Day 32. Hello Appalachia. Booneville, KY

 

Left Berea by 8am on a blue sky, calm morning. Arrived ar our destination of Booneville, KY by 2:30.  A total of 3,800 ft. of climbing today. A good day but not as tough as I would expect we'll face in the coming days. 

 

We had a great weather day for our first day in the Appalachians.  John summits our first big challenging climb of the day called "Big Hill" in our first 7 miles. The difference between today and the last couple of weeks of hills was this climb was about 2.5 miles long and we cranked up in our lowest gear at about 5 mph the whole way. The other hills have been very short and steep lasting only around a minute or less to go completely up and down. 

 We made good time to McKee, about 26 miles just before 11. After the Big Hill the climbs weren't too bad but we were ready for lunch and a short break. 

 Lunch and the service were excellent and the prices very affordable. However, John and I will tell you the best part of the lunch was the pie!!  John had the coconut which was still warm from the oven and I had lemon meringue.

 One of the many picturesque views we encountered today. We never really had any shoulder on the road to ride on and there was a fair amount of traffic including an army of dump trucks hauling gravel to a big highway construction project near Boonville, but we still enjoyed it. 

 This is the rebuilding of KY 30 that called for all of the gravel hauling. You realize how hilly it is around here when you see how much earth they have to move to put a road in. 

 There was no commercial place to stay anywhere near a 50 to 70 mile day from Berea so we chose Booneville where we can camp out behind the Presbyterian Church.  They had this nice pavilion with mowed grass plus a cold water shower and a portapotty. We were joined by cyclist heading west to Portland including from left to right: Alyssa(Brooklyn), Jean(DC), Mike(NYC but quit his job and heading back to OR, his home) and Mike(Tacoma, WA). Neither Alyssa, Jean or young Mike knew each other before this trip. They hooked up via AdventureCycling.org. Old Mike is still flying solo at this point. It makes me appreciate having friends and a wife that will ride cross country with me. I'm very fortunate. 

It looks like a nice evening so I'll be sleeping on top of a picnic table under the pavilion but John and the others elected to pitch their tents.