May 30, 2003
There were no mechanical problems today, and the Team is in good shape.
Our job today was to get from Brandenburg to Henderson, KY. However, what was to be a simple “moving” day turned out to be something quite different. We took highway 79 at first, and then switched to highway 60 for the duration of the trip. Obviously we didn’t have any problems with directions; it was just a bunch of other stuff that stressed us.
Our first little encounter occurred about 7 miles after we started. As we approached the top of a long climb, we came upon an intersection. There was a “good ol’ boy and his wife in a trashed pickup truck waiting to get out on the road. As we approached, I was head-down finishing the climb, but LaValle saw what was happening and told me. I had just enough time to hit the brakes and turn hard right before the guy could hit us. He stopped, and said, “I just didn’t see you folks.” Now, we had on screaming yellow vests and red arm warmers – that ol’ boy must be blind.
The second event occurred on a steep descent. We were bombing down this hill when a big rig pulled out in front of us. I braked hard, and we didn’t have any trouble missing him, it was just the stupidity of the situation that amazed us. We actually passed this guy on the right, and I was able to give him the “pissed off cyclist stare” – there was at least some measure of satisfaction.
As were neared Owensboro, the shoulder on highway 60 just plain disappeared. The traffic was very heavy, especially with big rigs and we were really hung out to dry. Two big rigs came very close to us, and several drivers became impatient, and honked and yelled. It was not a pleasant experience. There was absolutely nothing we could do.
The fourth event had to do with our trip from Owensboro, Ky to Henderson. As we were doodling along on 60, we came upon this sign that said that the road was closed ahead. We stopped at a service station to see what was going on. As it turns out, an Army barge had hit the bridge over the Green River last night, and it was closed to all traffic. We talked to several people to try to develop alternative routes. One was through Indiana, but the bridge was not suitable for a bike. The other was to continue down the road, turn off on a country road and hope that an old bridge was open to get us across the river. The final option was to take a toll way until we had passed the bridge, and then cut over to our original route. We chose the latter, and ended up riding 18 miles on the roughest shoulder either of us has ever seen. It was a mess, and really beat us up. Just before our exit, there was a tollbooth, and when we stopped to pay, the guy wouldn’t take our money, but told us to make sure we didn’t hit the counter after his booth. After we exited the toll way, we found that bicycles were prohibited. We had been passed by a state trooper, and he didn’t do anything to us, so maybe he had decided that we were detouring the closed bridge. He was right, if that was his reasoning.
After riding all that time on the toll way, we exited onto a road that is beautiful. It almost made up for all the problems of the day.
Tomorrow has to be a better day!
Ron
...Note from LaValle
The Ohio River is notably missing from today's photos. Unlike Pennsylvania, Ohio, and the eastern portions of Indianna and Kentucky, there are no roads that run continuously along the river. The only river we crossed today was the Green River on the Audobon Parkway and the shoulder of the road was too bumpy to take that picture.
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