Day Twenty-Three - A Day in the Country.

This post refers to Saturday 23rd May.

Today started out being a bit of a drag, but turned into a pretty good one as it went on.

I got on the road from Bardstown at about 9:30 after having a boring continental breakfast. It had the potential to be a good breakfast, there was a waffle making machine, but a biker (motorcyclist) got in there before me.

Anyhow. I got on my way and went round this roundabout i'd found. It didn't work properly and everyone was giving way in the wrong places, I suppose I should admire the American effort for trying.

That was probably the most eventful thing that happened in the morning, other than the fact that I took a slight shortcut that cut out about 4 miles. It wasn't really a shortcut, the route tried to dodge a road that really didn't need to be dodged, it was deserted.

I got to a town called Sonora at about 2:30, where the weather started looking as though it was on the turn. I don't know the early signs of a tornado, but it got cooler and darker in the space of 20 minutes, and a hole in the clouds opened up above my head. I waited inside for this to blow over, which it did after about 30 minutes. It was still looking fairly grim, but the scary hole in the sky had gone and that was good enough for me.

I arrived at my camp spot 20 miles and an hour and a half later, which is in the middle of absolutely nowhere (though apparently there is a walmart 10 minutes away, but it'd be hard not to be I suppose). I'm also about 10 miles from the time zone line between Eastern and Central time.

When I arrived at the store where I had to check in, I was expecting to be pointed to where to put my tent, and left to it. Instead, I was greeted with a Popsicle and ushered inside, where I met the family that owned the store. It was set up so that it was mostly shelves of things (like a normal shop), but one end had a seating area and kitchen. Before long, I'd had a shower and was being cooked an evening meal. While the meal was being made, I went over with the father to pick some vegetables (yes, I am eating vegetables here!), and also shifted some hay bails from point A to point B. We went in a pickup truck that could be driven on both sides (he is a postman, so needs to be on the right of the car), which was so bizarre for me because I felt like I was meant to be driving, only the steering wheel was turning on it's own!

After all this, we ate, and went down to a creek, where I was told about how it used to be a popular place around the 1900's, but nothing from then is there anymore. We went back, and I got into my bed at about 10:30, absolutely exhausted. All this cycling lark is tiring, and although I don't need another day off just yet, If I reach 1/3 of the distance in less than 1/3 of my time, I probably will take another day off.