Entering Appalachia

Today was a good day in reality, but on paper it was kind of crappy. It was a little rainy all day, it was very hilly, and we were chased by numerous dogs. At one point I thought to myself, in a few weeks I will be back at work, sitting at my desk, and wishing I was on a bicycle in Kentucky being chased uphill by dogs in the rain. So things could always be worse! I could be working!

Highlights

• good scenery all day. Lots of hills showing off the trees in their fall colors.
• we’re not sleeping in a tent and using an outhouse tonight, which had seemed like our only option.
• our ride today was very diverse, but all-around enjoyable. We had long climbs and short climbs, steep climbs and gradual climbs, busy highways with a shoulder and quite rural roads.

Lowlights

• I was chased by I think four dogs today. Three of them could not have cared less about Mike when he came (which we have established is very rude of them). The fourth dog chased me for quite a long time. Maybe a quarter mile? Up a hill and everything. When it finally relented, it went after Mike. He was prepared though. He tried to mace it when it went for him but missed, and then it maced itself, the idiot. Our mace is a gel, and the dog just shoved it’s face in the gel where it landed on the ground, and then kind of freaked out and started rubbing its face in the grass, presumably to get the mace off. Regardless, it stopped chasing Mike.
• one house had a dead coyote or wolf hung up outside from a tree. What on earth?! The same house had a “home sweet home” sign. I can’t even.
• the hotel this morning had an unholy creature growing in the microwave. They are going to need an old priest and a young priest to sort that out. We made our breakfast using our campstove.

Julie’s food

• Breakfast: oatmeal and coffee
• First Snack: Clif bar
• Lunch: Subway sub
• Dinner: Impossible sweet and sour pork, Oreos

Stats

• Total distance: 47.79 miles
• Elevation gain: 4,059 feet
• Weather: rainy, high of 69 degrees Fahrenheit