Falls of Rough, Kentucky, to Hodgenville, Kentucky -- 59 miles

We woke at 6:15 am and started biking at 7:15 am. The skies were gray and overcast when we left. As we reached the town of McDaniels, it started to rain. We put on our rain gear and waited under a covered porch until the rain slowed down. It rained for about 2 hours. We reached the town of Hudson and stopped at a convenience store for Pepsi and orange juice. We met up with Rich Jirsa, who is also on the TransAm route. He was talking to some of the local farmers about their crops – tobacco, in particular. One farmer mentioned that his allotment for tobacco was reduced and as a result, it is hard to make ends meet; he added that the only way to afford to stay on the farm is to work off the farm. 

We biked with Rich for the rest of the day. We crossed over to Eastern Standard Time in Hardin County, Kentucky. In the town of Sonora, Lenny met teenagers Grayson, Wes, and Jon. They were skateboarding nearby, and flagged us down to find out more about our trip. They were amazed when we told them we had come from Oregon. We told them about our cause, and they were excited to find out that their picture would be posted on our website. 

The sky had been threatening; it started to thunder and lightening, and the wind was picking up, so we headed for a sheltered area before it started to rain. The owners of a small grocery store offered to let us sleep in the store that night if we wanted to! We waited about an hour for the storm to subside, then continued the last 12 miles to Hodgenville – Abraham Lincoln’s birthplace. At the motel, they told us that they no longer had camping, so we shared a room with Rich. We had dinner at a “lunch plate” style restaurant. We had fried chicken, barbecued pork, mashed potatoes, cooked apples, chocolate pie and peanut butter pie.