After a short stay in Huntington, WV (a ghastly town, where the local sandwich place loses out to McDonald’s and the gyms are ghosts) we are biking for real.
On the way to our first night’s stay I got the feel of my new Surly bike. Once I stopped to take a look at my chain, which had slipped off the cogs, but a passing friendly farmer beat me to it, picking up the bike with one burly hand and putting the chain back on for me. He was very curious what the hell I was doing way out there!
I got to tell you, I wondered this myself at times. I had to correct my route once or twice as Google Maps seems to have trouble keeping up with recent developments out here. After biking across this:
Yet another friendly farmer that I would have to turn around and find another way, as the new one was out. Awww man.
Eventually I made it to our campground. That’s where we’ll mostly be staying on the weekends. They range from $5 to $20 a night, have very basic amenities, and they have a place to leave the car.
Biking is a highly variable experience. Sometimes the route is on a busy highway, with lots of cars, and that’s not very nice – especially if there’s no shoulder. And then, sometimes it looks like this:
We arrived at Lexington during a declared state emergency in Kentucky due to the police shooting of Breonna Taylor in nearby Louisville. Several businesses were closed, not because of COVID, but because of feared rioting. Still, we did find some great highlights:
Best fried chicken (and boy did I look) at Ramsey’s diner. So good it’ll make you slap your momma.
Best small distillery: Bluegrass Distillers. Free tastings of four very good bourbons and a tour by a very enthusiastic distiller. I even took home a bottle of their bourbon aged in cider barrels.
Best big distillery: Old Pepper Distillery. For $15, a flight of three 10-year single barrel bourbons bottled in the same year, but all from different barrels. All were complex, caremely, delicious and strong. The first was the sharpest. The second was more mellow. And the third had an unusual undertaste that I’m going to call “farm animal.” It was great to experience how the barrel gives the bourbon its own unique flavor.
Best blast from the past and honorable mention for fried chicken: Parkette Drive-In.
And, finally, best weird random free art gballery in a hotel.
And, even more finally, Proof is a really cool gym, where I did this:
