Total miles - 823.3
We left the church hostel fairly early in the morning, and headed out towards something we had been looking forward to all trip, a traditional highlight for anyone who has biked the TransAm...a ride on a ferry that takes vehicles and passengers across the Ohio River from Kentucky to Illinois.
We were moving pretty fast early in the morning...the weather was nice, we had very little traffic, and before we knew it, the first 15 miles was under our belt. We stopped into Jeri's Cafe in the town of Clay for an early lunch.
After a filling lunch, we were back out on the road, ready to make it to our next quick stop in Marion. These miles seemed to drag on and on, with plenty of those rolling Kentucky hills to keep us busy. It was a struggle to keep hydrated with the early afternoon heat beating down on us, but thankfully we had filled our dromedary bag in case we ran out of water in our bottles.
When we rolled into Marion, we went right to a cafe in an old Free Masons building. This place was really cute and reminded me of any little cafe/restaurant you would see in a movie set in a small town. I enjoyed a grilled chicken salad with homemade ranch dressing, while Erica enjoyed a whole bunch of side items such as cottage cheese with pears, green beans, corn, white beans, and a side salad. I thought it looked like she had hijacked a meals on wheels vehicle.
As we left the cafe, we knew we only had about 11.5 miles to go to get to the ferry, but the skies were darkening quick. We pedaled as fast as we possibly could and managed to get on the ferry just as the skies were turning black, and we could see lightning just off in the distance. The ferry ride was quick and as we got off and stepped foot into Illinois, the skies opened up and the storm came right at us. We were planning on camping at Cave In Rock State Park, but obviously those plans went away quickly. We ducked under an awning of a building and devised another plan. We ended up waiting until the rain had let up just enough for us to go a mile down the road to Cave In Rock Motel. It was not a 5 star hotel, but we were thankful to have a warm and safe place to stay. It ended up being quite the adventurous day!
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