Later today, in less than 10 miles, we will cross the border from Kentucky into Virginia! I am so excited and proud that we will have reached our last and final state of the trip. It’ll take us about a week and a half to reach the coast (Virginia is a big state), but the end is neigh! We also still have a good bit of climbing ahead to get us over the the Appalachian Mountains. Part of our Virginia route will be on the Blue Ridge Parkway, which should be quite scenic.
As pleased as I am to enter Virginia, I’m equally pleased to be leaving Eastern Kentucky. This part of the trip has been very rough and super challenging. To begin, the amount of climbing each day has been insane. Soooo many hills. On top of that, the roads don’t have shoulders so we’re always contending with traffic. Even worse, there are unfenced, unleashed aggressive dogs everywhere. We get chased multiple times a day. Yesterday, a pit bull mix came out of nowhere and started chasing me. I was able to squirt it with my water bottle (which normally makes them back off), but she continued to pursue me. I panicked and lost control of my bike. I took a pretty hard crash onto the pavement and a parked car. No serious injuries, just scrapes and bruises. The ironic bit is that once I was laying there motionless and vulnerable, the dog lost interest and went home. Guess she assumed mission accomplished. I’m very lucky that I was able to keep biking and that Jordan was right there to help get me get cleaned up and calmed down.
Beyond the terrible biking conditions in Kentucky, we are also passing through an area recently ravaged by a natural disaster. We have seen countless destroyed homes. The roadways are damaged and there is trash/debris everywhere. It will clearly take a lot of time and some serious financial investment to restore the area to its previous state. Even in the best of times, however, this area grapples with economic hardship and poor infrastructure- so it really lacks the resources to manage recovery from the disaster. If you’re able, consider making a donation to the flood relief efforts. Just Google “Team Eastern Kentucky Flood Relief Fund.”