Dover to Grand River, Kentucky: Land Between The Lakes

April 26, 2010

It was a cool, wet and rainy day. We cycled "The Trace", (not to be confused with the Natchez Trace), which is the roadway between Lake Barkley (Cumberland River) and Kentucky Lake (Tennessee River). We spent two hours waiting out the rain in the Visitors Center of this National Recreation Area.

We spoke to an older gentleman, a local who cycles a bit and also a semi-local couple who talked to us at length and even invited us to their house. We declined the invitation because it was too far off of our route.

On a trip to Yellowstone, our (then) middle school aged daughter was frightened by a sleeping bison along the trail. We heard a scrabbling sound and found she had climbed up a tree. We had a hard time getting her to come back down. Being the kind of loving parents we are, we now seek out places where we can stage pictures of bison menacing us in the background.

We splurged on dinner in a restaurant we heard about named Patti's Settlement. Rhona's description: "It was a bit like a very small, homey (and expensive) Cracker Barrel. But, boy, was it worth it from my point of view! I had a delicious cauliflower soup, spinach salad, fabulous grilled asparagus, their specialty "Bread in a Flowerpot", and a piece of brownie/macaroon pie. I even had to call (friend) Shirley about the meal since I had been complaining to her about the paucity of fresh veggies on this trip."

I had been bothered by an intermittent squeak that seemed to be coming from the vicinity of my seat for several days. Sounds are harder to locate on a tandem for several reasons and this one was hard to identify. I thought it was coming from a plastic cosmetic piece attached to the back of the seat and removed it.*

*After arriving home, I finally located the source of the squeak to be the stoker's seat post which had corroded and seized up. Replacing the seat post was expensive, but the satisfaction of getting rid of the noise was worth it.

Today's ride: 54 miles (87 km)
Total: 679 miles (1,093 km)

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