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The TransAmerica Trail – Kentucky
Louisville, KY
27 miles
June 18, 2006
Somehow I logged 27 miles today, but in reality it was a day off in and around Louisville.
Passing a Hardee’s this morning, I spotted a loaded touring bike sitting outside, and went inside to meet the owner. There I met Natsuki Takayama, a young man from Japan. His English was broken and difficult at times to understand, but I gathered that he’d started riding west from Los Angeles and is headed to New Brunswick, Canada. When I asked him about the wind and such in Kansas, he didn’t hesitate to use the finest American curse words! “@#$%&!* Kansas!” he said. Great.
As always, it was fun to meet another touring cyclist, and especially uncanny in this case, because we weren’t on any particular route. It’s nice because you automatically have so much in common and immediately take up talking shop – “Did you get caught out in that storm last night? Don’t you hate that black smoke from old cars and dump trucks? Route 620 has a little traffic, but there’s a nice wide shoulder. Look out for the dog up ahead! etc.”
He seemed really happy to talk – I got the impression that most folks don’t go to the trouble of understanding his English long enough to hold a conversation. I have it easy compared to him. Imagine if I were riding solo across China, for example, trying to commmunicate in Chinese.
I spent most of my Sunday afternoon at the Churchill Downs, annual site of the Kentucky Derby. I’d never in my life been to a live horse race, so I had a great time. Before each race, they would walk the horses around this little area outside the track, so you could get a look at them while a guy on a microphone made comments about the history of each horse. There’d be a trumpet call, and the jockeys would ride them out to the track. The race would start at the gun, and there’d be those fleeting moments of excitement as the commentator would rattle off the play by play, as only horse racing commentators can, and the crowd noise would rise when the leaders came around the bend onto the final stretch. It would all be over in an instant, and the crowd would turn inside to collect or place a bet for the next race. There was a race about once every half hour.
I didn’t place any bets because I wouldn’t have known what I was doing, but just being there and absorbing the atmosphere was enough. It was a cloudy day with occasional rain, so I had the opportunity to get right up next to the track and shoot some great pictures.
When the rain starting coming down harder, I picked up my bike from inside the garage behind the security guard’s office – where they were holding it for me – and headed out. I checked into a room for the night, and ventured back out to find the Louisville Slugger museum when the rain stopped. They had a huge baseball bat outside, that was at least six stories high!
Happy Father’s Day.
Natsuki Takayama
I like this one.
The Louisville Slugger Museum
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