The Long and Short of It

Day 11 – Wind Advisory

As I walked to the shower house last night I kind of saw, but it must not have registered in my tired brain after a day of biking, that there would be a wind advisory and I remember it saying that people should stake anything and everything down. We woke up and left, again having to walk to the entrance of the camp as to not spook the horses. Wimpy horses (I think I said that before; Oh well it is still true)! A quick warm up, which is sped up by hills, and we were at the main highway that cuts straight through the Land Between the Lakes National Park. That is when we began to notice the wind.

Now, I know that there are what’s called prevailing winds and they come out of the west, even though when I would tell people about our trip and the direction that we were going they would inform me of the wind directions as if they were the first ones to let me know. This is the kind of wind that comes only the day before a storm. ALL DAY we enjoyed about a 10-15 mph TAILWIND!!! It was wonderful. In fact at one point in the middle of a wide open stretch I saw 29.8 mph with just slightly more than normal effort.
We came into the city of Grand Rivers, KY and crossed a bridge over the canal connecting the Tennessee River and the Cumberland River. I had a fleeting thought of jumping off the bridge for a little dip in the river but it was only fleeting.

At the gas station where we filled up with ice and water, the man told us that we would have a great view of the Kentucky Dam a little ways down the road, and he was very right. What an amazing sight.

The wind then blew us through Smithland, KY where we crossed the Cumberland River on a very narrow bridge.

Had a car been coming behind us and in front of us there would not have been enough room for the little bike trying to make it across as fast as he could. Thank the LORD there was not car that came behind us! We flew to Birdsville, KY and got more ice water and enjoyed a Klondike Bar and a talk with the man who owned a beautiful RV Park on the Ohio River.

(Notice how the wind is blowing this poor little tree)

Then off to cities like Carrsville and Bayou (where we saw some cows standing cooling in the water.)

I had to take this picture of the city of Joy because of my little sister Joy!! Love you Joy!

The miles flew by and we quickly arrived to the only way across the Ohio, a ferry ride. We waited for the ferry to come to our side and drop off the cars and we got on and rode to the other side. The amazing thing to me about the whole idea of the ferry is that it is FREE!! It is run by the state of KY.

(This picture works for our state line picture since the river is the state line!)

The ferry brought us to Cave in Rock, IL. We have now entered our 6th state of our trip.

You may be interested in the name of the city. After supper we walked down to the riverfront and saw the cave in the rock. Many years ago, pirates lived in the cave and had a small maneuverable boat. They would wait for an unsuspecting steamship to come by and they would speed out and rob them of all they had. Eventually they were caught and brought to justice.