The next morning at 6 am, Tim woke me up and we started packing up to go. We managed to get on the road with no major problems and we were excited because we were only supposed to have one large mountain climb that day. Or rather, that's what the day's terrain would have been until Tim subconsciously decided that the terrain was not difficult enough and navigated us up a huge mountain climb to the highest elevation of the day. Then, when we got to the summit, he bikes us another mile or so until the road split. Then, he stared at his GPS and map in confusion until he realized we weren't even supposed to bike up that mountain! We were supposed to turn right onto a new road before the climb. The mountain was called Happy Top Mountain, but I wasn't very happy at the top. On the bright side, at least we had to go downhill to return to the trail. The turn that we had initially missed ended up being a road that wove through meadows. As we were riding, we would startle flocks of hundreds of butterflies, so they were swooping and flying around us. It was really nice. I was super exhausted so we kept having to stop and rest but the ride, except for the two mountains, was much flatter than the previous days. It was actually a beautiful ride and ever since we crossed into KY a few days ago, its been nothing but blue skies.
We haven't had any dog problems. I don't really understand why everyone said the dogs were so bad. They mostly leave you alone, or wander out to say "hi!" We've had a few dogs chase us, but they are herders trying to tend their flock. We also had four beautiful german pointers chase us down the road for at least a mile. They were baying up a storm, and it seemed like they felt they were hunting a fox! Every guard dog we have seen has been well chained or kept from the road, so we haven't had to worry about them. We've also seen a few obese little dogs waddling after us, but they are nothing to worry about. They annoy Tim, though, because they bark up a storm. I guess Jim was just a really negative man and I shouldn't have taken his words to heart. Dennis has taken to calling Jim "negative man," and it's become a source of humor. If there is a lot of wind, someone will say "negative man says there is too much headwind" or something along those lines, which makes all of us laugh. It helps to remind us to enjoy the good things and forget the bad ones so we won't be like Jim.
We got to Berea, KY at a somewhat late hour. It is a really cute town with Berea College, and the college area is very quaint. We stopped to get a coffee and a smoothie at a cafe and went to the library to use the bathrooms and wifi. Tim took so long in the library that I'm pretty sure he managed to write a novel, too. We started biking to the campground we intended to stay at, but on the way we saw a super 8 motel sitting next to a mexican restaurant. It was also really close to a walmart and other food stores, so we decided to stop there for the night. The night before, Marc had been excessively worried that since it was memorial day weekend, we would not be able to find a place to stay. It ended up not being a problem at all. We both went to our room, showered, and then hastily headed to the mexican restaurant. I ate pollo loco and LEMONADE (yay!) and Tim had a plate with a wide variety of mexican foods. It was great but you could tell they had to americanize their food because it was much more bland than we are used to. I guess their food needs to be less spicy to please their southern customers. After dinner, we walked over to walmart to grab some sandpaper (we stopped at another walmart earlier in the day to pick up a patch kit, and it didn't come with sandpaper), some apples, and other essentials that we needed to restock on. We grabbed a McFlurry on the way back to the hotel in order to fill my insatiable desire for ice cream, and then spent the night playing with the ipod and watching tv.
Time with Tim!
Today had one hill in the morning that was flattish, other than a minor navigational error that sent us up some 800 feet steep climb and added 7 miles to the day...oops. In the morning, a pack of four german pointers came chasing us down the road. I cruised by, thinking after another house or two, they'd turn around. Instead, like a fox in an english hunting excursion, I ended up kicking it as all four woofed along for about half a mile. Fun! Today, we saw the only somewhat-aggressive dog. It was a big german shepard making a beeline at my leg with hackles raised. I set my water bottle to "stun" but the burst of water only slightly fazed him. I said "NO. SIT!" and he backed off a little. The owner was standing in the yard and gave me a little sneer and "y'all told 'er!" Perry then went by and said, "No! Stay!" which was the magic word. She stopped and petted it for a while. The owner stared slackjawed. Perry then pushed it back to its yard and it went and growled at its owner. We got to Berea, I got new sandals, and we had the healthiest (mexican) food we've seen for days. Hooray!
We haven't had any dog problems. I don't really understand why everyone said the dogs were so bad. They mostly leave you alone, or wander out to say "hi!" We've had a few dogs chase us, but they are herders trying to tend their flock. We also had four beautiful german pointers chase us down the road for at least a mile. They were baying up a storm, and it seemed like they felt they were hunting a fox! Every guard dog we have seen has been well chained or kept from the road, so we haven't had to worry about them. We've also seen a few obese little dogs waddling after us, but they are nothing to worry about. They annoy Tim, though, because they bark up a storm. I guess Jim was just a really negative man and I shouldn't have taken his words to heart. Dennis has taken to calling Jim "negative man," and it's become a source of humor. If there is a lot of wind, someone will say "negative man says there is too much headwind" or something along those lines, which makes all of us laugh. It helps to remind us to enjoy the good things and forget the bad ones so we won't be like Jim.
We got to Berea, KY at a somewhat late hour. It is a really cute town with Berea College, and the college area is very quaint. We stopped to get a coffee and a smoothie at a cafe and went to the library to use the bathrooms and wifi. Tim took so long in the library that I'm pretty sure he managed to write a novel, too. We started biking to the campground we intended to stay at, but on the way we saw a super 8 motel sitting next to a mexican restaurant. It was also really close to a walmart and other food stores, so we decided to stop there for the night. The night before, Marc had been excessively worried that since it was memorial day weekend, we would not be able to find a place to stay. It ended up not being a problem at all. We both went to our room, showered, and then hastily headed to the mexican restaurant. I ate pollo loco and LEMONADE (yay!) and Tim had a plate with a wide variety of mexican foods. It was great but you could tell they had to americanize their food because it was much more bland than we are used to. I guess their food needs to be less spicy to please their southern customers. After dinner, we walked over to walmart to grab some sandpaper (we stopped at another walmart earlier in the day to pick up a patch kit, and it didn't come with sandpaper), some apples, and other essentials that we needed to restock on. We grabbed a McFlurry on the way back to the hotel in order to fill my insatiable desire for ice cream, and then spent the night playing with the ipod and watching tv.
Time with Tim!
Today had one hill in the morning that was flattish, other than a minor navigational error that sent us up some 800 feet steep climb and added 7 miles to the day...oops. In the morning, a pack of four german pointers came chasing us down the road. I cruised by, thinking after another house or two, they'd turn around. Instead, like a fox in an english hunting excursion, I ended up kicking it as all four woofed along for about half a mile. Fun! Today, we saw the only somewhat-aggressive dog. It was a big german shepard making a beeline at my leg with hackles raised. I set my water bottle to "stun" but the burst of water only slightly fazed him. I said "NO. SIT!" and he backed off a little. The owner was standing in the yard and gave me a little sneer and "y'all told 'er!" Perry then went by and said, "No! Stay!" which was the magic word. She stopped and petted it for a while. The owner stared slackjawed. Perry then pushed it back to its yard and it went and growled at its owner. We got to Berea, I got new sandals, and we had the healthiest (mexican) food we've seen for days. Hooray!
No comments:
Post a Comment