Day 73

Booneville to Hindman

Today is the second day in the Appalachians. There has been a lot of hype over the Aps, but I personally don't think they are too hard. I think the hardest mountain range we crossed was the Ozarks in Missouri! The Aps are similar to the Ozarks, but the only difference is the climbs are a bit longer, but not as steep!!

Our experience in Kentucky has been excellent. The people have been accommodating when we had questions on directions and gave us some good recommendations on restaurants to eat at. We rode about 35 miles with the heat index reaching around 90 degrees and our stomachs telling us we needed some serious calories ASAP! We were in luck and noticed a church was having carnival and had FOOD STANDS! We chowed down on some cheeseburger and listened to live Christian rock music.

Back on the road another 35 miles to the small town of Hindman. The 35 miles went by fast because our new English friends, especially the stand up comedian Rob kept us laughing with his Seinfeld commentary! As we arrived in the town we heard from other cyclists that there was Historical Society which allows cyclist to spend the night and warm showers. The only downfall for this lodging situation was we had to climb the steepest hill of this entire trip. No exaggerations the grade was 18%. Rob, Dan, and me tried climbing up with grade, but failed halfway up! I thought my chain was going to snap! As we arrived at the Historical Society we were greeted by a nice man with ice tea. The owner in the lodge was nice, but his price was a bit ridiculous. He wanted to charge 30 dollars a person...to expensive for our tight budget! Instead we parked our bikes next to a creek and decided this was the best place for camp. Kristen knew she wouldn't be having a shower, but she's getting better these days with not having a warm shower. She has become content with other means of showers such as gas station sinks, water hoses, ect.. Today she was in luck because the creek was 3 feet wide and 2 feet deep! The only negative about this creek was that it was heavily polluted with fertilizer runoff from agriculture. When we were showering one of the town's residents yelled at us "Tomorrow you are going to wake up with rashes all over your bodies from all that pollution!" We just laughed it off and continued bathing.

We went out for pizza and now going to sleep at 9pm cause I will be waking up at the crack of dawn!

Night Mark