Thursday, July 21, 2011

Day 13

Wednesday, July 20

I woke up at 4:30 this mooring to the sound of something being dragged away from our tent. I got my light out and saw that Ben's pannier was missing from outside our tent, so I woke him up and he went to look for it. By a stroke of luck, he spotted it in the woods 50 ft from our tent and had to climb down to get it. We can only assume that it was a raccoon who had a craving for whole wheat wraps and Gatorade powder because that is what was missing from the front zipper pouch. (we found out the hard way that those bandits can use zippers!) I found this event to be outrageously funny but Ben was not so amused. We later found out that a raccoon stole bananas out of the other couple's bag.

That couple- Matthew and Crystal warned us about dogs in Kentucky and gave us a spare can of pepper spray to use if they chase us. We quickly learned that Kentucky dogs really do love to chase bikers, but they also seem to be classically conditioned to stop chasing once they see that bottle pointed at them. I pulled out the spray and pointed it at a chasing dog and he stopped almost immediately! Unfortunately, there must have been some pepper spray residue on the can because ten minutes later I itched my eye and felt the horrible burn of peppers! It was so awful and painful and it lasted for a good 5 minutes while I just had to sit there and endure the pain... Lesson learned I guess. And now I really know why the dogs are afraid of the can!
We rode 71 miles to Hindman, KY to stay with David who has been hosting cyclists for about 15 years. He has a huge tent that we slept in on big air mattresses. He greeted us with iced tea at the driveway, we showered had a baked potato and salad, and then banana splits for dessert.





We slept well until about 530 when thunder started and pouring rain! We were glad that our own tent wasn't getting wet. We just had breakfast and are trying to get the courage to go riding in the rain...

2 comments:

  1. Robber racoons and mad dogs - what's is the problem with Kentucky? That's a funny story about Ben's bag being raided (its always funny when that happens to someone else). 71 miles is a huge day, and to finish with a banana split makes it even more special. Keep up the great work. And watch out for the heat wave that is coming your way.

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  2. Cats are smarter than raccoons.

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