DAY 10 – Hardin KY to Troutville VA
Sunday, April 23
(~751 miles)

Seven Merci cars down, just three to go and one day to do it before my 10 day cap expired for the 10-10-10 bonus. My route home from the Rock n Ride Rally pretty much dictated itself, as I had to get home in two days in order to return to work on Tuesday. My only concern when pre-planning had been the Kentucky boxcar, which was at a museum that opened at 11:00, whereas my Basecamp route had me there a couple hours earlier than that. I was hopeful that I’d be able to get access to the car for a photo, since it was outside in it’s own pavilion.

The big weather system still wasn’t moving on very quickly, and appeared to be hanging around on the southern edge of my planned route, so I was prepared for a wet ride. If I wasn’t hunting these Merci cars, I probably would have shot up north to escape the weather on I-70 to I-80 to get home. As it was, I was looking forward to riding across Kentucky and seeing some familiar roads in VA and WV again.

Following the post-rally festivities on Saturday night, I decided to allow myself an extra hour of sleep in the morning to bask in the catfish afterglow, despite the long day ahead I had planned. Still, I was on the road by 07:00 after chit-chatting a bit more with the rally staff and other riders in the lobby of the lodge.

I stopped at the park entrance to bag Kenlake SP as one of my Kentucky parks for the Americana tour. The Merci cars were my focus today, but bonus hunting does break up the long highway days, so I had a few scattered in that were on or right off my direct route.

US 68 took me east for many miles out to Hopkinsville, then north on US 41, which is a divided state parkway and allowed me to make some good time up to the Western Kentucky Parkway eastbound. I stopped briefly in Central City for a stretch break and breakfast sandwich at Micky D’s. The rain started falling as I got back onto the highway, and it would stick with me for the remainder of the day in varying degrees of intensity.

Abe Lincoln’s birthplace near Hodgenville KY is a specific bonus location for the Americana tour and wasn’t too far off my path.

Noticed this middle school along the way so pulled in to satisfy the KY school Americana bonus requirement.

With the late start and the time zone change, I actually arrived in New Haven KY only about a half hour before the Kentucky Railway Museum opened. The lot gate was open, and I was able to park close to the Merci boxcar for my photo. Success!

I followed US 31E northeast back up to the big highway, with a quick stop in Bardstown for another Americana specific bonus at the Oscar Getz Whiskey Museum. No time for a tour or tasting, though and I kept moving along.

I went a bit further north to skirt Lexington on I-64, then southeast to KY 15, a squiggly looking road on the map that would have been more enjoyable in nicer weather with drier hands. Picked up US 119 east to US 23 and crossed into Virginia once again. Took US 58-ALT down to I-81 in Abingdon and continued south to the city of Bristol which lies right across the VA and TN border.

It was raining heavily, and I was mentally tired with cold wet hands from the long stretch riding in poor conditions. The Tennessee Merci car, sitting outside another American Legion hall on the TN side of town, was just what I needed as a shot in the arm. I quickly got my photo and headed off to find a receipt to prove I’d dipped my toes into Tennessee today for a few minutes.

I cruised up and down a few streets trying to figure out where the state line was so I’d only have to stop at one gas station. Some pedestrians I passed were acting oddly and getting their photos taken while standing in the middle of the street during a lull in traffic, straddling the yellow line. I later found this is a pretty common occurrence in Bristol, which apparently attracts many out-of-town race fans to the local NASCAR speedway. The state lines runs up the middle of that street, and so it’s become a popular tourist shot.

I found a station and got gas, only to realize it said Bristol VA on it. I went inside to get a bite, warm up a bit, and drip all over their floor. The girl inside confirmed firmly that we WERE in TN and printed me out a duplicate receipt to prove it – and that was a good one. She asked if I was there for the race and I said I didn’t even know there was one. I explained a bit about what I was doing and where I was going. She looked at me like I was a bit nuts and continued waiting on race fans and locals that were coming in while I drank my coffee.

Refreshed and somewhat warmed up, I got back on the bike and plugged in. The next stop was Welch WV, which is in the middle of the mountains with no straight roads to get there. To make time, I’d decided to skip the Back of the Dragon (VA 16) on this trip, so I headed back up I-81 just a short way to Abingdon, then looped up northeast on US 19 to Tazewell. I continued north on the familiar VA 16 from there, still an awesome twisty road through mountains and coal towns, which required concentration and helped me focus through the town of War WV (avoiding lots of debris washed into the road) and eventually up to Welch. I made it with some daylight left, though the clouds kept things dark enough. I got a photo of my final Merci car standing there in the mountains, in the chilly rain, in this small quiet town, with nobody around, and no traffic to speak of, on a Sunday at this ungodly twilight hour. No, this is not a glorious pursuit, to be sure, but it felt glorious nonetheless, to achieve my goal!

 

I spotted a bank across the street and headed over to get a receipt to prove my visit. I took a moment under the awning to add a clothing layer and double-check my progress and route. I headed east on US 52, another squiggly map line, as darkness fell and made my way down to US 460, which took me over my final mountain range and down to I-81 again at Christiansburg, where I found a market to get some food for a late dinner snack later at the hotel. Another 40 miles on the interstate brought me through the Roanoke area to Troutville and the familiar Quality Inn right off the highway I’ve stayed at before.

Arriving at 22:00 and feeling out of it, I made it to my room and set about my routine, simultaneously setting the gloves on the heater to dry out, eating my supermarket meal, and spreading things out to dry or charge as the case may be. I realized that I’d left one of my jacket pocket-vents open at some point letting in rain to soak my wallet which I’d “safely” stowed in an inside mesh pocket. Shit, my receipts for the 10-10-10!

I carefully took everything out of my wallet and jacket pockets, unfolded all the damp recipets and laid everything out to dry on the TV table. Luckily everything still appeared to be legible…disaster avoided!

Sunday’s route

Monday, April 24
(693 miles)

The next day was pretty uneventful riding on the slab up through PA, NY and CT to get back home. The rain was still coming down in the morning, but going north I eventually outran the system and enjoyed a few hours of dry riding towards the end.

My 10-10-10 combo was now complete (!), and I’d managed a fair bit of riding to kick off the season after some grouchy New England late winter weather patterns. Spring had still been holding out on us when I’d left home last week. It was been nice seeing all the trees and flowers further along to the south, and the few days on the road had given time for the daffodils to finally bloom in New England.