Day 24 - Harrodsburg to Bardstown

June 12, 2002
11 min. read

This post is part of the Trans-Am series.

I rolled out my Thermarest at 11 PM last night. The park was pretty much empty, so I thought I was safe. By 11:30, I was inside my sheet bag, listening to the evenings news on the radio. I saw a car coming into the park. It passed the picnic shelter and headed further into the park. One of Harrodsburg’s finest in a standard marked cruiser. I turned off the radio and continued to play opossum. I had talked with the police earlier and they said that they overlook certain things, if there isn’t any trouble. I was sure that he saw me coming in, but he almost missed me altogether. As I saw him cruise by on his way out, I let out a sigh of relief. Then I saw brake lights and then reverse lights. He backed up and parked even with the shelter. I continued to play opossum. I saw him get out of his cruiser, and walk around. He couldn’t see the bicycle from his initial vantage point, and now was able to. I don’t know if he would have told me to get out if I had been “awake”. He didn’t seem to have the heart to wake up a poor, tired bicycle tourist and got back into his car. I noticed him coming by again after 1 AM, as the sound woke me up. But if he came by other than that, I didn’t notice. Sleeping does that to your awareness of your surroundings.

I had gotten everything ready for rain before going to sleep, and rain did come. I woke up at 6:30, to the alarm on my little radio. I noticed the early morning joggers starting to hit the walking trail. I quickly packed up everything and checked the computer for it’s batch conversion job. I setup to computer to make a version of all the pictures I took so far in 400 x 300 size. These are much faster to preview and I should be able to upload more pictures faster doing this. As I am typing this, I am running a batch conversion of today’s images. This system may help me get more pictures up quicker. I still have to type in the captions, but we will see.

If anyone is interested, here is what I have planned for the rest of this week. I’ll be stopping somewhere between here and Rough River tomorrow night, and ride into Rough River on Friday. Dave (the same guy who flew Dad and I to the start of this trip) has a cabin on the lake and I will be taking a zero day on Saturday and spending time with my sister(s) (depending on who comes down.) I haven’t seen my niece and nephews in a while and I won’t get a chance to see them again until I finish the trip. I hope to get some picture pages completed then, but I don’t know if the cell phone coverage will be good enough to upload them.

I left the park at 7 AM and headed down 127 into town. I only had one annoying motorist on the road, when I got in town and took a lane while waiting for a red light. The truck behind me was a large diesel pickup with a decent horn. He decides that I shouldn’t be in the lane or something and honks his horn. It wasn’t a bad horn, but it wasn’t as good as mine. I honk back, turn around with a broad smile (as if to say “I win!”) and waved. It really ticks them off when you are super nice back to them. :)

I pulled into a gas station/deli/grocery and picked up a breakfast sandwich (egg, cheese and ham). I went outside and answered the typical questions, giving a card out for the web site to a really interested guy. Then I pulled out. About 1 block later, I saw the first 76 Bike Route sign I had noticed in Kentucky. It was looking pretty bad, so I pulled over for a picture. My batteries died trying, so I loaded another set in the camera.

About then some car came past and the guy with teeth missing and stained from chewing tobacco said something as he pulled out. I made out “Yo, bob you gottcha gooble gobble ya habble ho bee yeee ahh. Laugh.” I’m normally pretty good with accents and southern slang, but this really threw me.

There had been a young woman sitting in a car with the window down, next to where I was taking pictures and I asked if she made that out. She shook her head no, not understanding the Martian language either. Evidently whatever he said was enjoyed by him, so kudos to you fine sir for enjoying yourself.

I passed by the old park where they used to let Trans-Am’ers camp and agreed with the Police’s assessment of the place. The word dump is too kind. There was a small picnic shelter further back where it might be possible to get some rest and plenty of grass for pitching a tent. The empty pool, boarded up building and dug up yard didn’t look very hospitable. My choice last night was much better, even with the 4 miles of extra riding. I also passed some of the cheap motels. They looked like places where they may rent the rooms by the hour for the working girls. Shudder… Not good at all. The park is the best part of the town I saw.

There were not many services today, so I cruised along without many stops. Heading out of town I put on the ear phones and started listening to more of The Horse Whisperer. I have found the audio books and sermons I brought along to pass the riding time better than music. With music, you listen to a song, then another, then another, passing time in 3 or 4 minute chunks. With listening to someone talk, you have to concentrate more and the time seems to fly by.

Most of today was rolling hills. Unfortunately, most of the time they didn’t roll close enough together to keep the energy and shoot over the next hill from the previous downhill. While climbing a hill about 4 miles from Springfield, I noticed a cyclist in my rear view. I pulled over and he stopped in the same driveway. At first I said that I didn’t know if he had bags when I saw him in my rear view mirror. When I saw the unloaded bike, I initially thought it was a local cyclist on a ride. Then I noticed the Adventure Cycling Trans-Am maps. He has a restaurant just outside of Louisville and is riding the Kentucky portion of the route, with his wife following in the van. A friend at work did his Trans-Am crossing this way and going unloaded makes the hills MUCH less of a struggle.

I pulled into Springfield just before 11. I was about halfway to Bardstown. I asked for a good place to eat and was directed to a local diner. I had a pork tenderloin, green beans, a salad, and corn bread. It was all made there and really good. I got talked into a coconut cream pie, homemade by the lady who served it to me. It was extremely good. While I was eating, I noticed to guys really examining my touring rig outside. They had just left the diner for lunch. I went outside and answered some questions and gave them cards for the web site. When I came out the guy my size said that he expected some tiny little guy to be riding this, not someone his size. I laughed and told him that I hoped to be a tiny little guy by the time I hit Oregon. He agreed and said that you will look like him, pointing to his slim friend. I paid my bill and got on my way, starting slow to let the food digest.

I had passed a historical marker just before the dinner and took some pictures of the plaques. Apparently Tom Lincoln was married in Springfield, KY an their marriage was on file in the court house. I thought, “Well who is Tom Lincoln?” Then I was rewarded with the final sign that I looked at proclaiming him as President Lincoln’s father. The signs made a little more sense then. A few miles up the road (serious rolling hill miles, let me tell you), I reached the Lincoln Homestead State Park. This is mostly a golf course and lake, with a little section actually for the Lincoln Homestead. There is a replica of the cabin where Lincoln grew up (a tiny little place) and a replica of the cabin where his wife’s family lived. This was a two story and multiple roomed cabin with assorted displays. There also was a replica of the blacksmith’s shop where Tom Lincoln learned the trade. I took photos of the Lincoln history from England to Presidency and the family tree. A better deal than other places I had been to on this trip for the $1.50 it cost to tour the grounds. All pictures are in the next Trans-Am post.

There weren’t any services until Bardstown, but I didn’t mind. I wanted to ride into town a quickly as I could, as my aunt, grandmother, and cousins were coming down to visit me. I was worried about riding on Hwy 62 into town, but most of the traffic was running on the Blue Grass Parkway. I rode into town and was heading back out on Hwy 150 (bad busy road) towards My Old Kentucky Home campground. I noticed a Blue Caprice in my rear view, the vehicle they were going to be heading down in. I waved and they told me that they would pull over ahead. When I got there, I told them to head to the campground, only another mile or so further. I pulled in there just after 3 and started setting up camp. Once I got the tent setup and some things inside it, I went to take a shower. Then we left the campground and headed into town for dinner. Granny had decided that she would like to sleep out under the stars on a picnic table. I told her that she was welcome to, and she would enjoy the rain that was coming into town. We headed over to My Old Kentucky Home gift shop and were planning on looking at the house. However, we had about 5 minutes to get inside the gift shop before the storms rolled through. It really came down and I wondered how my tent was doing. After most of the rain passed, we left for the Talbern Tavern for dinner.

The atmosphere was nice, but the food wasn’t as good as I’ve had elsewhere for the same price. Everything was marinated in something. It worked for everything but the carrots. I don’t particularly like carrots that taste like bourbon. I think it might me against the law to cook anything in Bardstown without using some Maker’s Mark (a liquor made in Bardstown). I had never tasted fried green tomatoes before, so I ordered some to start. Granny said that they were too doctored and liked more simple fried green tomatoes. I thought they were good, and the sauce that was served with them was very complimentary. We did have a problem with some ripe green tomatoes. I guess it is hard to find unripened tomatoes these days. :)

Sue had found a coupon on the net for 2 free desserts with entrees. We couldn’t decide which to get and asked our waiter to describe their chess pie. He was a very unskilled waiter, but he tried hard. It was somewhat humorous when he ad to run back and ask some things. In this case it was great. He came out with a thin sliver of chess pie, and said that a picture was worth a thousand words and a sample even better. We all tried it and were impressed it was a rich custardy pie. Having tried that, we decided on the tavern pie (a secret recipe) and blackberry cobbler. Both were pretty good. The tavern pie was very similar to a derby pie, but better than any derby pie I have had. Verdict, only go there for dessert.

We headed back to the campground and said our goodbyes. I opened up the tent to see that the two side seams didn’t enjoy the serious downpour. I had a small puddle in each side of the tent. I managed to get it all out with my sock, but I’m going to have to figure out which seam is letting it in. This could be less than fun during overnight rain.

I walked over to the toilet/shower area to use the restroom and get some water. I noticed a tripod with a DSS digital satelite dish with a cable running into the motorhome.. I guess you can’t travel unless you can have 500 channels at your finger tip. Sheesh. I could myself lucky when my NOAA weather radio comes in.

Today’s numbers: 54.8 miles, 3,170 feet of climbing, and 5:31 riding time.

How did it get to be 10 already. Man, time flies when you are typing, I guess. Wonder how good my Kentucky cell coverage is.

Bardstown, KY

Tent Site: 37 deg 47.853 min N, 85 deg 27.468 min W, elev. 762 ft.

Trip Miles: 882.9 miles


Part 29 of 48 in the Trans-Am series.

Series Start | Day 23 - Berea to Harrodsburg | Day 24 - Lincoln's Homestead

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