Day 9: 6/4/23: Goreville IL to Marion KY

Had a very restful sleep last night.  It was dark and quiet at Barbara's farm.  The moon was full and it was a clear sky.  I did not use my rainfly on my tent so I could clearly see the sky.  At one point during the night, I woke up and thought I had left my headlamp turned on in it's holder inside the tent, but it was actually the moon shining through the mesh (pic below).

The little lady pictured below found me interesting this morning.

I met Matthew and Karin (pic below) today.  They are from South Africa and are riding from Boston to Astoria, OR.  They then plan to ride the Pacific Coast route.  They estimate it will take them about 6 months to complete with about 6200 miles of biking.

Below is a pic of their rigs.

I was glad to hear they are going to stay at Barbara's place tonight.  Goreville had a church that allowed cyclists to stay there, but they stopped allowing that in August 2022.  I think this is going to cause Barbara to see an increase in her cyclist camping activity.

I made it to...

I noticed the state motto is "Unbridled Spirit."  I think they should add "and unleased dogs" to the motto.  

I've heard from other cyclists that dogs chasing cyclists are a big problem in Eastern Kentucky.  Matthew told me that a pack of dogs came after him and Karin in Eastern Kentucky.  There was also vehicular traffic at the time that were having to slam on their brakes to avoid hitting the dogs.  Matthew pulled his bike in the grass right next to the edge of the road to try to fend off the dogs without getting struck by a car.  The owner of the dogs came out of the house and instead of calling off his dogs, he began yelling and cursing at Matthew demanding that he get off his property.  Hearing this story embarrassed me as an American, and I apologized for how the man acted.  Matthew said he realizes that there are a few jerks everywhere, and stated that people have overwhelmingly been courteous and nice to them during this trip.

I made it to Marion KY where I will be staying inside at the United Methodist Church tonight.  To get out of my routine of having peanut butter on whatever for supper, I decided to go to a Mexican restaurant.  I was really hungry so I ate through my first basket of chips and salsa.  They asked if I wanted more chips and salsa, and I say "sure." Close to finishing my second basket of chips I felt my broken tooth crown pop off.  Oops, guess I overdid it on the chips.  I pulled the crown out of my mouth, wrapped it up and stuck it in my billfold.  When I got back to the church, I reglued it with hopes it will stay put till I get home in 3 days.  The crown had lasted a little over a week this time around.  I guess it was because I was mainly eating softer food.

Total miles today: 69.9