Day 15 

Louisville, KY to Madison, IN

Today was going to be short! A mere 50 miles or so from Louisville to Madison. The folks I had contacted the night before from warmshowers (Bob and Charlotte) were going to be at a show till around 4 or 5pm which meant I could have a very leisurely start to my day and just putt my way out to their place. This is actually the ideal pace for a tour I think, 50-60 miles a day.  

My morning started with the hotel having a continental breakfast, which had a pancake machine. I have a serious love for the pancake machine. I got to use one a few months back in Ashland, OR. You just push a button and about 30 seconds later 2 perfectly cooked pancakes flop onto your plate. I wanted one for my house at one point but they seem to be about $3500 so I would have to eat more pancakes in life to be able to justify that purchase. So since I can’t have one at home, I was stoked to use this one at the hotel! Perfect start to my day. 

I putted around downtown before crossing back over that amazing pedestrian bridge back across the Ohio River into Indiana. 

I rode back into the twisty country roads. 

I rode out to Clifty State Park to kill some time till Bob and Charlotte were going to be home. Then I putted down to their house to meet them. They had an absolutely amazing house that looked out onto the Ohio River and over at Kentucky. I had the whole upstairs level to myself including my own bathroom. Wow. They had a church dinner that night and at first I politely declined and thought I would work on my blog since I was so far behind and just lay low. But after a little encouragement and me rethinking it, I decided it would be good to go have dinner with some local Indianans. I am a bit of a chicken and it took a bit for me to jump into a social situation where I didn’t know anyone and there would be lots of people and all I have are my terrible traveling clothes but I was assured it was a casual event. The dinner was at a house across town. Everyone there was SOOOOO nice! 

We had taco salad and sweet tea and I thought it was delicious. Everyone was so curious on what I was doing and where I was from, etc. Everyone was so welcoming, it put me at ease and I was so glad by the end of the night that I had not chickened out and went. They were going to do bible study after dinner so Bob gave me the keys to his car and let me drive back to their house to work on my blog and he hitched a ride with Charlotte. Who does that, gives their keys to an almost stranger? It’s times like this, I truly wished I wasn’t so warped by the bay area and all the negative stories. I’d never trust someone like that but that’s because I live in population density where all we hear about are awful stories of death, destruction and deceit. It’s refreshing to be in the company of folks like Bob, Charlotte and their friends. Back at their house, I was supposed to work on my blog but most of my time I just sat on their back porch and admired the peaceful view. (PS Folks have asked how I type my blog, I’m using an iPhone but typing on a Bluetooth keyboard. Actually my compadre Nico at work traded me my boring grey one her a pink one! Whoohoo! Matches my phone) 

They came home a bit later and we stayed up for a bit chatting. Bob and I had a good conversation about bikes and how bikes make us feel like a kid again. That’s one of the reasons I started riding recently, I went for a bike ride after having a bad day and not really riding in a long time and I felt like a kid again, like my bicycle could take me anywhere, like I had freedom if I had my bicycle. When I was a kid, a bicycle was my freedom.