Monday 7/23/18

Hazard to Melvin

Another unique and unscripted day of bicycling. The Hampton Inn was as uptown as I had been the whole trip. Very easy transition from pavilions to this. The breakfast was quite a change from instant oatmeal cooked in a convenience store microwave. I felt like a bottomless pit and keep going back for more as I worked on notes. One day, Friday, seems to have disappeared from my recollection of the days of endless hills. It can be my documentation of brain fog and accumulation of the physical stress of long distance cycling. The TransAm route is about twice as long as the Tour de France. And we do not have a support team along.

Finally Louis and I ate enough and got the bikes packed backup and headed out. We quickly got back on route with the help of Louis’s Garmin. The initial highways 550 and 899 were relatively level compared to the route between Boonville and Berea. I was not looking forward to another rollercoaster day of hills and was enjoying the days ride. 550 ran alongside the Kentucky River. A very quiet road and pleasant with the River view on one side and rock outcropping the other. 899 paralleled railroad tracks.

We had a big hill before Melvin and the another after on the way to the hostel at Lookout. I stopped at the grocery and Louis went on. To the east clouds had been building up and as I started the climb the rain began. Just a short distance back I had seen a playground and shelter building. I made it back before the downpour. As I waited out the thunderstorm I finally called the hostel and told Alice I was rained in and too late to continue.

Once the current storm let up I decided to go the mile back to Melvin and try to find something better than the pavilion. I saw a couple ladies sitting on a front porch across from the fire station watch the children play. Leslie and Ashley did some calling and got me permission to use the Calvary’s Hope Baptist Church. So with the storm things did not work out as planned but things worked out well. Another unique day!

Ray Grindstaff the minister was very welcoming and interested in the trip. Joyce his wife blew up an air mattress for me and offered a shower in their home next door. After a late supper of the food I had bought, I was very comfortable and slept well.

Days miles about 50.