On Tuesday it was Hindman, KY to Elkhorn City, KY. The route definitely took me through Kentucky backwoods country. Steep roads up and down narrow hollers with wooded hills on either side, little traffic, and if there was any, everybody was very considerate. You will also see in one of the photos a collapsed verge. This means you can't let your attention wander for a second. Many of the holes have no guardrails, so it makes even more dangerous. Most could easily swallow my whole bike.
Talking about swallowing, Kudzu, also known as “mile-a-minute” and “the vine that ate the South,” was imported from Japan in 1876 as an ornamental plant. Now in many places I passed through it's gobbling up trees, telegraph poles and wires, abandoned houses, train tracks, even having a go at the roads. You can almost imagine what the landscape would look like if people wouldn't keep it in check to some degree. I put up some pictures, but they don't do it justice.
Nevertheless, great cycling with signs of extreme poverty alternated with neat, nice houses. Observing people in service stations or supermarkets, and it's the same the world over, including in Scotland, many seem to have aged well before their time. Also, I suppose the frequent pawn shops and people selling their belongings at the side of the road, tell their own story.
Along the way I stopped of at a convenient store and got talking to Mike. He was 65 and had just retired as a coal miner. Both the coal dust and smoking had given him a bad lung but he was married to a girl 30 years his junior and had 8 year old twins.
He had grown up and was still living in the same area just a few miles away. In fact, I must have passed his house coming down one of the hollers. He was one of 9 children and his father was killed in a mining accident when he was nine. His mother brought the children up on her own, often relaying on neighbours to keep the family from starving. In fact, the owner of the convenient store was one of the people that really helped out. That's was almost 60 years ago and he still wanted to make a special point about that. Mike also mentioned that Christmas presents were a luxury they could never afford.
I asked him about the many empty properties, some of them in complete disrepair. This was because of the decline in coal mining, leaving people no option but to move to find work. Coal mining is still important to this part of the country, but dominated by a few big corporations. You can still see the workings and hear the occasional coal train, probably more than a mile long, pass by.
Along the way he mentioned that young people have it far too easy now, expect everything to be handed on a plate to them, don't really want to work and don't know how to apply themselves. This was not the first time I had heard this here from people of my age.
I mentioned that this was not my experience. In fact, my view was the other way around: we, the baby boomers had it easy and our children and grandchildren are facing much greater challenges (climate crisis, job insecurity, housing, social media, etc.). However, this didn't make sense to him. His experience, and that of most of the people around him, was very different from the European context, so there was no sense in pushing the point. A very enlightening conversation, helped by Mike's ability to code switch, adapting his strong Kentucky accent for a foreigner's ears.
Tonight it's free camping outside a pizza joint, playing, no Country and Western, but 60s music. A nice change.
Tomorrow I will cross over into Virginia, my final state! I am getting there, slowly but surely. Let's hope there is a sign so I can post a selfie!
Monday, I slept in another church hall in Hindman, KY. Even after all this time, I am still impressed by the attitude of "no problem, just come in". Also, people always seem to have time for you. Nobody ever said, sorry, I am busy, come back in an hour.
The ride today, Sunday, despite my worries, was all very manageable and the shaded roads helped. I suppose the people complaining and warning about the Kentucky hills probably had limited cycling experience and weren't prepared for it. In fact, from a cyclist's perspective, it couldn't be any better. I absolutely loved it. Some of the climbs were a bit too steep for my gearing so I ended up serpentining, zigzagging across the empty roads. So, no walking and pushing the bike.
What was interesting, but not surprising, was just about every one I talk to here has Scottish or Irish roots.
I recently got a number of Mosquito bites, some of them even swelling up, but I couldn't work out when I actually got them. In my tent? No. In the motel? No. Then dawned on me, it was during my hourly cycling breaks. Kentucky has an abundance of midges, and mosquitoes and, as soon as you stop, they waste no time in having a go at you. So now, in the morning it's Factor 50 suncream, and on top of it, mosquito repellent. It works like a treat, no new bites. All the things that you have to learn the hard way.
After what's been another lovely and but rather short cycling day, on Saturday it's overnight at the Firestation #2 in Berea, KY.
I also had an interesting conversation with Brian, the watch commander. I asked him about the large chemical and biological emergency truck they had at the station. It seemed rather overkill for a small town. However, he explained that there was an army chemical weapons decommissioning facility near by and, combined with the potential of tornadoes, made it a necessity for all the fire stations in the area to be trained and have the equipment to deal with chemical emergencies. We also talked about the storm and tornado warning sirens which you can see in each town. According to him, they are used on average once per year. Although the last time, it malfunctioned. Embarrassing for an expensive, high-tech system.
This reminded me of growing up in Spiez in Switzerland, where we had one of these on the roof of our school. However, they weren't for tornadoes, but in case of a nuclear attack by the USSR. Interesting to try and remember what that felt like.
Brian also shed light on the huge, black six-story buildings I saw in Loretto, KY. There were about 30 of them and they were just sitting there with no-one around. I couldn't for the life of me work out what they were for. They apparently were full of barrels of bourbon, quietly aging there. The reason why this didn't cross my mind was because you couldn't smell anything. Some of the Scottish whiskey always seeps through the barrels (Angle Share?) so you can smell a wearhouse from miles away. Bourbon however is fully sealed in, so no smell.
I also told him about the many people older than myself I observed working in shops and supermarkets. In some places maybe 50% were in that category. My question, was it necessity or choice? A bit of both, it seems. Certainly without an NHS, even things like medication can cost more than half a monthly pension cheque. Others like the social side or being able to afford more generous holidays.
Then tomorrow it will be the first of about six Kentucky rollercoaster days. According to reports, all the climbs are short, but steep and frequent, and the total daily climbs in feet will apparently be higher than anything I did previously on this trip.
However, it always depends what you compare it to. I don't think it will anything as challenging as Plymouth to Lands End, which was 97 miles and 9,300 feet of climbing in one day, although the heat might put a spanner in the works.
Friday was another easy day and camping in a park in Harroldsburg, KY, although like many of the parks have seen better days.
On Thursday I made another navigation error, missing a turn and then having to find an alternative road back to the original route. I just wasn't paying attention and overshot the turn by about 3 miles. Anyway, most of the time when that happens you kick yourself over it, but today I had to congratulate myself afterwards.
If, as a cyclist you can dream up an ideal cycle route, then this is what I found because of my navigation mistake: a newly tared road, no traffic, some climbs, but not too steep, some descents, fields, meadows and woodlands, leisurely twists and turns, bright red autumn leaves blowing across the road, all in the right combination. I should make such mistakes more often!
It did add a bit to the distance but with only 60 miles planned, it made no difference.
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