Out of Kentucky

After Bardstown, the team had a few more days of heat in Kentucky before crossing the Ohio River on a ferry into Illinois. Bardstown, in my opinion was the highlight of Kentucky by far, granted it was the only night in Kentucky I was able to sleep in an air-conditioned room on a bed, but still the city was actually pleasant, not just "pleasant" for lack of any other adjective to adequately describe the true feeling you get from an Appalachian town of 100 or fewer. After Bardstown we made our way, to Hodgensville where we were lucky enough to be given one small room of air-conditioning we could fit as many people into as we could.  I was fortunate enough to be one of these people, this plus a great dinner and milkshake from lincoln's freeze, a local hole in the wall diner made for a good night, not to mention a short day of riding and the first tail-wind of the trip put us into our destination before noon.
After Hodgensville we made our way to Rough River Dam, which as with most places on this trip is remembered almost exclusively by it's food. A $12 dinner buffet including but not limited too, ribs, fried chicken, cod, meat-loaf, and "country" vegetables (the tastiest and most fattening calorie filled "Vegetables" in the world) we literally ate until we could not possibly eat more. Then for breakfast the next morning, another buffet! Eggs biscuits and gravy cereal and coffee fueled us wonderfully for the day ahead, especially good fuel when you take a few biscuits in your handle-bar bag to eat later!
Then from there we traveled to Sebree Kentucky which would be our last night in Kentucky, keeping with the theme, most notable for. Milkshakes. As we arrived in sebree we came upon a dairy bar with all of the riders bikes outside, we go in and head straight for the milkshakes. A large Chocolate malt for me, what's this you don't take plastic, do you have change for a $100? Luckily they did but I have to be honest, I think at that point I might have paid $100 for a 44 ounce tub of amazingness. Best milkshake i have ever consumed, and at a truely unbelievable rate of about 20 ounces per minute. I crushed it with a vengeance. After the dairy bar we headed to our hostel for the night which was a baptist church in Sebree run by a pastor, Bob, and his wife, Violet, where they have been hosting cyclists into their home for 9 years. Not only will they bring strange, and rather smelly, people into their home, but they will cook a full meal for them and welcome them to sit at their kitchen table. Because we could not all fit around the kitchen table we used the church and were welcomed with a abundant spread of casseroles. These were some of the most welcoming people we've met along the way.  Because of these wonderful people, we left Kentucky with a good taste in our mouths, literally and figuratively.