My life is a country song- a life of dogs and trucks

The Worst Cycling State

Eastern Kentucky is constructed solely of hills, dogs, and trucks.  I mean no offense to anyone who lives there, but it is a bad, bad place for cycling.  The roads seem to twist in upon themselves to make the uphills twice as steep and three times as long.  The enormous, loud trucks and the loud, aggressive dogs attack you from both sides.  Luckily, a loud, forceful "GO HOME!" with a kick in their general direction will turn back most dogs- it is less effective on the trucks.  Furthermore, there are no grocery stores, only Dollar Generals every 20 miles.

This was some of the hardest cycling I've ever done- physically, mentally, socially... but after three and a half days we hit Berea, a shelter in the storm.  Berea is home to Berea College, one of the few work colleges in the country, and a rather liberal college.  We got ice cream, and went to a cafe and got iced chai and a peach smoothie.  An oasis of sophistication, at least in comparison.
Enough about Kentucky.  And not all the dogs were mean.

A lap dog

Kentucky was also beautiful

Cycling Alone, and Traveling with a Partner

There is a beauty to traveling solo. For one month I was responsible to and for no one but myself.  It was my will that got me up and moving, my choice of when, and if, to eat a meal.  Everything was as flexible as one man can be.  But it was a bit lonely, sometimes.  I had often wondered how I would handle being truly alone, a hermit in the NH woods.  I think I need someone to hear my thoughts, even if we never held a conversation.  When I traveled alone I found myself spontaneously knowing what subject to write about on the blog, and spent the rest of the day fleshing it out in my head before committing it to paper that night.  Slow growing crystals grow larger, more solid.  Published on this blog, I would know that I was communicating, however tenuously, to others.  693 page views as of today.  Like most of society, I have found I need an audience.

Now I have a cycling partner, and when an idea comes to me I usually speak it within an hour, the next time Zander and I meet up.  Thus spoken and communicated, the subject dissipates.  The spontaneously knowing what to write about has dropped precipitously, and the larger development of ideas about broad themes of my journey don't grow.  But I have been having conversations; society no longer ends on the inside of my skull.

Zander is a good traveling partner, with high standards for the food we eat, the roads we travel on, and how often we interface with others.  He is the motive force behind out WarmShower visits, and I greatly enjoy the effect.  We get along and we argue, with injured feelings, bruised pride, and laughter and sharing.  That is living together, and I am glad we are both here.

So far I have gone 1910 miles (almost 2000!) and am writing this update in the Grayson Public Library in Leitchfield, KY

Highlights:

• A bat ran into my head one afternoon
• WarmShowers with John and Patty in VA and eating the best sourdough toast ever for breakfast.
• Spending a zero day with Mich Wiles in KY at his and his family's farm/vineyard
• Cedar Creek's Bear Berry Mead

Zander with John, a WarmShowers host and bread baker extraordinaire.

Cedar Creek Vineyards

Us with Micah Wiles, a good friend

One of the herd

After "Steep Uphill Next Two Miles," this is a sign we could get behind.

Too much watermelon for two little guys