Berea Kentucky-

Friday August 9, 2011

just landed in Berea Kentucky. how i landed here is a small story of large kindness, as are the circumstances of my lodging. it's been misting for the last day and a half- all day and all night on thursday and til about noon today (friday).

yesterday (thursday) i hit Bardstown "Bourbon City", i stopped at Bourbon City Tattoos in downtown Bardstown and hung out with this tattoo artist, Don. he let me use his lap top and gave me a sandwich. i warmed up a bit but the cold stayed in me... i left there and went to the camp ground and set up- once i finally got inside the tent and into dry clothes and wrapped up in this thin wool sheet that i purchased for $2.50 in Louisvile, life was ten times better than it was a half hour before and all that day.


if i'm feeling down and i meet some locals that are interested in talking to me it really lifts my spirits and makes me feel strong.
(continued Saturday August 10, 2011 .....)

so by the time i got to Springfeild the mist stopped and i met some nice locals and chatted for a bit during lunch- it was good that i felt strong because it was a trying day, not so much the hills (there were plenty) but the traffic on the roads for about of the trip was pretty rough. and it was spaced out, so some parts were smooth sailin' and then some parts were like Hell's Urethra Texas. *(see post from Tuesday, July 19, 2011) ....
so i made it Lancaster at about 6:PM and i asked a fella who was puttin' his mailbox in the ground how far it was to Berea, apparently i got my distance mixed up and thought i had ten more miles, but he said i had twenty five or so more to go. at first i decided i could do it by sundown, but as i pushed into Lancaster proper i realized i needed to stop for the day- that was at sixty miles, so yeah, guess it was hillier than what i'm used to. sometimes you don't realize some things at first, it can take daunting news to hammer some stuff into your head.

so i set about trying to find a place to sleep. i was on my way to the police station to ask them to direct me to a park and ask them for permission to set up my tent when the fella from down the road pulled up and offered to take me halfway to Berea! on the way he told me his daughter warned him to be careful and not get mugged- he replied that he thought i would be the more wary one of us. but actually he had an instant good vibe about him. he said there was no way i was gonna get there before nightfall and he didn't want me to have to ride through Cartersville because there were a lot of pot grown rednecks down there that wouldn't be friendly to a stranger they would perceive as a nark. i haven't encountered anyone like that yet, even where locals told me there would be folks like that, but none the less, i really appreciate his kindness. he drove me all the way to Berea which was about twenty to twenty five miles.

i'm staying at some folks' place that go to the college here, however they are all camping this weekend in Red River Gorge, they invited me to come with if i could make it to town before they left. in any event, they left the door open for me and said the food was all free range.

Berea is a very artsy town.

today is Saturday and i've been at this coffee shop all afternoon. i met more folks that go to school here and in Richmond and played music and got invited to a potluck. not a bad day.

the mountains start when i leave here.....
(i may have to proof read this again, bear with me....)