Day 13 
Lewisport, KY to Jeffersonville, IN

Today I planned to push to a campground in Brandenburg or if I was feeling especially feisty I could push to Corydon which would put me about 27 miles outside Louisville. I plan to take a rest day in Louisville since I have been pedaling for almost 2 weeks straight, which is certainly not normal for bicycle tourers. From folks blogs it looks like most take a day off every 4-5 days. But I really wanted to push to somewhere there would be lots of things to do and see on my day off. Which…some may say that really isn’t a rest day then if you’re running around your entire rest day but for me, being off this bike will be rest enough. I may even take 2 days in Louisville.  

Today seemed like ups and downs through neighborhoods that went on forever. Then back out to the country then up and down again. Today was HOT. About midday I did a check and it looked like there was a convenience store just past Cloverport so I decided I would push to get there, fill up on hydration and snacks and that should be enough to get me to Brandenburg. But…when I got to where the convenience store was, it was closed. This was a bit of a disaster looking at my water supply and the increasing heat and the distance I had to cover to the next store…38 MILES. That’s 3-4 hours. Nothing I could do about it so I powered on. About 25 miles in I saw a post office in Payneville and they had their door open. I decided I may as well ask them if they have a sink or some place I can fill up my water bottles. They gave me directions that were about 5 miles off route to a bar. Oh man. This would be a 10 mile detour by the time it was said and done. I walked out of the post office and started mentally crunching mileage to the next destination and looking at the water left on my bike and reviewing the ever increasing temp. As I was walking my bike back out to the street a younger guy that was mailing something in the post office runs out and yells “maam!” I turned to see what he wanted and he informed me he was a fire fighter from the fire station just across the way and if all I needed was water and a restroom then he could unlock it and let me in. This was perfect!!! As we were walking to the fire station he was asking where I was biking from so I told him where I started and he was in disbelief. Then he asked about my accent to which I assured him, HE had the accent not ME! Ha! His name was Jay and he was super. So…Payneville has less than 1000 people in it but oh man, they had a bomber fire station. It was HUGE! Multiple fire trucks, ambulance and the women’s bathroom in the station had multiple bathroom stalls (how many women could possibly use this place?). They had a huge living room with leather couches. The place was immaculate and incredible. When we went into the kitchen he even offered ice water to me. This was the best water stop EVER. It was air conditioned in there and I secretly didn’t want to leave and I didn’t want to go get back on my bike. But…I did want Jay to be able to go back to the post office and finish mailing whatever he was mailing so I slowly got my water and we left. Let me just say that again, super amazing fire station.  

Back on the road it seemed to just get hotter and hotter and I secretly hoped someone in a pick up truck would stop and ask me if I wanted a ride into Louisville, I probably would have taken one. But instead, I kept pedaling. I crossed over the Ohio River and found myself in Indiana! With at least a big welcome to Indiana sign! I took my ceremonial pictures and was on my way. 

I hit Brandenburg and felt like I should go to Corydon so I’d have a shorter pedal into Louisville so I did. I hit Corydon and though it was uphill for the 15 miles past Corydon, if I could make it to Jeffersonville, there was camping and it was literally just on the other side of the Ohio River from Louisville. I wouldn’t really have to bike tomorrow. This would make today over 100 miles. I had to contemplate this one. I would be getting there right when it was getting dark. I decided to go for it. I stopped in Corydon at a ice cream shop to get a milkshake. Because the convenience store earlier in the day was closed, I hadn’t really had much to eat so I figured my milkshake could be my meal replacement. The guy at the counter was super chatty so I ended up staying longer than anticipated. He was a runner, training for triathalons. He informed me the best way to pronounce “Louisville” is to pretend like I have a mouth full of marbles and if I do that, I will sound like a local. Ha! We spent some time practicing. I asked him for good BBQ spots in Louisville but it turned out he was a vegetarian. Ooops. He took down my number and said he’d ask his friends. And about an hour later, he texted me a few places to have BBQ in Louisville. Yeay! 

Just outside Jeffersonville I hit the Ohio River, it was right around sunset and it looked pretty awesome. There were a few bridges that connected Indiana with Kentucky around here and it was picturesque on this evening. 

I pedaled to the campground which was a KOA campground which usually means RV’s. And it turned out I was the only tent person there. I just needed a plot of dirt so I didn’t really care. The ladies checking me in to the campground didn’t believe I rode from Mobile and probably asked me about 5 times if I really rode from Alabama. Ha! It was an expensive campground, I assume because of the close proximity to Louisville but the ladies were nice enough to discount it a bit because they thought my story was so cool. It was dark by this time and I setup my tent so I could take a shower and cook some food but before that…all the sudden a friggin train came down the tracks. The tracks that were seriously right on top of the campground. I was about 50 feet from the train. Horns, squeaking wheels on the tracks, whole nine. So loud. So loud! I hadn’t noticed because it was almost dark. I just thought to myself, there goes my sleep. I had planned to stay here another night and just walk or bike into Louisville but decided that just wasn’t happening, tomorrow I was going to have to relocate and pay Louisville hotel prices and get some sleep but tonight, this was going to have to do. 

Oh also, somewhere along the way today I rode across a time zone. Crazy talk. I was now in eastern time.