Day 18, 6/22/77
It was cloudy that morning, soon sprinkling, raining and showering. We put on our ponchos and struggled as they flapped in the wind. The rain abated and we took off the ponchos, but on the next downhill, out of Kirkville, the odometer broke. We were unable to judge distances the rest of that day. At about that time, we hit a five-mile (approximately!) stretch of hills. Inanna started complaining about the hills and having to climb them when we thought we had just left the hills.
But things proceeded to get worse. The Gatorade had gotten warm and was undrinkable. We sat down on wet gravel to eat lunch, peanut butter and crackers and white bread, while contemplating what looked like a turn we should take. It was narrow but paved, and a toothless passerby, incongruously on a ten-speed, said it lead to the next town on our map. We took that road, but within a half-mile it turned into gravel and mud. We were clearly lost. We walked the bikes about three miles, having to ford a stream at one point, until we found a paved road. We guessed a right turn and followed our instincts, but not for an hour did we confirm that we were right—by asking a man in a country store. Oddly, his baby was contentedly sucking her bottle in his display window.
We thought we were OK, but I quickly had a flat. We changed it in a noisy gas station, with a group of greasy mechanics gunning motorcycles, but the “new” tube leaked. (It had been patched before.) The second tube I tried seemed to hold, but I couldn’t get the tire bead to seat around the valve area. Finally it was done, but I was worried about this tube because it was the one that had saved us back at Bumpass, after a mechanic had advised me to throw it away. When we began riding again I began feeling a bump-bump-bump. When I checked it it seemed the bead had seated itself too far in one place and the tire was sort of flat (as opposed to round) in that area. I rode on it anyway. We would try to find a Western Auto and buy tubes, fix the odometer and the tire bead, maybe even have to put on a new tire.
In Harrodsburg we decided to camp at the city park. It had rained all day, and everything was soaked. But we found a covered picnic area, had a delicious dinner of pork chops, boiled potatoes, sprouts (from Tim), and half an apple. Then I found an unlocked window at the building there. We sneaked in to wash up and sleep that night, and were dry, after all. But we didn’t sleep so well. The floor was hard, and a rat or mouse ate our bread when we finally slept.