Your tour of undetermined length and destination is off to a great start. It was fun to see you spent a night at Columbus-Belmont State Park. The only night I've ever spent in the state of Kentucky while on a bike tour was at that park. I liked it.
I also liked the quiet roads leading to it from Hickman. There wasn't much traffic, but I remember noting in my journal about the special waves I got from several of the drivers I did see: Two fingers raised casually from the steering wheel, with a cigarette planted between the fingers.

Hmmm, new word. Vilators.

It does give that impression.

Wow - is that a Masonic lodge?

Sounds like it was this:

https://www.westkentuckystar
com/News/Local-Regional/90-minute-high-speed-chase-ends-in-Crittenden-Coun

The article mentions the road I was riding on.

You can eat day lilies if you do not have a sensitivity to them.

Chuckle! Reminds me of when I lived in Richmond, KY and worked at the Army Depot. One of the good ol' boys I worked with saw me eating a white cracker and said something like "Them's like eatin' last year's worspers nest!"

Pretty eventful first day! Did you ever find out what the high-speed chase was about?

Great to see your trip has started. I don’t think I’ve ever seen an actual real police chase, other than on TV. Exciting! Oh, and loved the tee shirt.

Interesting gear list and rationale, sounds eerily familiar to me. I have some old J&G shorts I use for daily rides, but they're too worn for touring use - I may buy another pair now that you "reminded" me about them. I don’t like regular tight-fitting bike shorts for touring either, so I wear mountain bike shorts for the looser fit and pockets. Ortlieb panniers are definitely the cat's meow, but I use an Arkel handlebar bag because the large version gives me the capacity I want. I've worn the same Shimano mountain biking shoes since 2014, they're still good but I probably need to look for a new pair. I also carry a DSLR, and take an extra lens and tiny tripod along as well (primary reason I like the large Arkel handlebar bag). My 2 helmets each have a mirror mounted to the bill and I'd feel naked without it. A laptop goes along with me too - before I retired I needed it for web meetings and responding to project queries, now it's primarily just for the journal and an underpowered netbook fills the bill. Looking forward to following along on your adventure, will be interesting to see where you go.

Hey Paula!

I thought all the Wyoming state line signs were the same, but maybe not?

This is probably the most memorable Wyoming sign I've seen while bike touring there: https://www.cycleblaze.com/journals/noflats/day-nineteen-basin-wyoming-to-buffalo-wyoming/#17570_ff5deqv0dl2teqgemo61vsnfvd0

I have lived here for three years and have never seen a Wyoming sign that's this nice. Usually they give a welcone-but-nit-too-welcone type of vibe.

I briefly considered camping beneath the anatomically correct Albert.

But I didn't, since there was a hotel nearby ;)

Somewhere among my RAGBRAI pictures, I have one of me on the other side of Albert the Bull's . . . um . . . manly anatomy.

"The Ozarks of Arkansas will be a greater challenge, but if a strong wind from the southeast were to blow you to Minnesota, you'd be most welcome."

Thanks! My wife and I both really like Minnesota, especially the North Shore. That's a great place to visit when it's unbearably hot here.

I guess I don't really have much of an obsession with state line signs, since several times I chose not to go out of my way to find one, and instead just settled for a post office, or something else with the state name on it.

Now, though, I do wish I'd tried to get a few more actual sign photos. Especially Louisiana - I passed an interesting one there, but I was too lazy to backtrack a half mile to take a picture.