Distance: 91 miles Goreville, Il to Clay, KY
Ride Time: 7:41
Average Speed: 11.8 mph
Maximum Speed: 38 mph
Altitude Gain: 5836 feet
Average Temperature: 87
Dave was gone when I got up this morning. I don’t know if the rain flushed him out early or if he just left at 6:30 when he normally starts riding. My goal today is to get to Kentucky. Part of the day was to be a ferry to cross the Ohio River.
Kathie and I met in Elizabethtown on the Ohio river. It had several historical buildings along the river. We found them interesting. I rode on to the next town and the one with the ferry across the Ohio river. While Kathie was waiting there for me she saw Dave. Dave said the section of road between Elizabethtown and Cave-in-Rock was really steep and hard to ride. Dave had gone ahead on the ferry before I got there. As I rode this section what Dave had told Kathie was an understatement. The hills there along the river were some of the steepest of the whole trip. To make matters worst, the roads had recently been chip sealed. Some of the hills were so steep the wheels would spin in the gravel. It was brutal.
At Cave-in-Rock, Kathie and I crossed the river on the ferry together. Yea! I am in Kentucky and only have two states left to cross. It is always interesting to me to see the geographical changes as I cross the state lines. Illinois had been rolling hills that was mostly farm land. As we crossed into Kentucky, we had swamp land for the first few miles. However, I was amazed at the amount of lawn most of the Kentucky homes had. Some of their front lawns must have been close to 5 acres. I didn’t see Dave anymore for the rest of the day.
We decided to hold up for the night in Clay, KY. It didn’t have any campgrounds and we ended up sleeping in a Methodist church parking lot. All the parking lots with no electricity makes for a real hot and humid night. I am happy for the trailer keeping the bugs out and away from us.
ThruUSA2 