Day 12: Taking Care of Business

Feeling refreshed after the half day I took in Buckhorn, I made it out to Berea, Kentucky (Berea is also the name of city very close to my home so it provided a little nostalgia).

Berea College was the first of its kind in the South, providing integrated and coeducational opportunities. Today the college offers free tuition ($25,000 a year scholarship) to all of its students. The student body is primarily represented by the Appalachian population. All students are required to work at least 10 hours a week for the school. It’s a unique setup down here.

I only took two pictures today, one of the college gate, the other an autographed picture of Colonel Sanders himself. It’s kind of funny to think of him as a celebrity but by God this is Kentucky.

I’m staying at the Walnut Meadow RV park right off of I-75. The old man has passed the place down to his sons, who were missing tonight. He let me plug my stuff in, take a shower, and camp for seven bucks; not a bad deal at all.

There’s a McDonalds a half mile back down the road so I’m excited to have a filling breakfast before I start my day tomorrow. At breakfast I’ll decide whether to stop at Harrodsburg or push another 20 miles into the Lincoln Homestead State Park. These next few days are critical in terms of a mileage strategy. I’m debating taking a 66 total mile detour over a course of three days to take a tour of the Mammouth Cave System this weekend. It’s supposed to be a natural wonder of the world. It’s a big setback but I guess that’s the kind of stuff I’m out here to see, right?

P.S. No rain on today’s ride. Thank you to whoever made that happen.

P.S.S. Within 5 minutes of me saying that it started to rain. At least my tent’s all setup.