As is my habit, I don't generally do a blog entry on our rest days. So - first rest day was in Pikeville KY. It was originally scheduled to be the day before, in Hazard, but Cy made a great call to move it to Pikeville. What an interesting little town! Population is about 7000, but the amenities are of a city so much larger. We're staying at a Hampton Inn right downtown. Across the street is the University of Pikeville which includes the Kentucky College of Optometry - the only college of optometry in Kentucky - and the School of Osteopathic Medicine, as well as regular university courses. There is a 7000 seat arena as well as theatres and an arts centre. And, of course, courthouses and judicial system buildings. We went to the local historical museum and had our own private tour this morning. The gentleman talking to us could have gone on about the Hatfields and McCoys for several more hours than he did! We also learned more about Pikeville Cut-Through project. Between 1973 and 1987 it was the largest earth-moving effort to be undertaken in the US. The New York Times dubbed it "the eighth wonder of the world". The project was the second largest in the western hemisphere and was surpassed only by the construction of the Panama Canal. It was done to relieve annual flooding in Pikeville and eliminate the ever-present coal dust thanks to coal tipples and the C&O railroad. The 14-year project created a three-quarter mile long channel through Peach Orchard Mountain and moved the Levisa Fork of the Big Sandy River to create a new path for the railroad, river, three US highways, and one state highway. The cut-through also created 390 acres of land on which Pikeville could expand. When completed, 18 million cubic yards of earth had been moved. And - it really looks like the town is thriving. It was pretty hot out, so I didn't do a whole lot of extra walking, but a museum tour in the morning followed by a walk through town. The afternoon brought a walk to the ice cream/milkshake shop, a movie (Where the Crawdads Sing) and dinner in the student dining hall - a bargain buffet for $9. Oh - and the sports teams of the university are called The Bears, so lots of bears throughout town.
And after that well-deserved day off the bikes, we were headed to a new state (Virginia) today. The weather forecast had included rain today off and on during the last few days, but the last time I checked it was looking good. Between the time the map rap finished and when I came down with my bike a few minutes later, we had had a downpour. Oh well - it eased off again and we were gone. The first eleven miles was a repeat (in reverse) of our route in to town two days ago. Such is the reality of finding suitable accommodations for over twenty women. By the time we turned off onto Highway 23, the pavement was dry and the shoulder was wide (although littered with debris). Back onto a secondary road after about 6 miles where we had quite a climb (I think most of us walked at least a bit of it) before finding Stella and Bo Peep waiting for us at the top of the hill. The rain started up there again so I donned my rain jacket for the downhill portion. I had two close dog encounters today - the first one on this section. I didn't see it come out at me and it didn't start barking until it was right beside me. The owners would probably claim it was friendly, but when I hear barking that intense and see it baring its fangs as it runs right beside me, I'm not wanting to find out. Thankfully I was on a downhill in both instances and was able to out-pedal them. Not much to take pictures of on the first half of the ride. The terrain was pretty similar to the last few days. There was some evidence of recent high water levels, but I'm pretty sure we're past the worst of it.
At 36 miles we came into the community of Elkhorn City, population 1035. Apparently Patty Loveless (country music singer) is from here and one of the main streets through towns is named for her. Although I have a hard timing believing it, Wikipedia tells me it is one of the major tourist destinations in Kentucky and the Russell Fork of the Big Sandy River which flows through the centre of town is well known as a whitewater rafting destination. One thing that was obvious was that just as Lexington had horses and Pikeville had bears, Elkhorn has elk. Here's one by our van and trailer.
Shortly after Elkhorn we entered Breaks Interstate Park and had a beautiful road to ride through there.
Next up - the grave of an unknown soldier, followed soon by the Kentucky/Virginia border.
Another SAG stop, and then yet two more hills to climb. I did a bit of walking on the second one. Some beautiful countryside to pedal through, and the sun came out at some point. Although humid, the sky remained overcast for much of the day and the temperature was between 16C and 20C. As soon as the sun came out (on a climb, of course) it rocketed up to 27C in a matter of minutes.
Lots of homes are already decorated for Hallowe’en, and these monster skeletons seem to be all the rage this year.
So far I’m not liking the VA drivers as much as those in KY, but I probably shouldn’t judge based on less than 20 miles.
Stats for the day:
Distance: 58.41 miles / 94.0 km
Elevation (Garmin): 4056’ up, 3619’ down / 1236m up, 1103m down.
Elevation (RWGPS): 1456m up, 1356m down.
The overcast conditions seemed to mess with the Garmin today, so I would probably believe the RWGPS.
Weather: Everything from rain to sunshine. Humid throughout. 16C to 27C.
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