Could you live in rural America? It’s a question we’ve been asking ourselves on several occasions over the last few weeks. Remote, few facilities, little in the form of entertainment, it seems there are few positives to recommend it. But spend more time with the people who live in ‘Smallville’ and you begin to get…
Jerry and Jonathan
Hounded out of Kentucky – Marion KY to Goreville IL
Our earliest start yet – on the road just after 7am to try and beat the predicted heat later in the day. A quick 12 mile dash chasing Rudy and Heidi through the country lanes and then, suddenly, we’d arrived at the Ohio River and it was time to say “goodbye Kentucky – hello Illinois”!…
Lest we Forget – Sebree KY to Marion KY
It’s Memorial Day in America, a public holiday, so the roads are quiet. The Stars and Stripes are everywhere as the country remembers its war dead. Sitting in a cafe in Sebree this morning over breakfast I was reading the Evansville Courier which had an article about a local lad killed in Vietnam in 1968…
Pie Bombs, Grizzlies and Goose Burrito – Hindman KY to Booneville KY
In the Appalachians Old King Coal still rules, although his reign is under threat. You only need to look in the valleys to see the impact a decline in mining brings. But huge trains still rumble through local towns with trucks full of the black gold, while coal lorries thunder up the roads to more…
One down, nine to go! Council VA to Lookout KY
We were awoken at an ungodly hour to the sound of laughter and chatting … the keenos of the Adventure Cycling group were up and at it early. Too early for us… for logistical reasons we were only doing about 45 miles today, so we were having a lazy day after yesterday’s miserable cold slog….
Making Friends (and enemies) on the road to Damascus. Fort Chiswell VA to Damascus VA
Today had it all, rain, wind, hail, a sudden dog attack and finally camping down in a town packed with Appalachian hikers. After being holed up yesterday peering out the window at the rain from our motel room at Fort Chiswell, Terry was keen to get going as early as possible this morning. I’m not quite…
Bleak Expectations…. Catawba VA to Fort Chiswell VA
By Terry Last night’s life saver turned up trumps again this morning … fresh coffee and egg ‘biscuits’ (‘rolls’ to us Brits) made to order. Fab. And they had those rare and elusive items: a butane canister and some non-meat noodles. Now we are cooking with the proverbial! Well, we at least have the option…
Joining the Boys on Blue watch….. Glendale VA to Mineral VA
Last night we stayed in a church, tonight it’s a fire station, courtesy of Mineral Fire Dept, Louisa County. We ended up cycling 80 miles today, due mainly to a map-reading malfunction. To explain, the Adventure Cycling Association provides excellent maps of the entire TransAmerica route. Yesterday we did two and a half maps to…