Family cemeteries every couple of miles on 36. Rhododendron in full bloom everywhere.
Love riding in the mornings, clean and fresh, especially after the storm the night before. Cool, even cold.
My goal for the day was to stay present --- to just let my thoughts come and go -----to ride smoothly. A riding meditation, if you will.
Really hard. The family cemeteries got me thinking about ours. That led to wondering if I'll ever be able to put Tommy's ashes in the ground. That led to how cool I thought the gates of the cemeteries were. All different with just one last name posted somewhere on the gate. How can that happen in today's world? Just one last name for a family.
Cool tunnel in Red River Gorge..... AND......ABS Off -- UP ON Pegs. Off Rd. Yay, for my GS and my new continental TKC 70's. Here it was easy to focus and stay present. Even got a little mud on her. Just so I don't mislead you, it was only about a 6 mile stretch....but still....big confidence booster and a thrill.
My packing and re-packing a dozen times before I left paid off. As has my weighing of every article. Stormy is perfectly balanced. For me that means 5 lbs heavier on the left side.
Lunch by Indian Creek, cheese stick, yogurt protein drink and water. Then headed SW towards Mammoth Cave NP.
Made it. Total of 292.8 miles, which is a push for my back. Interstates, throttle lock and gore tex on. Last 2.5 hrs were wet but not horrible -- I was ahead of the storm -- the heavy flooding was N of me.
Had to stop under an overpass to put my gore tex pants on --- yes I packed 2 pair of motorcycle pants ----- but I didn't pack any jammies and I cut my toothbrush down to save weight lol.
I couldn't get my kickstand down under overpass -- see pic --- couldn't get off of blacktop onto stone - anyway, my left pannier held us up just fine.
Stayed dry and had a room booked --- so was able to concentrate on tractor - trailer spray.
Things to add to my list:
Know where time zones change
make sure cap is closed after fueling.....
Quick hike, lunch and then evening lantern tour of caves.
Head to Land Between the lakes NRA in morning.