nicks pics

Day 4.

Still heading west and the mountains slowly level out and the roads get straighter. We stopped at the scenic 76 falls, a stream with small cascading falls into the dammed up lake Cumberland. Undoubtedly the most scenic part of my time in Kentucky. Campaigning for county representatives was in full swing.. and nope, they weren't just electing mayors. There were signs up for Sherrif, County Court Clerk, Judge, Magistrate, Constable, even Jailer and Coroner would you believe it. So one day you're Joe Blow, village butcher, and tomorrow you're Sherrif Joe Blow, "the law". And in a few years time you might be Jailer Joe Blow, making sure those you arrested stay locked up! And no-one I discussed this with seemed the least bit concerned! Passing through these counties where the only thing resembling a tourist attraction was a sign for the local penitentiary put me most certainly on best behaviour!

A tip off from a local in Glasgow that Bowling Green, though in a dry county is in fact a wet city. So we put rubber to the road and rolled into Bowling Green Kentucky, a small college town with a big heart for drink. Finally some live music, cold beer, pool tables, and friendly locals to pass away the night. Well the night passed away, and after three offers of a place to crash at I passed out in the van out the back of the bar.

Day 5.

At 9.15 the next morning we were up at Mammoth Cave national park and on a 3hr guided tour through the worlds largest cave. At 365 miles of surveyed cave, it is over twice as large as the next known largest cave. We only walked 3 miles. The tour was rich in the history of the cave, its formation and uses by early pioneers, which include a production factory for gunpowder used in the war of 1812, and a tuburculosis hospital (which failed).

The day ended pulling into Nashville, Tennessee, home of country music USA. It was late but bars were just getting cranking down on Broadway. Almost all offered live music - bands out trying to impress and get signed onto a record label. Nashville feels like the deep south more than any place I've been. The folk here wear their stetson, country shirt and high leather boots, and listening to talkback on the radio every second word is "and yeeeehaa"!

Day 6.

Today we parked up and took the bike off the back to explore the city. Nashville not such a large city. On the north side is the state capitol a DC style mall off of it. The mall is a beautiful park - along one side is the history of Tennessee engraved into stone, and a WwII memorial within it. On the east is the Cumberland river, one of the major trade routes and probably why the pioneers settled there (Nashville by the way has a bloody history of battles with American Indians). On the south is music central, all the bars, clubs and shops catering to the masses of tourists who visit. And on the east is Vanderbilt university, complete with a big rec centre and a friendly guy at the front desk who let me in for my first shower.

Late in the afternoon we headed out of Nashville heading south west towards Memphis. The road took us into Perry County, a "semi-dry" county that sells beer but not hard liquor. Stopped into a nice little place called the split rail bar, drank beer, played darts, talked shit, and was even treated to one of their t-shirts at the end of the night.