May 29, 2003
There are a couple of “catch-up” items to discuss before I do today’s journal. First of all, at the end of the day yesterday, we had passed the 1000 mile mark with an elevation gain a bit over 40,000 feet. We feel good about that. Secondly, we had one of those “this is a small world” episodes when we arrived at our hotel last night. We ran into this woman who recognized our Hammergel jerseys, and we learned she did the 2001 RAAM as part of a four-woman relay team, and also knows our cycling coach, Karen Buxton. It was nice seeing Christina Norris.
We got through today with no mechanical problems, and Team Zell/Linn is feeling great (but, we occasionally lie!). Seriously, we are doing fine. We just eat, sleep and ride the bike. It is a nice life, but tiring.
Today’s journey took us from Madison, IN to Brandenburg, KY. The roads were a challenge today. The quality of the pavement was very good, but we had to take some busy roads because of a lack of roads near the river. The closer we got to the river, the busier things became because of Caesar’s Casino/River Boat just outside of Clarksville, IN. We took highway 62 from Madison to Jeffersonville, wound our way next door to Clarksville and then took 111 and 211 to Brandenburg. We went to Clarksville because that is where William Clark farmed, and where he met up with Meriwether Lewis to head off to St. Louis. We visited the Ohio River Falls and the associated interpretive center. Our journey ended with a trip across a very long bridge into Kentucky. Fortunately, there was little traffic, since there was no shoulder on the bridge. We had been riding roads with little shoulder most of the day, but when it is a bridge, it sort of gets your attention.
The weather today was weird. It rained hard last night, and was lightly raining when we got up this morning, and as we were leaving. After than, however, it didn’t rain all day, but threatened constantly. We kept our rain jackets on because of the threat, and it was a bit warm riding. Finally, toward the end of the ride, the sun came out, and we got to get rid of some clothing. Sightseeing was not as much fun today because of the overcast. It really took the color out of things, and just made it hard to see. It was fun seeing some really healthy Midwest farms, however.
Ron
.... Note from LaValle
Today was special for me because Bill's brother-in-law, John Clark, rearranged his schedule and drove from Louisville to have dinner with us. John is always fun to be around because not only is he sharp but he's also very funny. John picked us up outside of Brandenburg at the Super 8 Motel and then drove us to downtown Brandenburg (most of it was destroyed in a tornado a number of years ago) and we ate at Little Dave's. John not only wished us well but also bought us dinner. I had brought my camera to take a picture of him and then forgot during the peach cobbler dessert. My apologies, John. You're the greatest and I really did want to take your picture! Thank you and please come visit Bill and me in Santa Rosa.
|
|
