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Detailed Itinerary-day by day / Leave us a Comment /

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Day 37 - July 25th Marion, KENTUCKY

Yeah, we didn't know where it was, either. But we found it! Had a great fairgrounds where we spent the night last night. As I was getting the kids ready for another round of Settlers of Katan (yes, we're obsessed), a truck that was parked next to us starting backing up, and didn't stop, and ran right into us where we were all seated at the table. It was a 16 year old kid in a big truck. He was really sorry. So were we! =) Turns out, he hit our RV right where an access panel was, thank you God! It dented and twisted the panel but left the RV unscathed. It was about the only place he could have hit without major results. So he gave us some cash for repairs, we both signed a statement, and he left. We told him we'd send him back any leftover money after we fix the RV. Nice kid. And the RV is gonna be OK. I doubt we can find the piece to fix it. We might just need to have someone hammer it out and try to straighten the cover. We are just so thankful noone was hurt, including the RV or, heaven forbid, the bike again!! That's all I kept thinking as he's backing up and I'm yelling at him from inside the RV to stop, "Please don't hurt the bike!" That's 3 accidents in 5 weeks now! Crazy!

Then the rains started. And continued until about 10am this morning. It rained cats and dogs and even a frog or two. It was nuts. The motorhome only leaked in about 4 places, so that's pretty good. We're hoping the shoes, toilet paper and rugs will dry out soon...

Just had lunch with Don. We're at a library in Dixon, Kentucky where the kids did computer while Don and I ate a quiet lunch in the RV. So nice to just be the two of us for a bit! He's gone about 30+ miles and has about that many more to go today. So funny how 30 miles is just nothing now. In fact, when he has a 70 mile day, we all think, "Oh, it's just a short ride day for dad today."

Don looks great again. With the major heat at bay at present, he's just a cycling machine. Shows up and isn't sweaty or winded or even tired - at least not on the outside. This guy is amazing!

Great news - OUR HOUSESITTER SHOWED UP!! No more dogs living at our neighbor's house. Yippeee!!

Day 38 - Saturday, July 26th Owensboro, KENTUCKY

Sorry for the lack of new pictures! They're on Don's camera as mine needs new batteries and he's got his on the bike with him. So...

Now here's something fascinating. We haven't stayed in a campground since Monday. Thus, we all haven't showered since then. I'm now french braiding my hair, hoping that it looks like I put GEL in it! UGH!!! A little perfume here and there and off we go. This is getting GROSS. And Don with all that sweat build up. We gotta fix this problem!

We tried to stay at a beautiful campsite last night that I had bought a Passport America card for. They wouldn't accept it. We were too cheap to pay the full price and frustrated that they didn't honor their website, so we went off to our trusty Walmart instead, after stopping for a great dinner at Pizza Hut. The server there gave us a GREAT deal and filled us up completely for $20!!

Don's heading out right now at 10:20am, which is a late start. Especially as it is already hot today. But he's only got 50 miles to go so he felt he could take it slow this morning. The kids and I are back at the air conditioned library - our favorite spot. Later this afternoon we'll head to Rough River State Park, where we already have paid and confirmed reservations. Guess what? They have showers!!! Yippee.

Don says he feels great. I asked him how much farther and longer he thought he could bike and he said he could bike anywhere for as long as necessary. He feels no strain and no great tiredness. The man is a machine.

Don met a nice couple today who are biking on a tandem. Don has never been willing to ride a tandem with me because he thinks I'd just coast and he'd have to do all the work. Now what gave him that idea??? =)

OK, Don didn't start at 10:20 today. He tried to! I typed the above at the library and then received a call that he was still at Walmart with a flat tire he couldn't fix (broken valve) and would I please bring him a spare tube? So I left kids at library, ran back to Walmart, gave him the tube and drove back to library. Half an hour later the phone rang again. The new tube had blown up and could I please come get him and take him to a bike shop? So back to Walmart I went. Got Don, went to bike shop, bought a new tire and extra tubes, said good-bye again and went to find kids at library. Good news was, that was it. He finally got started around 1pm!

We spent a few hours at the library on the computers, getting music, etc., and then drove to Rough River State Park where Don was already waiting for us.

As I went to make dinner, we had run out of propane. So Don took all the bikes back off the back (remember this, Trish?) and went to get propane while we got to SHOWER for the first time in FIVE days. It was marvelous. And geepers, there's less flies in here now! =) Then I went to do dishes and the septic tank was full. I guess that's what happens when you camp on your own in Walmart for a lot of days!

But we've got our act together again, we look and smell respectable (as does our RV) and we're having a great time as a family.

Day 39 - Sunday, July 27th Bardstown, KENTUCKY

Don headed off around 10am this morning. He's gotten so laid back about riding through the heat that he doesn't try to beat it anymore. I know, Don laid back? Shocking!

As Don was biking down a country lane, a lady and her daughter from a little country store chased him down and gave him a popsicle. They have taken to doing this for bikers that come down their road. It was so sweet as the day was hot. I just happened to come around the corner in the RV right about then and found my husband being cared for. It was really nice.

We went to the Abraham Lincoln Birthplace today. They have a cabin that they used to think was his. They tracked it down, brought it back to his original homesite - and then the History Channel showed up 4 years ago and did some dating on it and found out it's not the right cabin. So, now they call is the SYMBOLIC birthplace of Lincoln! However, after that we went past the actual home Lincoln lived in as a child - until someone comes and blows that one, too!!

Arrived in Bardstown and did some exploring. What a beautiful little town! It's amazing to be looking at buildings that are hundreds of years old - older than anything we have in Washington State, that's for sure!

Went to the Stephen Foster musical tonight. It was magical. The colors and costumes were spectacular, as was the setting. It was fun to hear old songs written by Stephen Foster such as Oh, Susanna and Camptown Races and the Suwanee River. OK, so those wer ethe only three we knew. But still pretty fun and neat to be here!!

Day 40 - Monday, July 28th Louisville & Lexington, KENTUCKY

Don headed off to Lexington this morning while the kids and I went to Bardstown. We walked around the town for awhile. It was gorgeous. Then the sky opened up, dropping buckets of rain down. Thankfully, we were at the library and stayed dry. When the weather broke, we made a run for the RV, which was about 1 mile away. Along the way, Jonathan got a major nose bleed. I'm talking blood dripping down his face, on his clothes, hands, etc. He was frantic as we had nothing with which to stop it. Being a good creative missionary kid, I found water running down the street from the downpour and used that to try to get the worst of the blood off. It didn't help much. He was so upset that his nose just kept bleeding and bleeding. I didn't want to use his good shirt as we only brought a few on the trip. So off we walked down Bardstown with blood streaming (I'm not exaggerating here!) down his face, hands, arms. Now, you are probably wondering why we didn't get help. Well, it's because not one person stopped! We had probably 20 cars go by us on this small side road and not one person even slowed down. They'd look at us and just keeping going. It was crazy. There was no way they could see that it was a nose bleed. For all they knew, this 5 year old had been in a major accident. It was a pretty interesting sample of humanity and an interesting welcome to the East Coast.

After Jonathan's near scrape with death... =) we headed off to Louisville. OK, now that is a BIG city. And you know how I do driving in big cities, Brenda! Wish you had been with me to explain the on and off ramp system. There were streets going everywhere. Elsie was navigating the map with me as I was begging for directions and asking (yelling??) "Can we get over??"

We followed signs to Churchhill Downs and the Kentucky Derby - but never found either of them. Went right past them, according to the map. I wasn't about to go back and try again! So we drove to downtown Louisville and thankfully ended up right at the Louisville Slugger museum where we were headed. I started getting worried and praying for a parking spot for the RV - and found one two blocks away for free! What a blessing.

What a blast! It was one of our favorite stops of the trip so far. We got to watch them make the bats for professional ball players, got to hold ARod, Griffeys, etc.'s bats, saw Babe Ruth, Stan Musial's bats, all the baseballs signed by every president since...?? including Obama and McCain. It was amazing. The baseball movie made us all want to get out and play! At the end, we all got these little Louisville Slugger bats to take home. It was truly a great day. Did I already mention that?

Then we headed for Lexington where Priceline again helped us out and got us a beautiful spot at the Garden Gate Marriott hotel. The kids swam and watched TV (but they didn't have Disney channel!) until Don arrived late afternoon, having had a really nice day riding. Kids talked us into renting Disney's Camp Rock on one of those pay per view channels and then we called it a night about midnight.

Day 41 - Tuesday, July 29th Breaks InterState Park, KENTUCKY/VIRGINIA

Donny got the day off today, per our schedule, so he hung with the family. Seems like these rest days always hit right when he needs them. Yesterday was a big day and Don is feeling it today. We slept in late, swam, played some tennis, then headed to the Kentucky Horse Park. The Horse Park was the most fun for Elsie, but the rest of us enjoyed it, too, for the first couple of hours! They had some of the most famous race horses of all tim e there for us to pet and hear their stories. This included Cigar, Western Dreamer, Da Hoss, Gypsy and others. Pretty cool to see these gorgeous animals and hear all their triumphs and tragedies.

Spent the night at Breaks InterState Park, on the Virginia side. We made it to Virginia! Wow. We're glad to be out of Kentucky - it was beautiful, but the people/culture were just really different from what we're used to. It feels pretty foreign.