Caves for Cavemen

Day 14: Bardstown to Horse Cave

Distance: 77 mi

Day 15: Horse Cave to Upton

Distance: 46 mi

Day 16:  Upton to Utica

Distance : 86 mi

total distance: 1030 miles (we hit over 1000 miles!!!)

We decided to take an off route detour to visit the Mammoth Caves National Park of Kentucky. This added a whole 65 miles to the trip. The caves are supposedly amazing to explore. We were looking forward to taking a rest day in order to go spelunking. However, upon arrival at the National Parks we quickly realized that proper spelunking wasn’t really possible. These caves have been commercialized to the extent that the only type of exploring requires a guided tour that you have to pay for. Alright, we made it this far, might as well sign up for a tour, we thought. But them park rangers did not think so. We weren’t allowed to actually do the caving tours because we didn’t have the proper ankle protection. Yeah apparently, we needed ankle high boots, and our make shift ankle protection, for which I creatively used my handlebar tape and wrapped it around my ankle two layers thick, did no suffice. Alas, we settled for a walking tour through the caves and got some cool pictures.

Bourbon Capital

Day 13: Harrodsburg to Bardstown

Distance: 42 mi

 

We left Berea in good spirits and ready to ride the distance.  To our surprise, the next town was almost equally as cool. We arrived at the “Bourbon Capital of the World,” aka Bardstown. This town has some big city renown. It carries a lot of historic relevance from the Civil War period (I don’t know much more than that) and it is now famous for its lucrative distilling factories, hence Bourbon Capital. So let me put a few facts together… I am currently unemployed. I am on a two month “travel vacation.” And I am in Bardstown, known for its Bourbon distilleries. Put these things together and you’ll likely get to what I was thinking. Let’s try some Bourbon, fellas! Juuust kidding. I didn’t go nuts, but I did try a couple different Bourbons (that stuff sure goes down hard…) and some very tasty beer “Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale.” I loved the beer (almost as good as Banana Heffeweizen), but I’m not a fullfleged fan of Bourbon.  The next day, we actually visited one of the distilleries and learned a ton about the making of Bourbon. A guide took us through the entire process, starting with the processing of the grain (51% has to be corn, or else it ain’t Bourbon) to the final stage of bottling and shipping everything to different parts of the world. I have never seen a factory this way. It felt like a live documentary. 

 

Thumbdrums are genius!

Day 12: Berea to Harrodsburg

Distance: 61 mi

771 mi

Travel and culture go hand in hand. You can’t visit a place and not learn a little bit about the culture and customs of the people you are immersed in. After our “century” ride to Berea, we spent half the day exploring the town. Two days prior to arriving in this wonderful little town, all we had seen of Kentucky was rural and desolate. The hills of eastern Kentucky are closely associated with terms such as “Hill Billy” and “red neck.” We have come across many confederate flags and seen cars drive off with rifles in their passenger seat. Apparently, the police doesn’t exists out here - if you are in need, get out your gun, not your phone. This probably also explains why cell phone reception out in the rural areas is pretty much non existent.  But this all changed when we arrived in Berea. Downtown Berea is filled with art and culture. Two whole streets lined with art and craft stores. It was in one of those stores that I bought my first souvenir of the trip... a thumbdrum! Before you laugh, hear me out. A thumbdrum is a handy musical instrument, that covers one whole scale. It is made of gourd (the shell of some tropical fruit), it is super light weight (because I don’t want anything heavy on ma bike). It is fun to play with your thumbs. It is creative and allows me to make music while on this trip. In other words, it is perfect for every traveler. I have played it twice so far and hope to master it by the end of this trip. You’ll see! In the same shop that I bought this little genius instrument in, I also met Ms. Jimmy Lou Jackson, who showed us how to make jewelery out of beads. This lady is incredibly charming with a spice of humor. After twenty years of working in research she decided to switch her lifestyle a bit and create her own artwork. She has been working in this shop for a while now, happy as can be, and in company of her sister who does watercolor paintings. It is always nice to come across people who aren’t afraid of switching gears, no matter at what stage of their lives. Guts and initiative, I say.