Blog from July 29, 2008

July 29, 2008   Rode 75 miiles to Springfield, KY

The alarm going off at 5:30 seemed REALLY early since we are now in the Easten Time zone.  Ten miles out of Sonora is the log cabin that Abraham Lincoln was supposed to have lived in for the first two years of his life.  Unfortunately it was recently discovered that it was actually built about 1850 or so.  The cabin is surrounded by a large building and I remember seeing pictures of it,  probably in a textbook in the 5th grade or so.  The cabin  is in almost the exact spot of the original.  Also, there is a spring nearby that was the water source for the family.  It was a good stop along the way. 

Mid-morning a ran into a fellow, R J,  heading west on the Trans-America trail.  He just graduated from Ohio State, and was on the swim team. so we did a little OSU, Go Bucks cheer on the road.  He grew up in Upper Arlington and we exchanged information about what each could expect during the next few days. 

Arriving in Springfield about 3:00 we ran into Morgan Beaver while having a milkshake.  He came over to our table to ask about the bike  ride and where we were headed.  Morgan is 94 years old, a retired farmer and still drives and cares for himself. 

My body was telling me that after 20 days of straight riding it needed a rest, so we are staying at the Springfield Inn, formerly the Days Inn.  Now the "Days" part is just painted out so the sign just says "Inn".   Along with losing the "Days" part of the motel they also lost the phone service.   None of the phones have worked for the past month and the owners cannot be contacted because there is no phone.  We have found some interesting situations along the way. I am sure there are more to come. 

July 30, 2008     Day of Rest,  Springfield, KY

We are really enjoying Kentucky.  Springfield is a very nice town of 2600 and a good place to spend a day doing catch up on email and laundry.  I will ride on tomorrow.  Nearby is a distillery where they produce KY Bourbon.   One place has 18 warehouses which each contains 20,000 barrels of again Jim Beam.  I will ride on tomorrow,  probably to Berea, KY.