Dispatches from the road supplemental April 21

 Dispatches from the road supplemental April 21

Dispatches from the road by Bill Poindexter

Supplemental dispatch April 21.

As I lay in my tent, I think of the day I just had. I am no hero that’s for sure. I rode right around 45 miles and by the time I got to the campground I was toast. Maybe it was a Hills it was lack of food maybe it was the late start because of the rain and then of course there was the flat tire. The flat tire. The flat tire. When you’re on a tour like this or any bike tour and you get a flat tire it doesn’t matter who you are you always have it in the back of your mind if it happened once it can happen again. But luckily I’m skilled at fixing flat tires. So I wasn’t nervous it was just a pain. And just part of a bike tour… I love that! But I never got into a good groove today I ended up talking to a lot of people and a lot of people wanted to talk to me for a long time it was fun but it was just too much. Luckily as I was heading to my destination, early on I met Chuck is a retired gentleman coming from North Carolina hopped on the trail somewhere in Virginia and he’s on his way to Oregon to see his sons. He was a nice guy little bit critical of the Appalachian folk but then again I was a little bit critical of the lower Ozark folk. But it was nice to have a nice chat with him. And I was tempted on riding with him a while even though he was going in the opposite direction just for the company. But as I came to my senses my head into the bluegrass country of Kentucky and man oh man this is a beautiful state to be sure and the people are so kind as well. My heart belongs to Missouri but I’m having a love affair with Kentucky. Well after a brutal day of out of grove I made it to the chimney rock RV Park and Campground. Probably should’ve stealth camp somewhere I was so tired when I got here I had a ton of food and drink some coffee and a Coke and finally I feel better hoping for a good nights sleep tonight I didn’t sleep that well last night. And read my book for a while already journaled and decided to get the supplement in so I don’t have to do in the morning. One of the campground host said he’s going to bring me a cup of coffee around 730. That’s the way I like it coffee around 730 and black no cream. I really am having a lot of fun on the trip. Oh yeah today I stopped more than I ever have throughout the trip and just soaked in the moment the scenes and the solitude. I know I told my friends on Martha’s Vineyard I’d be there on 15 May, but I just wanna ride my bike and I don’t wanna have to do it fast so let them know will be more like June 1 hopefully I don’t run out of money and if I do I’ll just become a vagabond gypsy/busker… I can juggle, I can teach yoga, I can still tell stories-some True some not, I can make cheese, I can sing, and I can talk to anybody and almost anything. No I’m not bragging mind you, I’m just saying that if it comes down to it I can probably talk somebody out of a loaf of bread. John Muir Walk through Kentucky on 1000 mile walk in 1867 And he talked about how back then he would periodically run out of food but would find invariably somebody who would sell him a loaf of bread, he was walking and sometimes he would need for a day or two and basically he slept in the clothes he wore unless somebody gave him shelter for the night. His journal of it is called 1000 mile walk, it’s pretty good. It also talks about the difference after the Civil War with the blacks and the whites, And various guerrilla groups after the war. As I roll through this landscape I wonder what the state look like in the 1700s when the first settlers came. I’ve passed many houses that were built in the 1700s, I love that. Definitely a different time when survival was so simple and you had to have skills or you died. All right I’m Fading time for bed, sweet dreams everybody. Peace and love from the road, Bill