Phew, what a hot and humid day, and more mountains to report. To be honest I thought Kentucky would be on the flat side, but no chance there. The state line was about a Kilometer down the road from last nights motel, and as soon as you crossed it you noticed three things; for a start there was nonstop locos sounds echoing around the hills (apparently you only hear from them every seven years), whereas in Virginia you would hear nothing, but the odd call from a bird. Then you would notice that the roads are narrower in places, and finally there would be the landscape; rugged and rough – you’d often find yourself surrounded by cliff faces.
Around 2pm I stopped off at a roadside cafe to grab a bite to eat. There was a couple of guys standing there who were ordering some food, I think I took them by surprise as I pulled up: “Look at the legs on that guy!” exclaimed one of them. “where you goin’?!” he continued to ask. So I explained, but I don’t think it sunk in, becideds I think they thought I was crazy and were planning their escape route!
Further down the road I was flagged down by a chap in a pickup who, if you were to look at him, was the slitting image of Cornell Sanders (the KFC man), he had his features, a real resemblance. As it turned out there was a dangerous stretch of road ahead and so he offered me a lift to get past it, and so that is what I did – and probably a good thing too as it looked very narrow and twisty, with no hard shoulder to pull into if a large Courvette or Dodge were to cross paths.
On board he told me that he had given a couple of cyclists a lift only a few weeks ago and that they were riding across America too, but rather than being a low key event they had their progress documented by a US TV channel, something to do with a weight loss program. I think that is what he said.
After the short drive I continued over the rolling terrain, and about six pm I decided to call it a day and pulled into a Dollar Discount Supermarket near Hazard to ask for directions to either a Motel or campsite. But as we were talking the heavens opened, and so Motel it was.
I must have been in there for half an hour talking to the two checkout girls, I guess you don’t get many Englishmen passing through town, so they were asking me all sorts of questions about British things (the Queen) and what’s it like to live there. One of them asked me what the money was like, so I gave her 71p and promised to post her a card when I get back to London.
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