Day 113 ~ Cafeteria Style

Our bike parked in the Hampton Inn & Suites Hallway

Well, at least this time they didn't remove the entire mountain top...

Smoke from a mountainside fire

I guess Mike can't read. That sign says "NO PARKING". Mike argued that he wasn't parking he was just stopping. If he was parking the bike would be there by itself.

I'd like to know who certified this county as clean. The last couple of days we have seen some of the most filthy roads in the nation. Below is just a small sample of what we see on a daily basis. The creeks are also lined with trash. It is so sad.

Enjoyed the mixed nuts that my mom sent in our Halloween package.

Gregory was enthralled watching this gentleman put coins into this pay phone. Then he overheard his conversation and said, "Mom, he said a bad word." The gentleman standing next to Gregory is Orbin Sloane and he was quite the interesting character. He said that when he went away in the service that he couldn't read the soda pop machine. He had to make his selection by color. He apologized for not having his teeth in... (His mother Verna May Sloane is an author.)

Our quarters in the basement of the "old church" in Pippa Passes

Date: November 9, 2009

From: Hazard, Kentucky

To: Pippa Passes, Kentucky ~ Home of Alice Lloyd College

Route: Hwy. 80 to Hwy. 169 to Hwy. 899

Miles Today: 30 miles

TOTAL MILES: 3,231 miles

Top Speed on this trip: 54.1 mph

Weather: 68-70 and Sunny ~ More Shorts Weather

License Plates Collected: 5 Montana, 8 Wyoming (2 motorcycle) and 1 Idaho (found in WY), 2 Colorado, 1 Kansas (Gifted from David of Baldwin City), 1 Missouri (To be sent to Grammy’s by our new buddy, Kansas City firefighter Shawn), 1 Illinois, 4 Kentucky (2 Gifted from Beth and Garry Feltus, one gifted from cousin John, one from Hwy. 127)

Flats: 9

Broken Spokes: 3

Cracked Rim: 1

We planned for a short day today and took some extra time at the Hampton Inn this morning to relax. I had a great nights sleep and Mike massaged my low back again which has helped considerably and with fewer miles today I feel like I haven't over done it. It is a good thing too because tomorrow we have to ride over 60 miles. After tomorrow we will be really close to crossing into Virginia.

We split the day in half and had a nice lunch in Hindman at an Appalachian Craft Studio with a cafe. I drank a delicious pumpkin latte and had some of the best potato soup I have ever eaten along with a really fresh salad. Poor Gregory was fighting an upset stomach after we'd stopped on the side of the road and eaten some peanut butter on wheat bread. So, he dined on saltines and Sprite. Not good for a biker boy who needs his energy but his tummy did settle down and after we left Hindman he was doing much better.

We arrived at our destination of Pippa Passes in no time and it must have been only 3:30 or 4:00 P.M. We stopped at Benny's Grocery thinking this was where we needed to pick up something for dinner but the selection was really limited and we were told there were no pots and pans available at the church where we were staying. We weren't hungry yet, and they had a grill, so we figured we'd ride the quarter mile up to the "old church" and see our accommodations first. We could ride back and get something from the grill before dark.

We were glad we did because Donna, who lives across from the church and opens up for cyclists, told us about the cafeteria at Alice Lloyd College just down the road. Mike lit the pilot light on the furnace for the first time this season, we said goodbye to Donna, and then we set up our mattresses and sleeping bags in one of the rooms in the basement of the church. Because this is the "old church" it hasn't been used for a while and is actually up for sale so there is really nothing here. We were just happy to have a nice warm place to sleep indoors. Right now Mike and Gregory are trying to figure out the last time we used our sleeping bags…They think it was our first day in Kentucky when we camped in the youth basement of the First Baptist Church in Sebree. That was Day 96, 18 days ago!!! Mike just said somewhat jokingly, "I miss my sleeping bag."

Without even changing out of our bike clothes we went down to the college. We found the cafeteria where the line was already forming a half hour before they opened for dinner at 5:15P.M. The manager assured us we were welcome to buy dinner and that it was lasagna night. We went upstairs to watch a little T.V. and met Maggie, a freshman education major and James, a biology major. They filled us in a little about this college of about 600 students where all students are required to do 10 hours of work study per week. This is similar to Berea College, however, later we found out after talking with the Chairman of Education, Parker, whom we met at dinner, that at Berea College they provide educational opportunities based on your ability to pay or your income bracket whereas here that is not a requirement. Alice Lloyd College is limited to 600 students however so it would be interesting to see how students qualify for entrance.

When we came through the line for dinner and the cashier rang us up for $12.oo for two adults and one child, we gave her a $20.00 bill but she couldn't open the cash register to give us change. We had to wait a while for the manager, James, to come to our aid and in the meantime a steady stream of college students was filling up the cafeteria. When James finally came up he too was having difficulty with the register and turned around and asked, "Where are you from?" "California," we replied in unison. "It's on me," he responded and that is how we came to have a nice hot healthy meal in Pippa Passes, Kentucky. We are actually going back for breakfast! Oh yes, and Gregory especially liked the ice cream bar where he had a chocolate cone and went back for seconds with a bowl. That is how college kids put on the "freshman forty." I know when I lived in the dorms at University of Delaware I had many a night where I ate only ice cream for dinner and I think I put on about 10 pounds that first semester!