This morning the crew left Berea and headed north to Harrodsburg, KY. The ride in total was about 60 miles and Michael said that as of today his odometer reads 645 miles. So he's about 15% there! In addition, tomorrow the crew is set to officially cross from Eastern to Central time. It seems to soon for that, but I suppose they are moving pretty quickly.


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Michael woke up this morning and headed downstairs to eat a continental breakfast at the hotel. For him this included: three bowls of frosted flakes, three pieces of toast with corn (jam/jelly), several donuts, and some juice. He mentioned that his bike shorts are now loose in the thigh but he's not sure if they were stretched when washed or if his thighs are shrinking. I have to say though, two weeks burning near 4,000ish calories a day may have something to do with it. Anyway, after breakfast Michael headed upstairs to pack up and clean off his camelback, which had apparently gotten green goo on it from the hotel faucet (don't ask me, I am just the messenger. But to me that sounds like a sketchy motel... water-wise anyway)

Michael, C&C met up with Dan and Stavros in the main square of Berea. Then the whole group of 5 left together. Along the ride they could do some catching up from the time they were separated and it sounds like Dan and Stavros met some fun people and had interesting times (I will decline to comment further so as not to, uh, implicate anyone in any activity).

Michael said that it was VERY flat going out of Berea. Welcome to the plains! He also said that there were some 1960's style of weird 2000's style building that he took pictures of. I have no idea what he means, but perhaps in future days this will make more sense with a picture to go along with it. As they rode further they got into some rolling hills, but though there were some fairly steep climbs it was not like the mountains they had been in. Today the cicadas were very bad, not only loud but flying around so that the riders had to do lots of ducking and dodging. The day itself was drier, so Michael said that he was sweating less but going through water much faster than before. Again, welcome to the plains!

Before getting to Harrodsburg the group went by Herrington lake. Michael says it was cool because the walls were vertical rock for 8-10 ft, but there was also soil, vegetation growing in it. I looked it up online and apparently the lake was formed by damming a river which explains vertical type walls. After that they had a short climb up to Harrodsburg.

Upon arriving the group split up to find camping for the night. After consulting firefighters the group learned they could camp by the hostel, just outside of town. They're all staying together there over and went to get mexican take out for dinner and ate in a "arboretum" (just a nice grove of trees I suppose) near the restaurant. They ran into a group of Tennesseans there who were taking pictures by a fountain. They got talking and the Tennesseans thought what they were doing was cool so they bought the group dinner. It sounds like Michael and crew have run into some very generous and friendly people on the trip!

Tomorrow they are up to Cave City,KY. They hope to get into Mammoth Caves Park to camp and then they could tromp around the caves for a bit before heading out. Its a bit of a detour, but they're looking forward to the fun. They're also hoping to get to a library tomorrow AM and then maybe I can get more pictures! Thunderstorms may be a problem for the next couple days as it looks as though a front is moving across the country. With the plains come the thunderstorms over the plains. Keep your fingers crossed for them!