Today I got up with great ambitions of putting in some serious miles because there were no accommodations on route for many miles. But today was not that day. I did not have it. My legs were rubber and I bonked after 25 miles. This resulted in many stops for water, Powerade and milk to try to get the energy needed. It did not help that I had headwinds. These were the first head winds since Kansas. The weather was still good with low humidity so I feel pretty lucky about Kentucky. I was only chased by one dog today. Others tried but when they noticed me I was on my way downhill so they did not bother.
I did manage to make it to Elizabethtown which is 12 miles off the “official” route to get a hotel room. There were no hotels, campgrounds, hostels, VFD, churches anything else that would enable me to get the rest I needed tonight. The trip could have been longer but two nice guys at a convenience store told me of a rarely used, but safe shortcut that would get me off the busy roads and cut 12 miles off the trip. It took me a while to understand what they were saying but it did sound like English just with a thick accent and lots of abbreviations such as E-town for Elizabethtown and WK for western Kentucky parkway. Once I realized what those abbreviations were for I was able to figure it out. It was a great short cut too.
Today was also the first time on this trip that I saw tobacco fields. I was wondering if I would see any in Kentucky.
Today’s stats: total mileage 67.78 miles; average speed 11.8 mph; max speed 37.1 mph; total elevation gain 3766 feet; total descent 3465 feet.