If you really think about it, how weird are lightning bugs? I mean what if your house cat flickered every 8 seconds? That was just an off topic thought to take my mind off this week’s theme, rain.
Rain for days, and days. Checking the 10 day forecasts for every city from here to Illinois gives me no less than a coin toss’ chance of rain. Sometimes it helps to pretend that I’m a fish and that escaping the cover of water would be an unfortunate event.
I took it easy today. I’d been riding hard for 10 straight days, through some of the toughest inclines this country has to offer on asphalt. I made it maybe 25 miles from Hazard to a campsite beside the Buckhorn Dam. I just missed the spillway being opened, maybe an hour before my arrival. The heavy rain throughout the state really has the place shook up.
I met Jerry, the Citizen of the Day. A former local, Jerry returns to Buckhorn with his family every year to remember what small town living is like (they now live in the capital, which is Frankfurt, the second smallest state capital in the U.S. apparently). Jerry had also missed the spillway opening and lost his canoe, paddles, and life-jackets downriver when the waters rose to what he believes to be 10 ft higher than normal. The highest he’s seen.
He cordially invited me to join his family for dinner, which quickly became a feast when it merged with the dinner of the owners of the campground. I had three hamburger patties, a spare rib, a piece of pork, and a chicken breast. Needless to say I passed on the dessert. A big thank you was in order.
Before dinner I had a chance to check out the dam. The spillway was roaring so I took a quick video of the action (won’t let me post it on here). I ventured to the top of the earth-fill dam and snapped a few photos of the area.
Anyways, time to get back in my tent for the night. I’m plugged into a post and would like to upload this before I hit the sack. I had spent a bit of afternoon there escaping the rain, but what’s rolling in now seems a heck of a lot worse.
