August 3, 2018
Booneville – Hindman
108 km (67 miles)
1458 m (4782 feet) elevation
4:57 moving time
6039 km (3753 miles)
We slept reasonably well on a futon mattress which we laid out on the floor in the First Baptist Cycle Hostel. Woke up early to beat the traffic and for much of the day we had the roads mostly for ourselves which was wonderful.
The people in eastern Kentucky have thick southern accent and deep course voices because of cigarette smoking. Tobacco is one of Kentucky’s top 5 agriculture export which might explain their own use of cigarettes. There are cigarette posters everywhere and many cigarette stores which don’t sell anything but cigarettes and cigars. Many diners have a smoking zone which is often the nicer one than the non-smoking one.
The Kentucky people must view us as a pair of aliens because before everybody said hi and wanted to talk but here nobody says hi and we notice many people looking at us and talking when they think we aren’t looking. Sometimes they even stare when they know we are looking 😂.
We have been traveling through among the poorest areas in the US and it is amazing to see how many churches there are. In some tiny towns there are more than one church. It is interesting to think about the relationship between poverty and religion. Does one feed the other. Does one need the other? Since many religious people believe that their destiny has been decided for them, are these people less likely to try to create a decent life for themselves? Maybe these thoughts are too deep for our some little blog.
We finally crossed over into our last state on the TransAm route. Goodbye Kentucky, not sure we will miss you terribly. Hello Virginia! It was wonderful to finally see the sign in the distance and even better to come closer and be able to read the words: ‘Welcome to Virginia – Virginia is for lovers’. We are getting closer to finishing the Appalachians and then we ‘only’ have to tackle Vesuvius and then it is mostly smooth sailing. Vesuvius is not that high but seriously steep with grades up to 24%!
We also hit another milestone today as we have now ridden more than 6000 km during these 50 days!
It us wonderful to wake up every day and read the comments from all you wonderful people. The kind and encouraging words from family, friends, and blog-followers are really fueling our last days of the journey. Thank you all!
Today’s entry will include few photos as our internet connection is very slow.
Icicle-Bicycle 
Enjoyed your post.
Great pictures of you both; you do not seem the worse for wear and you are looking quite fit!
I enjoyed your reflections on religion and poverty. There does seem to be some interesting connections there that are worth discussion.
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P.S. Congratulations on completing the 6000!
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Gaman að fylgjast með ykkur, hef lesið pistlana ykkar daglega, gangi ykkur vel 🙂 Þið eruð mikil hvatning fyrir okkur hin sem sjá svona ferð í hyllingum.
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Takk kærlega! 😀
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Thank you again for sharing your blog each day. We have followed you since meeting you at the pizza parlor in Pacific City Oregon.
We feel as though we have travelled across our own country along with you. You described the diversity of each state in such a positive style and with good humor.
We have been a lucky couple for having met you. May your final days be safe and very satisfying!
If ever you come to Oregon, please do contact us. We would certainly open our home to you!
We live in Southern Oregon. Crater Lake is near our location.
Do keep an eye on that crazy weather in Virginia! You may get an extra night in a cozy motel while the storm passes over!!!
Remember what the state sign
said !
Best regards,
Kathie and Chuck Darland
(The pizza thieves)
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Thank you for your nice comment. You don’t need to refer to yourselves as thieves, we gave you what was left if the pizza 😂.
Weare really happy you enjoy the blog. It is weird how a random encounter like ours can turn into something like this 🙂
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You mentioned, “Since many religious people believe that their destiny has been decided for them, are these people less likely to try to create a decent life for themselves?” This is actually a incorrect understanding of history, the Bible, and the nature and character of God. For the true Christian, our destiny has NOT been predetermined, pre-decided, predestined, and pre-mandated, but we have been given free will to seek God, hear His voice, and make decisions based on a compilation of principles, guidelines and laws in the Bible, wisdom from others (elders), common sense, and righteousness. God will often lead us with a map, not a blueprint. As we make decisions, based on the above, God will work all things together on our behalf (Romans 8:28). This is completely different from Augustine, Luther, and Calvin teachings (and Islam) which teaches that “every single detail that happens in life is God’s will, God’s design, God’s decree. No, everything that happens is NOT God’s will. That is why we must pray, ask God’s kingdom to come, His will to be done, resist sin, engage in spiritual warfare, and take on more of a “active personal responsibility and personal self-government” rather than a “passive, whatever happens happens, fatalistic” worldview. I would not be surprised if one of the reasons you are witnessing massive poverty surrounding churches is that (a) wrong theology is being taught in these churches (b) there is little accountability and follow up to the application of Biblical principles from the church leadership to it’s people(s)/church members (c) simple disobedience and sin on the part of the church leaders and church people and community (d) demonic, generation curses, and lifestyle habits that need to be repented of, changed, resisted. If you mentioned a lot of alcohol and tobacco growing and usage in this area, this is bad indicator of he the need for repentance, revival and renouncement of these things. I will pass through this area myself in July 2019. I’ll see for myself. I hope to stop and preach as I am able. Watch for my uploads and reports. mitchtour.com
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