Kentucky

It seemed like an immediate change in scenery when we got to Kentucky.  It's like a jungle!  The forest is so thick and the birds are so noisy!

The rabbits are huge here.  Not the little cotton tails of San Diego or the jack rabbits of the desert.  They are bigger that the average house cat!  The bunnies are cute, though.

There isn't much chance for Internet connection, even though the towns are closer together.

The hills are a little higher and when you get to the top and look out on the farms, it takes your breath away.  People in Missouri and Kentucky have these giant riding mowers and stake out their territory by Mowing It.  You can look out over acres and acres of grass with a picturesque farmhouse, horses, cows, and goats in the middle.  Acres and acres of dark forest border everything.  Flowers are blooming along the road and take over any field that is untended.  It's really pretty to see the lacy white sprays and goldenrod, interspersed with bouquets of white and yellow daisies.  There are lots of pink thistles.

Overall, the farms and homes are neat and well-kept.  Yards are trim and tended, with ceramic deer being the yard art of choice.  It's a stark contrast to some of the sights we've seen.  We've been pleasantly surprised and delayed because we've been taking a lot of pictures.  There are lots of old decayed barns, and lots of trailer homes...

It's humid and hot.  We slather up with sun screen and seal it in with bug spray and then after we ride for two minutes, the sweat starts streaming.  Yesterday it started raining, but it didn't really matter, because we were already soaked.  It was still pretty warm, and it wasn't windy, so we kept riding.  It didn't last long.


Brian met some locals.  While driving, he was passed by a big pickup with a confederate flag front plate and a large family sitting in lawn chairs having a picnic in the bed.  Then, at an intersection in the middle of corn fields, he was waiting at a gas station closed for the night.  A family drove up and seeing his California  plate, became quite chatty.  "California!  We don't get many a you all round here. We've never talked to someone from California before."  Brian said he discovered that they don't talk to many people in general and had a lot to say.  They had driven 15 minutes from their farm to but cold soda from the vending machine at the station. 

Brian's other encounter yesterday was at a sports bar.  While Peter and I were grabbing a shower last night, Brian dropped into a sports bar to see a basketball game.  Of course, they asked for his id.  The bar was crowded and the bar tender yelled, "California!"  So somebody paid for his beer.  In exchange, his id was passed around so that everybody could see a CA driver license.  One of the comments he heard:  "Lookit that!  The date is in a completely different place on theirs!"