Bardstown to Berea
I'm not sure what Liz is writing about our trip into Bardstown, but we hit 3,000 miles on the way there! Exactly 1,000 miles since riding down to Winfield for the bluegrass festival. We camped at My Old Kentucky Home State Park on the outskirts of town and were given a ride into town by a couple at the campsite so we could go to our first all you can eat buffet to celebrate.
We spent some time exploring historic Bardstown in the morning, and biked to Springfield that afternoon. We stopped briefly at the Lincoln Homestead State Park and chatted with a retired couple taking a break from their car trip. The museum was closed and it was getting a little cold, so we continued toward Springfield. We made quesadillas for dinner and were setting up camp under the pavilion at the city park (rain was in the forecast) when we smelled a distinct skunk smell. Soon, we realized the women's bathroom had heating and... we decided to just camp in there. Seems to be a trend, but we stayed warm and dry, and best of all, our stuff didn't get sprayed!
From Springfield we biked to Harrodsburg, a shorter day because we knew we wouldn't make it all the way to Berea in one day. We arrived early Sunday afternoon and not having a camping option, looked at the churches in the yellow pages. To our surprise we saw a Mennonite church and gave them a call. David, a deacon at the church, said there wasn't an option for camping at the church, but invited us to his home for the night. We spent some time in town catching up on reading and journals before biking the eight miles to his house. We were waiting outside the church when two women drove up next to us wearing white bonnets and plain clothing, and directed us to their house next door. David and his wife Miriam had seven children, ranging in age from 2 to 16, and had invited over several young women in the congregation so we wouldn't feel out of place. We felt a little awkward in our biking clothes when all the other women were wearing head coverings and simple dresses, but those feelings soon passed. We took showers and changed clothes before joining them upstairs for a terrific dinner. We spent the evening chatting, getting a tour of the church and private school for the children in the colony, and playing Scrabble. They had electricity and vehicles, but in many ways seemed almost Amish, as most of them still spoke Pennsylvania Dutch and the local congregations were organized as colonies. The next morning we went with the oldest daughter to the school and sat in on devotions and the morning lessons in the two rooms, one for grades 1-4, and the other for 5-8. David and Miriam drove us back to Harrodsburg in the morning since they lived so far outside of town.
From Harrodsburg we planned on making it to Berea for our rest day. It was bitterly cold, so we ended up stopping at almost every gas station along the way just to warm up - a lot of hot cocoa and tea! At the final gas station we stopped at before town, the temperature outside was only 38 degrees. We talked with the owner and his friend for a while, and they gave us coffee for free and sang us some old bluegrass songs.
We're still in Berea now, and exploring the town. I'm out of time though, so more down the road!
We spent some time exploring historic Bardstown in the morning, and biked to Springfield that afternoon. We stopped briefly at the Lincoln Homestead State Park and chatted with a retired couple taking a break from their car trip. The museum was closed and it was getting a little cold, so we continued toward Springfield. We made quesadillas for dinner and were setting up camp under the pavilion at the city park (rain was in the forecast) when we smelled a distinct skunk smell. Soon, we realized the women's bathroom had heating and... we decided to just camp in there. Seems to be a trend, but we stayed warm and dry, and best of all, our stuff didn't get sprayed!
From Springfield we biked to Harrodsburg, a shorter day because we knew we wouldn't make it all the way to Berea in one day. We arrived early Sunday afternoon and not having a camping option, looked at the churches in the yellow pages. To our surprise we saw a Mennonite church and gave them a call. David, a deacon at the church, said there wasn't an option for camping at the church, but invited us to his home for the night. We spent some time in town catching up on reading and journals before biking the eight miles to his house. We were waiting outside the church when two women drove up next to us wearing white bonnets and plain clothing, and directed us to their house next door. David and his wife Miriam had seven children, ranging in age from 2 to 16, and had invited over several young women in the congregation so we wouldn't feel out of place. We felt a little awkward in our biking clothes when all the other women were wearing head coverings and simple dresses, but those feelings soon passed. We took showers and changed clothes before joining them upstairs for a terrific dinner. We spent the evening chatting, getting a tour of the church and private school for the children in the colony, and playing Scrabble. They had electricity and vehicles, but in many ways seemed almost Amish, as most of them still spoke Pennsylvania Dutch and the local congregations were organized as colonies. The next morning we went with the oldest daughter to the school and sat in on devotions and the morning lessons in the two rooms, one for grades 1-4, and the other for 5-8. David and Miriam drove us back to Harrodsburg in the morning since they lived so far outside of town.
From Harrodsburg we planned on making it to Berea for our rest day. It was bitterly cold, so we ended up stopping at almost every gas station along the way just to warm up - a lot of hot cocoa and tea! At the final gas station we stopped at before town, the temperature outside was only 38 degrees. We talked with the owner and his friend for a while, and they gave us coffee for free and sang us some old bluegrass songs.
We're still in Berea now, and exploring the town. I'm out of time though, so more down the road!
posted by Heidi & Liz at 12:33 PM
2 Comments:
I am glad the Ohio Valley has been treating you so well.....now you know where I get it from. Well I hope you don't freeze if you haven't noticed it gets plenty cold already in my neck of the woods. I hope you and Liz are well love ya talk to you later
Hi Liz and Heidi,
Well you are almost done!! A mere two weeks of biking left!! Virginia is so pretty, too. It will be great to end in that state. Hurry on over the Appalachians though!!
Sarah
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