Day 19: To Glasgow

September 27, 2014

Up at 7:30. Breakfast at McDonald's 1.5 miles away. Getting out of Monticello I made a wrong turn which cost me 2 miles. Finally heading out of town on KY 90. For the first several miles the road has a great shoulder. Then 2 lanes for the remainder of the day, with a shoulder that varies from nothing to very wide. Always with a rumble strip.

Big rolling hills, with a growing number of flat valleys in between the hills. Consequently a growing number of farms.

Today I saw mostly Baptist churches but there was some variety. Methodist, Church of the Nazarene, Church of Christ. And the first Cumberland Presbyterian church of the tour as I'm leaving the area known as The Cumberlands.

Final crossing of the Cumberland river. It flows south into Tennessee.

I stopped for lunch in Burkesville at a funky barbeque joint run by a black man with a white wife. Rare in Kentucky. I thought I arrived at noon, but it was really 11 AM because I crossed into Central time zone at the county line between Monticello and Burkesville.

Burkesville's courthouse square is mostly asphalt. I saw that several times during this trip.

During the afternoon I stopped at the Country Kitchen store to get a snack. I thought it was an ordinary store but it's actually a Mennonite store, with lots of homemade stuff and workers dressed in 19th century clothing styles.

I bought a big bag of dark chocolate covered raisins and had a nice conversation with the cashier who asked me about my trip. Nobody around here asks me about my trip. The Mennonite store really cheered me up!

Mums in front of the wonderful Mennonite country store.

Overall, today was a nice ride. Traffic was light to moderate. Today is Saturday, and traffic would probably be worse on a weekday. It was only annoying for the last 15 miles as I approached Glasgow.

*Dear Kentucky DOT:* It would be easier to share the road if you didn't mutilate every shoulder with a rumble strip.

Today I passed a lot of abandoned buildings. I enjoy stopping to look and take pictures. You can tell the area is not very prosperous.

First Cumberland Presbyterian church I saw. Surprising, considering I've been in the Cumberlands for 3 days.

Another nice surprise today was that many barns in Cumberland county are painted with unique quilt patterns. It was interesting to spot the various patterns.

Many barns in Cumberland county are decorated with quilt patterns.

Still another thing that cheered me up was stopping at the first roadside park I've seen in several days. It is the site of a Civil War encampment. It's really hard to find a table in the shade around here. The region hardly has any parks. Partly because they believe in small government, and partly because they believe that parks are mostly used by sinners.

First roadside park I've seen in several days. Parks are rare in the Bible Belt.

Today I left Appalachia. It's kind of a subtle change, but things do look a bit more prosperous. Newer cars, nicer houses. Open flat valleys allow more of a farm-based economy instead of a timber and coal-based economy.

I wish I stopped to take a picture of the 1-mile long fence of piled up log rounds. It was the raw materials stockpile for the Kingsford charcoal factory.

The terrain is getting flatter but the rumble strip never goes away.

Today I saw a wagon full of tobacco. I think most of the tobacco has already been harvested and hung to dry. This was the only time I saw tobacco. I never noticed tobacco fields or drying barns.

I never saw tobacco in fields. Apparently it's already harvested.

Today was a bit less hilly than yesterday, with few grades above 5%. For several miles coming into Glasgow the undulating old KY 90 is being replaced by a much wider and flatter road that blasts through the hills. Generally, the roads aren't as relentlessly winding now. One result is that the traffic is less patient about passing me.

In Glasgow I got a room at Days Inn for $92. More expensive than last night, but also nicer. I got some cave tour information.

Weather was pretty decent. Mostly cloudy in the afternoon. The usual high humidity, low of 59F and high of 81F. Mild headwind from the west.

Dinner was at the Mexican restaurant next door. One of 4 restaurants in Glasgow that started serving beer last year. You still can't buy beer at a package store. The drinking water has an awful chlorine taste so I bought a gallon of bottled water.

I ended the day in a much better mood than when I started. The Mennonite store was the turning point.

Distance: 80.9 mi. (129 km)
Climbing: 3067 ft. (930 m)
Average Speed: 11.6 mph (18.6 km/h)

Today's ride: 81 miles (130 km)
Total: 936 miles (1,506 km)

Rate this entry's writing	Heart	1
Comment on this entry	Comment	0