I'm biking across the country

I awoke at dawn, packed up camp, and was on the road shortly after 7. The first 20 miles of the day were on the highway with the wide shoulder and the “share the road” sign. It was rolling hills the entire way, but the grades weren’t steep so it never was a problem.

Eating breakfast in Tell City, I planned my route fir the day. I was heading to Evansville, Indiana where a friend of my friend Ben Wetzel had offered to let me stay for the night. The forecast said there would be thunderstorms so I was going to try and make good time.

Heading west, I faced constant headwinds and rolling hills. I kept on seeing dark clouds on the horizon but the rain never came. Only 2 dog encounters today and i just outran them both. At one point I received a phone call, and after explaining my situation I did a security clearance interview over the phone from the side of a highway.

I arrived in Evansville mid afternoon and went to a video game center where I could play internets for a little bit before meeting up with my host for the evening.

I met up with my host, Daniel Schaeffer for dinner. I had heard he was a cyclist too, but apparently he also does hardcore rock climbing, ice climbing, backpacking, and more. Pretty cool. When I return from my trip I think I am going to try my hand at rock climbing, I got inspired after seeing a photograph of half dome in Yosemite.

After a lot of good conversation, pizza, and beer I called it a night and passed out quickly.

Today’s mileage: 70 miles.
Total: 1249 miles.

After eating breakfast and planning my route, I checked out of my b&b and got on the road around 10:30. I made my way out of Louisville back into Indiana towards what will be the hilliest day of my trip until I hit the Rockies.

My directions were kind of confusing from the get-go as I found myself on a freeway attached to an interstate. There weren’t any signs prohibiting bicycles so I proceeded for a couple miles until i veered off to head west. After 10 miles of flat roads, the hills began. After the first long climb, I followed the “ridge road” so it was somewhat flatter.

I eventually stopped for a late lunch at a Mexican restaurant. Their burrito was more like an enchilada and came coated with cheese. Maybe I just need to start asking if my dishes will have cheese on them. Oh well, I scraped the cheese to the side and went on.

After lunch the hills returned in full force as I headed down a country road towards a state forest. Once I reached the forest I was informed that the roads I was planning on taking had long since been closed and I would have to go 5 miles out of my way to go around the forest. At least I had a tail wind when I turned around.

I connected to rt. 62, a 2 lane state highway with no shoulder. This road took me straight through the hills and into Hoosier National Forest. At least there wasn’t a lot of traffic.

Every time I saw a steep hill down, I dreaded it since I knew it was followed by a long climb back up another hill. After a long time on this road I came across a gas station and got some trail mix for dinner and headed south. This new road had a huge shoulder and a “share the road” sign. Awesome. I came across a campground almost immediately and called it a night.

No dog problems today, amazingly.

Today’s mileage: 64 miles.
Total: 1179 miles

Staying in Louisville and resting for a couple days before going to see Explosions in the Sky on Tuesday. I’ll be hitting the road again Wednesday morning.

My bike computer decided to randomly reset it’s odometer which is kind of a downer.

Scottsburg, the town I stayed in last night is exactly 30 miles north of Louisville, so today would be a short day. I don’t really like these short days though – I get my hopes up that it will go by quickly and I never get into a proper groove which causes the hours go by slowly.

It was pretty much a straight shot south along a state highway. My shoulder started out being maybe 3 feet wide which was pretty nice, but over the course of 20 miles it slowly dwindled down to the 4-6 inch shoulders that seem to be the norm.

Stopping in a convenience store for a drink, I had a conversation with the guy who worked there about my trip. I felt weird telling him I was on my trip because my life was boring (this is a partial truth, I’ve been trying to come up with a good answer for when people ask me about why I’m doing this). But telling this to a guy working at a convenience store in the middle of nowhere seems wrong. If anything he should be the one bored to tears.

As I approached the city I turned off the state highway onto a suburban road for a few miles. Not to have a day go by without a dog encounter, a huge dog came running up to me and it was apparent this was a very vicious dog that wanted a piece of me. The wife of the owner was screaming at it but the dog didn’t react at all. I didn’t even try to pepper spray this one since I thought it would just be angered. Luckily the owner came out of the house and got the dog to go back inside, but it was probably my worst dog experience thus far. These dogs are really getting to me. I think I have about 5 more days of riding through territory that will probably have lots of dogs before I suspect the occurrences will start to subside.

Anyways, as I came to cross into Kentucky, the only bridge into town that wasn’t an interstate had a big “road closed” sign. Just my luck, same as in West Virginia. There were several cop cars parked by the barricade to the bridge and I waved at an officer. He begrudgingly stepped out to say I could take the sidewalk across the bridge.

Turns out there was a triathlon going on and the runners came halfway across the bridge before turning around. Towards the end of the bridge there were lots of spectators sitting on the sidewalk which made getting my bike through very difficult. I wound up having to navigate through a maze of police barriers and eventually cross the race path to get into the city.

Finding my way to the b&b where I will be staying for the next three days, I took a shower and went to find dinner. Being in a large city gives me more options than fast food, american food, or sometimes Chinese food, so I picked out an Indian restaurant, biked to it, and locked up my bike only to find that the restaurant was closed due to a fire. Wonderful. So I looked up another one and biked to it and had a great meal.

Today’s mileage: 40 miles
Total: 1115 miles

This was not a very good day. I started out with another late start. That’s okay because I had 2 days to go about 80 miles to Louisville and as such I was in no rush. I picked out a campground to spend tomorrow night and got a reservation since it was a weekend. I hit the road after noon and headed south without eating since I wasn’t hungry yet.

I came across a huge wildlife preserve. Google’s directions had me cutting through it but it was completely fenced off – i would have to go around. And so I was stuck on this highway with a 4 inch shoulder going directly into headwinds for 10 miles. At one point I pulled over to refill my water bottles and watched as a hundred motorcycles passed me by. I could see them coming from miles away since the road was absolutely flat and straight. Back on the road, I was getting hungry but it was only 15 miles to my stop for the night so I decided to keep going.

Indiana has been the worst state for dogs so far and today was no exception. At one point a pack of 3 little dogs came after me and because of their numbers I had trouble keeping my bike between me and them. I resorted to my pepper spray for the first time which slightly deterred them but didn’t stop them outright. I probably didn’t get them in the eyes sufficiently. Anyways, after over a minute of being harassed by them, the owner calls them away. I continue on only to have the owner chase me down on his ATV and threaten to run me over. Keep it classy, Indiana.

I arrive at the campground. It looks like a trailer park. Stepping inside the office, I tell them about my reservation only to have them tell me they don’t take reservations. Apparently the google maps result for the Lakeside Camping in Indiana (a trailer park) has the phone number for Lakeside Camping in Vermont (an actual campground). Lovely. So I find another campground and head that way. Getting pretty hungry.

On the way to the next campsite I get harassed by more dogs. I do my usual dismount and walk maneuver which usually keeps them several feet away, but this dog is pretty persistent. A SUV drives by and the driver smiles and waves. I give him an exasperated look while the dog is barking just a couple feet from me but he just keeps on smiling and moves on. Eventually the dog relents and I am able to continue.

I arrive in the town of Scottsburg and decide to just get a motel. I’m starving and almost out of water, having gone 60 miles without any food or refilling any water.

The restaurant in front of the motel has a deal for four Coronas for 6.50.

Today’s mileage: 60 miles
Total: 1075 miles