August 1, 2018
Harrodsburg – Booneville
159 km (99 miles)
2093 m (6865 feet) elevation
6:49 moving time
5824 km (3620 miles)
Had planned on an extra early start but when we looked out the window at 5 o’clock there was heavy rain and a thunderstorm had just passed. According to the weather forecast there was supposed to be thunderstorms throughout the day. We snoozed for a couple of hours before going to breakfast and reassessing the situation. Decided to hit the road and see what would happen.
Ended up riding all day and only had a bit of rain in the morning and no thunderstorm.
At one time to day we were supposed to cross a bridge but it was being rebuilt and there was no way to cross it. We would have to take a serious detour which we were in no mood for so we rode to a nearby marina and found this helpful older gentleman who was on his way out on the lake. He was willing to take us and our bikes across so we were quite lucky.
We had been warned about possibly getting a culture shock as we would approach Booneville as it was one if the poorest towns in the US. We were always expecting things to start becoming ‘ugly’ or in some way worse than before. However the scenery was still beautiful, many of the houses along the way were nice and we didn’t feel any drastic change. Booneville is obviously a poor town but the people were nice and the diner we had dinner at was clean and the food good.
Icicle-Bicycle 
Great workaround with the bridge! Love your elevation gain today. Looks like you’re avoiding big heat with all those clouds. I recall riding all morning in VA in mid July with a fleece on. Let’s hope that you get temps like that. As you continue east you’ll go through Elkhorn City. Some locals there suggested that I ride off route from there by taking 460 into VA. It was a bit of a shortcut with less hills so I took the advice. This was a big mistake as I ran into some very unforgiving coal truck traffic with no shoulders. Worst experience of my crossing. This is a 31 year old road report so things might be different but I’d still stick to the TA route based on my experience that day! You guys are getting really close and it’s such a great feeling when the end is in sight. Enjoy!
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It is tempting to find shortcuts. We are in that mood today but fighting that feeling.
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You can see where my route took a different vector than yours in western VA but I most definitely wouldn’t do it again. https://ridewithgps.com/trips/26073901
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Glad things didn’t “ get ugly”. Seems like your worst fears have not materialized.
How nice that the “ older man” gave you a ride across the lake. But hey, he didn’t even have grey hair! Hope the skies are friendly, and the days are cool.
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Maybe he was older than he looked 😉
Thanks for the comment. Things are still working out well for us.
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