I think it was 1982... I had ridden to the Indy 500, and after the race I decided to head to the worlds fair in Knoxville, Tenn... I followed I-65 south from Indy to just outside Louisville, where I spent the night in a small clean but run down motel I found maybe 15 miles off the interstate.. I was tired and needed to find fuel, a laundromat and some decent food....
I checked in and asked a tired looking old woman at the desk for her recommendations.. She directed me a few miles further down the road to a little one stop sign, half-quaint, half-homely river town with the lethargic quality of a fighter who's taken too many blows.... Found what I needed to wash clothing, and a fried chicken in a basket dinner...While I was waiting for the dryer to stop, I wiped down the bike with an old towel... I felt relaxed and glad to be away from the race crowd of the past two days... Indy crowds can be stressful...Imagine 400,000 people at a four day party and then throw in too much beer and too much hot sun for many of them... top it off with noisy all night celebration... Adds up to two nights of little sleep... I love the race, the party is fun, but I had had enough of all the people.. next year was soon enough for that again...
I had plenty of time,..Tomorrow was the Memorial day holiday.. so I had that, plus four days of vacation time, and then a weekend to hustle back home.. no rush to be home and back to work.. The weather was great, and I was inclined to just drift unhurriedly toward Knoxville... Relax and take in the sights along the way.
The next day it only took maybe three hours on secondary roads to get totally lost in Kentucky... I followed those secondary roads in a general south-easterly direction... Asked directions when I stopped for gas.. after a few colorful exhortations from the tolerant gas station owner at my fuel stop.. (something about turning left at the holler, right past the crick), I somehow got it correct and was back on my twisted path south, relieved to find out that I hadn't strayed very far off the mark....
Part of northern Kentucky is covered with lush, pristine forests, but this was not that part. For a dozen miles or so along US 68, I was in the down-on-its-luck, strip-mall-on-every-corner, already hot-at-10-in-the-morning part of the State.
The scenery changed as I rode along... By the time I rolled into Lexington, my head was spinning with postcard scenes of Bluegrass Country... antebellum architecture faded against fields stocked with powerful thoroughbreds. I would like to ride there again... Lexington isn't just a bed of southern gentility -- it's also a diverse city whose university population lends a cosmopolitan edge. I spent the night there in a much nicer motel... Rested well..
I couldn't dawdle there long though.. Well, suppose I could have, but the demands of urbanity were already wearing on me... I just wanted to get back to the riding.... I wanted to see the Terracotta Warriors exhibit which I knew was at the fair..
East out of Lexington along US 60, the roadside tapestry of horses, bluegrass hills, white board fences, and hay bales blurred into a rural kaleidoscope, and I remember thinking, wow... bluegrass really is blue...at least from far away.... I chose my route to parallel Interstate 75, a few miles to the east... If I decided I needed to make better time, I merely had to ride a couple of miles over and blast down the super slab.
Cruising through the Bluegrass State here was the height of freewheeling... Was nice being a solitary rider with just the smooth purr of a 900cc bike engine in your ears and the heavy air of the South on your face...
On a bike tour it's easy to meet people.. all manner of people... Often interesting people who have a story to tell you and questions to ask... Talk of motorcycles usually get the ice broken.. Seems everyone has owned or has a relative who had or has a Honda, Yamaha, Harley. or some other make of bike.. Often they will tell you of rides they have made... those vivid memories that they want to share with another understanding rider....
On this ride, in talking to people at food and gas stops, I learned Kentucky has more running water than any state except Alaska.... Scattered in the forest amongst the sugar maples and white oaks were pools of impossibly green water... (it's true)..... they are pure sweet eye candy...
The Cumberland Falls are the second-largest waterfalls east of the Mississippi, and are known as the Niagara of the South. That's an ambitious description, but the 125-foot-wide curtain of water was an impressive sight nonetheless .. I was told that if you go during a full moon on a clear night, you'll be rewarded with a rare "moon bow" -- created when the mist morphs into a multicolored hologram, a phenomenon visible nowhere else in the Western Hemisphere.
Eventually I got to the worlds fair, and did see the "Terracotta Army" from China, (That is a whole other story) but this ride through rural Kentucky, and the things I learned doing it are still vivid in my mind... These memories are the reason I chose to ride then, and the desire for more of them is why I want to ride again..and again, as long as I am able...
Sadly, there are those who will never understand...
GDW
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