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The TransAmerica Trail – Kentucky
Louisville, KY – Hodgenville, KY
68 miles
June 19, 2006
Found my way out of Louisville easily enough this morning, south into the heart of Kentucky, and back on The TransAmerica Trai. I took a more direct route than I took north a couple days ago, saving myself some extra mileage. I rode right by a Six Flags Great Adventure, and the Louisville Airport, watching planes take off and land.
I picked up The TransAmerica Trail again in Bardstown, and it seems as though I’m in the midst of Abraham Lincoln country. The other day I was at the old homestead, and now tonight I’m near his birthplace. Now that’s fine, but it’s not all. Today I also passed Abe Lincoln’s boyhood home, Abe Lincoln’s first school, and the Abe Lincoln Museum. In town here in Hodgenville – they have a statue of him.
“Eight score and one year ago, Abraham Lincoln graced this very outhouse, whilst stroking his beard and contemplating the forenoon’s blueberry pie…”
At least three people made comments to me about the heat today. “Isn’t it hot out there riding? A little hot to be pedaling that bicycle today!” etc. This was ironic because I thought that today actually felt cooler than the last few days.
Tonight I arrived in Hodgenville around 7:30, and checked in with the police to camp in the county park. The one cop was really friendly, and telling me all about how he’d like to do this ride – but his wife won’t go with him, he can’t find anybody else to accompany him, his son is in college, and so on. “I’d be out there with ya, if I didn’t have these two jobs!” he said. The sky all of a sudden darkened, and I felt the air pressure drop, so I cut the conversation short, thinking I’d better head toward shelter.
I set up my bed in the dugout of a baseball field, cooked my dinner of spaghetti and tuna, and watched a mild thunderstorm come through. I was excited to be sleeping in the dugout for the night, but then the mosquitoes started eating me alive. There’s nothing I hate quite like mosquitoes, especially when I’m trying to sleep. The high buzzing sound when they’re near my ears triggers Vietnam-esqe Appalachian Trail flashbacks. So I set up my tent on the grass by third base. The skies are clear. Life is good.
TRIVIA QUESTION: In what year did Abe Lincoln use the outhouse? First person to reply to jamiecompos at pocketmail dot com with the correct answer, and a mailing address, gets my Kentucky state road map, with the appropriate lines drawn across it. 
Bardstown, Kentucky
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