Last night a storm blew through and the skies started to clear but as the day went on it became cloudy with the possibility of rain increasing. There were two relatively big climbs on this day, but nothing greater than we had seen so far. Our goal was to make it to Fordsville and to stay at the fire department and sleep with the trucks. To get to another safe place would be another 40 miles. With a threat of rain throughout the day it did not see feasible to go beyond Fordsville.
On the way to Fordsville we passed by Rough River State Park, our earlier destination for the previous night. I, for one, was glad that we did not travel that far. It was a hot and humid 40 miles to the state park. Once at the State Park there was not much there other than marinas that catered to the boating community and a run down hotel. The fire department in Fordsville was much better.
Just as we arrived in Fordsville the thunderstorm started. We took refuge under the canopy of a dollar general store and reached out to the fire chief to see if we could stay there. After a few calls he did get back to us and let us into the fire station.
After getting settled in and two emergencies, where members of the voluntary fire department made calls, we were able to establish our resting places between the fire trucks. Dinner that night was at the local pizza place. There were no calls in the middle of the night so our our sleep was uninterrupted.
Today’s states: total mileage 53.99 miles, average speed 13.0 mph, max speed 36.1 mph, elevation gain 3097 feet, elevation descent 3196 feet.