Kentucky: soooo much more than fried chicken!

Day 27  -  Middletown to Winchester, KY  -  82 Miles

For all of you who are wondering, the past four or five days have been incredibly wonderful.  Constantly we find ourselves exclaiming, "THIS IS WHY WE CAME!"  Don't get us wrong though, for this is a victorious exclamation we've been saying since day 3 (sorry CA & AZ deserts) over and over again when we feel we're being blessed with rested legs, the kindness of strangers, unreal serenity, etc.   Lately the electric blue skies, southern style mansions, brisk morning air, rolling hills jammed with breathtaking pastures, and kind people have been more than refreshing for us, and USUALLY before we know it the day has come to an end and we have found somewhere to lay our heads for the night.  I can't remember the last time we've had a ride that we almost regretfully felt like we "just had to push through."  Those rides are rare lately, and for this we're quite happy!

After leaving Mike and Cindy's in Middletown, a much needed and most excellent lodging for us, we cruised out on the 60 for another mansion-filled, pasture-brimming ride.

One of the pictures we got of the interestingly older homes...

Another one.  This kind of home was more typical to see each time we'd enter a city.  Most bigger cities were flooded with enormous mansions on the outskirts of the city line.

We made a quick breeze through Frankfort, KY (the state's capitol), and had a conversation with a gas station attendant who loved our story and said, "well, uhh, you guys want fountain drink? Yes, fountain drink.  It's free...the least we can do!"  We're not too hot on soda but who could resist the kindness of this man?  Not us.  Luckily they had a pretty good slushy machine right next to the sodas and les and I topped off our water bottles with some mango/strawberry goodness.

A poor picture (while riding down a huge hill) of the Capitol building in Frankfort.

We decided to make a stop in Lexington, KY for a rest break.  We both agreed that this was a cool town.  Much like a bigger Prescott, AZ, Lexington was your typical college town (University of Kentucky is here), except with a sizable downtown area and plenty of shopping areas.  There were tons of cyclists and plenty of young people (which is usually what makes something a college town, in our minds anyway!)

Diggin' the architecture.

...still diggin' it!  The old apartment building skyscrapers reminded us of Los Angeles.

After a nice 2+ hour break of reading, Sudoku, internet, and coffee we dragged ourselves back to our bikes and with a good 16-18 miles still left before we could call it a night, we thought real intently about what we'd have for dinner...

Just kidding, we heard there was a Little Caesar's in Winchester and obviously that sounded quite appetizing (plus who can beat a $5 pizza? who cares if its not "top 'o the line"...we're on a budget and its pizza!).  Alas, we never found it, mainly because we found that it was about 4 miles in the other direction once we got to Winchester, so we settled for a different fast food establishment instead...

Yes, this is a castle just outside of Lexington.  Probably circa 1990, because it looked quite new, but still, THERE WAS A CASTLE!!!