solo cyclist we met in Missouri. Megan happened to ride up on me while I was talking to the cows.  Scared the shit outta me.
The unfortunate thing about awesome, independant people is just that.  They are awesome, and independant.  Our group has disbanded.  All starting from different places, and continuing on to different places. 
And the adventure continues.