I climbed three big hills. It rained until about 2:00 PM. At noon I had only done 22 miles because of the first big hill and I was feeling discouraged. But things got better in the afternoon. It warmed up and the rain let up. I got to Pippa Passes around 5:30. Those of you who are familiar with the poems of Robert Browning may have some idea where this name came from.

I saw a lot of substandard housing units today. Poverty and messy yards. Wet blankets, clothes, car parts, strewn all over the ground. Junked cars all around. A sign from the Kentucky May Coal Company announcing the blasting schedule for the coming week. Warning signs to stay out of the Kentucky May Coal Company's property. Coal hoppers and loading shutes. The hills hold everything pretty tight up against the road. A string of parked cars next to the road leads to a car repair shop. A sign in front of one house proudly proclaims that inside one can obtain the services of a "Notary Republic". Little churches dot the area. The Paw Paw Baptist - The Freewill Baptist Church - The Old Fashioned Freewill Baptist Church - The Penticostal Holiness Church - The Topmost Holiness Church, etc. Some of the churches have marquee boards with sayings such as "For all you do, his bloods for you"; "Dust on the bible leads to a dirty life"; "God doesn't grade on the curve, He grades on the cross"

Pippa Passes is the home a Alice Loyd College, established to help poor kids from the Appalachian area. No tuition is charged but the students are encouraged to get Pell Grants and the school takes the money from the Pell grants. I rode around the campus. The streets all have names like Courage St, Integrity Ave., Dicipline Rd, etc.

I stayed at a home hostel in Pippa Passes that has been providing a place for traveling cyclists since 1976.

I was supposed to camp at Buckhorn lake but it rained all night and was raining went I left in the morning. So I decided to get off the Adventure Cycling Route and stay on main roads. Consequently I rode to Hazard (No this is not the home of the Dukes of Hazard - that is Hazard Alabama) and then up st route 15 to Jackson. There were two big hills at first, but after that it was level or even downhill. Riding on these main roads doesn't allow you to see as much of the country. Main roads in Kentucky look pretty much like main roads in California. But I was not in the mood for putting up my tent in the rain and riding up a lot of steep grades in the rain. Being sweaty, being cold, and being in cold rain all at the same time is no fun. There was a lot of traffic on these main roads but for the most part there were shoulders. How sweet it is. However today's ride made me realize how much more interesting it is to ride on the back roads and see how the people really live.

Back roads don't have as many places to stop and get a V8 or something to eat (little Debbie Oatmeal Cookie Creame Pie for example. For $0.25 you can't beat it). A lot of the back roads have stores that are vacant. They look like thay have not been operating for 5 - 10 years. Maybe this is caused by Big Box Stores. Since gas is still realtively cheap, I think people drive to a big box (probably less than 50 miles away) and load up on everything, putting the little minute market out of business. Not good for the touring cyclist.

I am in Berea Kentucky, and finally found a computer. I am on arts and crafts overload. Berea is the center for Applaichain arts and crafts and Berea College is dedicated to preserve these crafts. So far the trip has been pretty hard. The first few days going through the Virginia Tidewaters and the Virginia Peidmont were fine. The weather was good and the scenery was spectacular. I saw a bunch of Old Plantations (monuments to feudalism) along the James River. Next I skirted Richmond and went through seven or eight Civil War Battlefields. Each Battlefield came complete with its plaque describing the battle (General "X" led his troops to the edge of this field where they met a barrage of (rifle)/(cannon) fire. They vanquished the other side/retreated hastily ) Anyway they all started to sound the same after the third one. I guess you have to have more interest in war than I do to really get into it.

After skirting Richmond and seeing the suburbs of Mechanicsville and Ashland (Randolph Macon College) I went through the resort area of Lake Anna (where they had a 3.5 earthquake the day before) and the old mining town of Mineral. The ride from Ashland to Charlottesville was so beautiful. It was warm and a bit humid. I felt loose and strong and really good. The controversy w/ Thomas Jeffersons black descendants was in the news because the annual gathering of TJ's descendants had taken place over the weekend that had just passed. I stopped at the Montecello visitors center and learned a whole lot about TJ. I don't know that much about DNA but apparantly the experts say that the DNA tests only show that a male relative of TJ's could be the father of the black descendants. In the movie they showed about TJ's life they quoted President Kennedy who, while addressing a gathering nobel laureats at a White House dinner, said that this is probably the greatest gathering of minds to ever be at the White House except during his presidency when Thomas Jefferson dined alone. After Charlottesville it was serious climbing. Up to the blue ridge parkway (from 1600 ft to 2100 ft and then on the BRP to 3400 feet before descending off the BRP into Vesuvius VA where there was supposed to be a store where I could get something to eat. Instead I had to go almost all the way to Lexington to find food. This was a really hard day. Lexington is the home of Washington and Lee University and Virginia Military Institute. W&L has a beautiful campus: red brick buildings, green grass, Oak trees. Basically your typical college campus. VMI has grey cement buildings, hardly any landscaping and looks like a military encampment. The funny thing is that the two campi are right next to each other. What a contrast. I talked to one student and when I commented on the contrast between the two campi he said "yea. We call them Athens and Sparta" VMI now admits women as students although this is still somewhat controversial. I was talking to this old guy I met while having coffee. He told me that when the Tour du Pont was still taking place in VA and NC the road I took from the BRP to Vesuvius was on the tour except that the riders went up the road (it's 4 miles long and incredibly steap). Anyway this guy told me he used to live on that road and he saw a woman pass a man on that road on a bicycle. He said "as soon as I saw that, I knew that women should be allowed to attend VMI"

[5/21 Update] I COULD have gone farther today but I wanted to see Berea. I Have heard about during the 3 years that I lived in North Carolina but that was 30 years ago. This is the first time I have actually seen it. It's a nice place. It's the arts and crafts center of Appalachia. There is a lot of weaving, pottery, broom making plus the area is dense with non traditional artisans making stuff out of clay, wood, and cotton.

Right now I am on arts and crafts sensory overload. That's why I came to the library to type this email.

[6/6 Update] I stayed in Berea for an extra day just because (1) it was a place I always wanted to see (2) there was a computer I could use and (3) it was raining (surprise surprise).

City where Lincoln's parents were married.

[6/6 Update] It was not raining but it was foggy. I crossed I-75 after about 2 miles. I-75 is the boundary between the really bad Kentucky Hills and the rolling hills of the western part of the state. This is a blue grass-white rail fence-horse area. Beautiful. I met a guy coming the other way. He had started in San Diego and was headed for Virginia Beach. He said that he had had a lot of trouble with dogs in Mossouri and was worried about those in Kentucky. He had two cans of mace and a high pitched whistle. I told him that I had had no trouble with dogs thus far and was surprised by his stories of being double and triple teamed by dogs. He said he had seen a lot of tornado damage in Kansas.

I stopped in Bairdstown and went into the local cafe for some pancakes. Various people asked me about the trip. I felt that the men were curious but that they felt that it was not cool to appear interested or ask too many questions. So I just gave long elaborate answers to the questions and that helped the men ask some other questions. Where did you start? (when I say Virginia they usually assume I am from there) How long will it take to finish? (universal question). Boy you are a long way from home (universal comment) I guess you get pretty good gas mileage with that thing (universal comment). I might do that some day but I am going to go on a motorcycle. (common remark if not universal).

In Springfield I learned that the courthouse there has the marriage records for Abraham Lincoln's parents and the first home that said parents lived in is about 5 miles north of town.

Off route, but place to stay was on the way to Manmoth Caves.

[6/6 Update] This was a long day and not too eventful. Rolling hills and good weather. Almost idyllic. I did cross two major highways and each such intersection had at least one major truckstop.

Truckstops are the cultural centers of my trip in this part of Kentucky. You can buy stuff to eat and some other personal items. Sometimes, like today, there is a restaurant associated with the truck stop. Always there is a very prominent display of cigarettes. Everyone smokes in Kentucky. I see really young kids smoking and talking to middle aged adults. Instead of telling the kid to "put out that cigarette", the young smoker seems to be accepted as if smoking was no big deal. By the displays of cigs, there is an unctuous card saying, in effect, "remember kids, cigarette smoking is an adult activity so you can't do it." Such a message, of course, has the effect of making kids want to smoke all the more.

I was the only occupant in the campground at Upton. So I kept my bicycle in the bathroom to keep the dew off of it.

Rumble Strips: Kentucky is beserk with rumble strips but I don't think they quite understand the theory of the rumble strip. You find rumble strips in cities between intersections with traffic lights. How many drivers are going to doze off during a stop and go driving experience? Not many. These urban rumble strips also have the undesirable effect of tending to keep the debris that accumulates more heavily on the outskirts of towns (glass shards, nails, and cable wire from tires) in a more upright position and thus more of a threat to the tender tires of the bicyclist.

In the rural areas the rumble strips are often placed at the very edge of the road, often where the pavement is sloping down at 45 degrees to the road surface. A car is probably irrepairably in harm's way when it's tires are on this 45 degree surface. It is then too late for whatever warning the rumble strip affords.

Then there is shoulder about one foot wide, the surface of which is completely covered by a rumble strip. Need I say more. It might afford some protection for cars, but it's hell for bicyclists. A variation of this is when the shoulder is 20 inches wide, the rumble strip is 12" wide and located precisely in the middle of the shoulder, leaving 4" on either side of the strip to ride on. Not good.

Then there is the three-foot-wide shoulder where the rumble strip meanders all over the shoulder. It's as if the operator of the rumble strip appliance is suffering from the malady that the rumble strip is trying to prevent. Often these wide shoulders are covered with dirt clods, rocks and lumps of coal. A meandering rumble strip is just one more obstacle to deal with.

Some Rumble strips have a shadow that you can't see but will shake you teeth. I call it "the shadow of your rumble" or "the strip has ended but the rumbling lingers on" or "if you're over there, why do I feel this way"

Until today, only the roads that were marked with a center line and a "shoulder" line had rumble strips. Today however, those pesky strips appeared on roads with no shoulder line. The farther west I go, the more dilligent the rumble strip applicator becomes.