June 10, 2001. Chimney Rock Resort
Campground to Bardstown, Kentucky. (65 mi.) Mile 945
Roller coaster riding through
Kentucky's pioneer history
Another clear, sunny day for
riding. A few miles down the road, we had breakfast and arrived in Harrodsburg, the
first established town in Kentucky. There we hit the tourist
attraction, Historic Fort Harrodsburg, which is a reconstruction of the original
pioneer fort, a look at how the early Kentucky settlers lived, and an excuse to
get off the bikes for a while.
1) 
2) 
3) 
1) Kentucky's unique stacked rock fences
2) Historic Harrodsburg
3) Pioneer cemetery in Harrodsburg dates back to the late 1600s
4) 
5) 
4) Kentucky frontier life is
reconstructed at Fort Harrodsburg
5) His and Hers Sock Driers
decorate the back of our bikes
Despite the
pleasant riding, we made frequent stops to drink fluids and seek some shade,
using the numerous sites of historical interest as an excuse. Abraham Lincoln's
parents lived in this area, and so did Abe as a young child. The route goes
past the old homestead site where Abe's father and mother courted and were
married. The original log cabin, home to Abe's mother Nancy Hanks, was moved
to this Lincoln Homestead Park. It is now surrounded by a golf course and
housing developments, though still with open spaces of rolling Blue Grass
countryside.
6) 
7) 
6) The historic courthouse in
Springfield where Abe Lincoln's parents' marriage certificate is on record.
7) Abraham Lincoln's mother's home at Lincoln Homestead park
We have had to worry
about sunburn now, especially on our South facing surfaces, since we are
usually facing West. At the start of our trip, Mike wanted our bikes to look
neatly packed, but we are now looking more and more like vagabonds as we put
our Automatic Drier into effect, socks and other drying clothes bungeed to our
panniers in this drier weather. Humidity is still high in the evening and our
things remain damp if packed into panniers.
This day would have been just as
pleasant as the previous two if it had been about 10-20 miles shorter, but the
roller coaster hills wore me out. The hills are not so steep that
we have had to push the bikes, as we did in the Appalachians, but the second
half of the day was one steep hill after another. Sometimes the momentum from the
previous downhill would carry us up the next, but if it didn't, we were back in
our low gears grinding away again. We tried to cool off with banana splits at
the Springfield Dairy Queen, but they seemed way too small for our needs. A few
miles before our destination of Bardstown, traffic picked up, and I had to
stop and pull over for some M&Ms, a sure sign I was reaching my limit for
the day.
As I was pushing my bike along the
shoulder of the road toward our campground destination, a tall man crossed the
street in my direction, trying to tell me something. At first, being tired and
preoccupied, I did not understand what he was trying to communicate, but then
I recognized a German accent, and noticed the tell tale brown blotches on the back of each of his hands, the
suntan patterns made from bicycling gloves.
He was Peter Helm, of the "elusive German couple" who have always
been just ahead of us. He and his wife Maren had taken a rest day in Bardstown
and noticed us riding into town. We ended up joining them for dinner. Again, it was fun
to share stories with other bicycle tourists, but unfortunately, we could not
do it over a beer, as alcohol sale is prohibited here on Sundays. This
ordinance seems to do more to prevent thirsty bicycle tourists from enjoying a
beer with dinner than to keep local drunk drivers off the road on Saturday
nights, from what we noticed.
It was dark when we got back to our
tent at My Old Kentucky Home campground. The fireflies in the trees surrounding our tent lit up the
night like
magical blinking Christmas lights.
