Day 16 May 27th

Bardstown to Hardin 80 miles

It was a pretty bad nights sleep last night. I killed about 20 ants in my tent and they kept me up for hours. But I was planning on getting a late start and slept until 8. i spent some time in the library and didn’t leave town until 11. I saw on a sigh that Bardstown is the bourbon capital of the world. When I was leaving town I rode by a distillery and I could smell the alcohol from the road 100 feet away.

My shoes were still wet from the day before but I was making good time on the relatively flat ground. Around 2 o’clock you could see a major storm system on the horizon. I put on my rain coat and set off into the storm. I made it about 1 mile and turned back towards that last town I went through. There was lightning, pouring rain, and a strong wind right in my face but when I turned around I made it back to town in no time since the wind was at my back. When I went through town the first time I saw there was a gas station that sold pizza too so I stopped there and decided to wait out the storm. The gas station had a place where you could sit down and eat while watching tv. But the only thing on tv was the weather channel and it was showing clips from last year of an F-5 tornado going through Kansas, where I was going to be in about a week. I hadn’t really thought of it but summer is tornado season in the Midwest. Theres nothing I can really do about it though. One pizza, two liters of 7-up, a bag of Doritos, and 2 hours later I was ready to set off.

I hit one more storm in the afternoon but it wasn’t terrible but it got my shoes completely soaked again. I knew there was a convenience store that lets bikers camp outside about 40 miles from where I had lunch so I made for that. I got there before 7 and met two older guys named Jim and John. There are each being supported by their wives, Sherry and Susan, who are driving in cars behind them. The shop owners, Arnold and Lucy plus their daughter Lauren were amazing. Lasagna was being served right when I got there and everyone was so friendly. We ate and sat around talking for most of the night until I was ready for bed. I slept on the porch in a recliner and was glad to have a roof since there was another thunderstorm coming through that night. I didn’t get much sleep though since I’m not used to sleeping in a chair like that. Plus the police came by, turned on their spot light, and asked Susan if the owner knew we were here. I was pretty glad he didn’t ask me since I was completely out of it.