July 28, 2018
Marion – Utica
112 km (70 miles)
1030 m (3323 feet) elevation
4:27 moving time
5382 km (3345 miles)

Yesterday we ended up sleeping on the floor at Marion United Methodist church. This church has offered TransAm cyclists to sleep and use their facilities at least since 2008. At the church we met another cyclist from New York heading west. The church takes a picture of every rider and asks each one to sign a guestbook and glues the photo next to it. It was pretty nice looking through it. We think this is a really lovely way to use the the church’s buildings for good. Something that could work very well in Iceland for touring cyclists riding the ring road 🙂

We found a laundry on the other side of town so it was quite late when we hit our mattresses. Our sleep was fine but still it was a bit harder getting back on the road.

Somehow Kentucky has not given us the best feeling so far. Maybe it’s because of the dog stories but hopefully this feeling will fade. In the morning we had trouble getting air in Saemis rear tire at the gas station since his valve core kept falling out. When he went in to look for a wrench or pliers he got the strangest service. The guy said he had what he needed out in his car, came back and said he didn’t find it and just walked away. Fortunately Saemi had his tools and he is smart and fixed the problem him self without any assistance 😚

After that start of the day we went to McDonald’s for breakfast and to get water in our bottles. What a strange group of people we saw there, it was like we were in Walmart after midnight 😉

The day was very nice. The pavement mostly good, bit of a headwind, hot but not too hot, beautiful landscape, hills but not to steep, so nothing but joy. We had one ‘dog encounter’ but when we yelled on them some well chosen Icelandic words they backed down 😉

Even though the day was nice we were not at our best and after looking at the maps for the next coming days we decided to finish early in the small town of Utica witch has one gas station and a Dollar General store for its 400 residents. Our accommodation was at the fine facility that the amazing fire department offers to cyclists for free. They leave everything open and ask for nothing in return. We can even walk around and look at their gear, such amazing trust they give to strangers. If we could all treat each other this way we think the world would soon be a much nicer and safer place for everyone 💞

So in the middle of the day we are sitting in a lazyboy relaxing and watching a movie – what a perfect resting day 😁