July 9, 2014 – Booneville, KY

Post date: Jul 9, 2014 7:15:53 PM

Right now, I’m sitting at a Save A Lot grocery store, next to a Dairy Queen in McKee, KY, population 884.5. We camped at the Presbyterian Church in Booneville last night. The bike maps list it as an option. We talked to a sheriff at the little gas station/deli where we ate lunch and he confirmed that the church was available and told us about it and how to find it.

The church is just off the main road. It has a big sign out front welcoming trans-America bikers. They have a covered shelter in the back with about 6 picnic tables. They also have a cold shower area and sink and an outhouse. I passed on the cold shower, even though it is very humid here. I feel warm and sticky all the time. The outhouse was less than desirable, but as Doug goes to his happy place, swimming with the Barracudas in Hawaii on a hard climb, I went to my happy place in the outhouse. (I don’t like outhouses at all.)

The guys were off the bikes by 2pm as we were hearing about a thunder storm coming through. As we were setting up our tent the wind picked up. We put our tent up under the shelter. Doug went and bought some rope and tied our tent to the picnic tables and the rafters, as our tent isn’t good in wind and we couldn’t stake it down on the concrete floor. Jon found a spot on the grass. The winds died down as we went to bed. During the night it started pouring, with lightning and thunder. I kept asking Doug if Jon’s tent would be okay out there, and he assured me it was fine. The rain stopped while we were eating breakfast. As we started packing up, it started pouring again. It was the hardest rain I’ve ever seen. We took some video while standing under the shelter. We were feeling very thankful that this church would allow us to stay. There was a notebook in a bag for us to sign. It was fun to see how many people had been there lately.

The weather is great right now. It’s a short riding day (40 miles). Jon’s wife flies in tonight and we will meet her in Berea, KY. While Deb is with us we get to stay in motels the whole time! We even get to stay 2 nights in 2 places. That will be nice, because currently there is no room in our car for her! We will be able to store bikes, etc. in our motel rooms while there are 4 of us in the car.

Looking forward to my shower and flush potty!!!