Day 26 - Rough River Dam State Park to Sebree, KY

75 miles
June 21, 2006

There were some small storms overnight, but they were all thunder and lightning at a distance with very little wind or rain.

I was awake at 6 this morning, and riding out of the campground at 6:30. They were calling for high temperatures at 95+ degrees, so I wasn’t taking any chances, and wanted to have some miles in by noon. I was sweating before eight.

I stopped at a general store for a breakfast snack, and decided on Hostess chocolate Zingers. One of the guys inside said to me, “Hottest day of the year today!” Yep.

Today’s the summer solstice, the longest day of the year… but the hottest? Maybe. It seems as though every general store has its resident old guys that hang out there all morning.

There were some rolling hills early in the day, but the roads still made for some pleasant riding… well, aside from the heat. Like yesterday, all I really did was ride from gas station to gas station, taking multiple long breaks to cool off in the shade. All the local people were commenting to me about the heat, and I would mostly say “Yeah, it’s especially hot today, but I’m pretty used to it.” And I am. I just stay hydrated and take it slow. It’s funny, the miles went by easily today because I found myself daydreaming so often.

So after that first store with the chocolate Zingers, I stopped at the next one for two Little Debbie honey buns and Reese’s cupcakes. I didn’t go inside the next store, but got a Mountain Dew from the machine in front. I lied down on a bench for at least a half hour, and think I even fell asleep for five minutes. Later it was three cheeseburgers (They were small), half a box of peanut butter cream cookies, and a Coke. Then after an 18 mile stretch through some open farmland I picked up a Gatorade, crossed The Green River (Name the band!) and rode the final 8 miles here to Sebree, Kentucky. That was my day. It makes riding in the heat sound easy, eh?

Tonight I’m staying in the basement of the First Baptist Church, where they have the most excellent facilities for cyclists – a shower, kitchen, and more. Bob and his wife live in a house right next door. He offered fresh watermelon, and even said I could just give them a bundle of my dirty laundry, and they’d take it to the house and wash it for me! I didn’t take them up on it, opting to just wring out my riding clothes in the shower like I usually do.

Tonight for dinner I made myself a pound of spaghetti with a can of tomato sauce. There’s a weekly youth meeting down here, but these kids must see a lot of cyclists, because they’re mostly keeping to themselves like nothing’s unusual. It looks like I’ll be asleep by 9pm tonight. Life is good.