Day 13: Hindman, KY to Booneville, KY

June 14, 2006

65.35 Miles, 5:40:01 Ride Time, 11.78 Average Speed, 36.5 Maximum Speed

After oatmeal for breakfast at the B&B, I rode out of Hindman before 8:00. The first ten or so miles were an easy ride along Troublesome Creek. Somewhere around Carrie I met an Eastbound cyclist, who was doing the TransAm in sections, a couple of weeks at a time. We did the usual comparing of notes, and he warned me about the coal trucks ahead: "They're big."

In a few miles I left the quiet road I had been on, and turned onto State Route 80, a four lane, divided highway. For the next seven miles, I rode on the debris-littered shoulder (lots of rocks, gravel and chunks of coal), as coal trucks roared past me. The road was like a rollercoaster, but riding on the shoulder and trying to avoid all the junk there made it it hard to build up enough speed on the descents to help coast up the hills. I passed some sort of massive excavation project that was the ugliest scene on the trip so far. I finally reached the end of my ride on SR 80 near the Hazard Wal-Mart.

As bad as SR 80 had been, the next five or six miles on State Route 15 were even worse - more coal trucks, and this time the shoulder was narrower, with a rumble strip in the middle of the shoulder. I stopped for a minute and found that the cleat on my right shoe that had gotten twisted yesterday had somehow gotten locked into the pedal, and wouldn't disengage. I ended up taking my foot out of the shoe, and twisting the shoe off, leaving the cleat embedded in the pedal.

I finally got off the busy highway, after the worst hour and a half of the trip so far, and turned onto a quieter two lane road that would take me to the town of Chavies. When I got to Chavies I stopped at the lone gas station/restaurant for a lunch of hamburger and french fries, and saw a Lexington Herald-Leader newspaper for the first time on the trip - the first sign that I was getting closer to central Kentucky.

The ride from Chavies to Buckhorn was peaceful but hilly, with several steep climbs and descents. I stopped at a little dairy bar outside of Buckhorn and had a milkshake, and the ladies there filled up my water bottles with ice and water.

After Buckhorn (and one last steep climb), the landscape started to become less mountainous, and I saw wide fields for the first time in days.

The ride to Booneville was nice, if uneventful. I still hadn't figured out where I was staying for the night, but when I rode into town two ladies asked if I was looking for the Presbyterian church's "biker's place." I had no problem following their directions to the church (Booneville is a pretty small town...). The church provides a cyclist-only camping area, (cold) shower and pavilion behind the church. I showered, set my stuff up, and rode my unloaded bike up the street to the "Farmers Restaurant & Game Palace" for dinner (burger and fries again - I was craving beef for some reason).

I was sitting at the picnic table behind the church when a motorcyclist pulled up. It was Jerry Dixon, a friend/former coworker from home. He had heard that I was in Booneville for the night, and had ridden about two hours to visit. We talked for a few hours about spelunking (his big interest), hiking, my trip, etc.

After Jerry left I went to bed in my tent for the second time of the trip.

One of the many coal trucks I shared the road with, for a few nerve-wracking hours

The ride with the coal trucks was not exactly scenic...

WARNING - INSIDE JOKE: I contemplated stopping here and handing out my business cards, but I didn't want Wade W. to get an angry call...

The sign I loved to see after slowly pedalling up a mountain for 45 minutes

The scenery was getting much nicer as I approached Buckhorn

Dairy bar near Buckhorn - I had an excellent strawberry milkshake there.

As the sign says, this store seemed to stock virtually everything. They have a logbook for cyclists to sign.

The Presbyterian Church in Booneville, where I camped out

The church provides this nice area for cyclists.

Johnny and Henny, still a day ahead, left me a message in the log book at the church...

The Farmers Restaurant and Game Palace - I had dinner *and* breakfast there. I didn't check out the Game Palace, however.

Today's ride: 65 miles (105 km)
Total: 752 miles (1,210 km)

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George HallJust started reading your journal - reliving old memories, the Transam was my first long self-supported solo tour in 2015 when I was 62. I think the coal industry had died down a bit from your tour to when I rode it in 2015 - there were a few coal trucks but not nearly as many as you experienced. Looking forward to reading the rest of your journal.
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1 year ago

Jeff LeeTo George HallThanks for checking out this old journal. I really didn't know anything when I did this tour. I'd only been riding a bike for about a year, and hadn't even heard of bike touring until six months before doing the trip. I was 40 years old, and had never really been anywhere or done anything. Doing it radically changed my life.
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1 year ago