Day 27. Utica toMariom.

These Lillis were everhwhere along the side of the road.

I found these birds just hatched whie I was climbing onto this abandoned fuel storage tank.

There I am, Hi mom, I'm over here.

Lisa, I think I can see Oregon.

Look at this scene very closely. All the cars are black, and there's no one around. Spoooooky!
Babies Breath?

The Green River. I promise, I didn't make it up.

Death of a coyoty. Fresh road kill.

Inside the Meyer's Bed & Breakfast.

The lost where I slept.

Lisa after 75 miles in 90% temperature.

This hawk was being chased by a whole bunch of little bird. He landed here and I shot him. With the camera of course.

Another old abandoned house.
Barns, barns, and more barns.

Entering another small town along our route.

The Tyson chicken factory and hatchery in Kentucky.

Another one of my favorite buildings.

Here I am in the Utica Vol. fire dept.


Day 27, Utica to Marion, Western Kentucky. 75.44 miles. 1145.8 miles total.

The Fire station at Utica was a pleasant surprise indeed. The building was brand new, and we were only the fifth group of cyclists that stayed there. We were sad to leave. Our thanks goes out to the Utica Volunteer Fire Department for their gracious hospitality.

Leaving Utica, we started our ride in what must have been the nicest conditions yet. It was warm, the sun was out, and clear skies all day. We made pretty good time, as we rolled along through the near picture perfect landscape. By noon, we had gone over 30 miles. The landscape was very open for the most part. We passed by a few farms and cattle ranches. Even a couple of goat ranches. The terrain was mostly flat, with rollers that allowed us to generate momentum to get up the other side about 80% of the time. There were no long killers like in the past. It was just a beautiful day altogether. At one point we came across this old fuel storage tank by the side of the road that was abandoned. I had a great idea. I would climb on top, and get my picture taken, which I did. When I went to get down, I noticed this nest with baby birds in it. Upon closer investigation, I saw two more just hatching from the eggs. I didn’t want to disturb them, so I took a quick shot and left, just as the mother came back. Lisa said it was a robin’s nest. We also came across a dead coyote that was just recently hit by a car. Amazing the things you see on the roads. Another peculiar thing we saw, was a white church that had black cars parked in the parking lot. There must have been a couple dozen or more of them. How weird is that? We stopped to see what it was all about. There were women in black robes and bonnets. We didn’t see any men. And another strange thing was that the windows of the church was sealed. Like they didn’t want anyone to know what was going on in there. We got a little uneasy, being that we were way out here in the middle of nowhere, and who knows what these people were all about. So we took off and didn’t stop till we saw normal people again. It was probably nothing, but better safe than sorry. Better to ask who they were, than: “How do we get out of here?”

Another time we met this gentleman at a food mart where we stopped to get something to eat. He was interested in what we were doing, and immediately struck up a conversation with Lisa. Come to find out, he is a truck driver hauling coal for some government contractor, and had been everywhere in the U.S. driving trucks. He told us everything we needed to know, and a lot of stuff we didn’t. He was probably just lonely from being on the road so much. We must have listened to him for over a half hour. We also came across all these people at an intersection in the middle of nowhere. They were all gathered near an easy up shade tent, and had on matching T-shirts. We stopped to find out what was going on. One of the ladies said that it was a walk for charity, and invited us to go over to the finish line for lunch. We would have taken them up on the offer, but it was in the wrong direction, and we didn’t want to get too far off course because of the long mileage we had planned for the day. They gave both Lisa and I a bottle of cold water each, and offered us apples and bananas which we declined. They all wished us luck, and we departed feeling good that we met so many nice people today.

It did get pretty hot in the afternoon. But because of the flat terrain, we were able to keep our speed up, and the wind kept us cool enough that is was bearable. We pulled under shade now and then to regroup, and check our bearings. If we don’t do that every so often, we might end up miles down the wrong road. That could be very frustrating……… We pulled in to Marion at about 6:00PM. And went directly to the county park where there was supposed to be camping. We got chased by a huge brown dog that had just one thing on his mind. Dinner! We escaped without a nip, and found the park. There was nothing there as far as camping facilities. We were totally disappointed. After 75 miles, hot, tire and hungry. And we get this. There was a baseball game getting ready to start, so we went over to the concession booth to buy food. At least we had something to eat. Lisa decided to call Andy from Adventure Cycling, and found out where they stayed, since they were just a day ahead of us. He told her that there is a Baptist church that allows cyclists to stay and use their facilities. We made a bee line over there. But when we got there, the junior pastor was hesitant to let us stay. It was kind of strange, cause the day before, they allowed 14 cyclist to stay there, and they were pretty pleased with their reception, and recommended the place to us. The junior pastor offered to find a bed and breakfast place for us to stay, and even offered to drive us there. We asked about the place right across the street called Meyer’s Bed and Breakfast. But he told us that the place was closed. By chance, Lisa suggested I go over there to see if anyone was there. I did, and Bob Meyer himself greeted me. One of the nicest person you could ever meet. I inquired about a place to stay, but was told he had no more room, it was a busy weekend, and all the hotels in town was full. He felt really bad that he couldn’t accommodate us, that he said we could sleep in his living room and use the facilities, and he wouldn’t even charge us. I quickly jumped at his invitation. After a few minutes talking to him, he said that there was a cottage out back that had two people staying there, but they were leaving tonight, and if we could wait, we could stay there, but the room would not be cleaned yet. He took me back there. It is a beautiful duplex, two story cabin with everything in it but the kitchen sink. Cable TV, refrigerator, microwave oven, spiral staircase, a tub and shower located in a huge bathroom, and a loft with two double beds, and one Queen sized bed down stairs. He said we could have it for the night for five bucks each. I thought I was dreaming, but I am sure that The Lord had a hand in this. A grim situation turned into a deal too good to be true. What else could it be? Thank you, thank you, thank you Lord. Tonight we will sleep well, and a short day tomorrow. Aloha everyone, you guys are the best, we miss you all. Aloha, Ted.