Leaving Louisville on Thursday morning was easy. I was borrowing my brother's Joe Rocket mesh jacket and vented leather pants, which I had given him a few years ago. Anything is better than the 'stich in the Kentucky heat and humidity!
I rolled out of the KOA at about 11am and was thinking I'd take a tour of the Maker's Mark distillery but decided on the much closer Four Roses instead. it was interesting (and the Small Batch was my favorite). Then it was back on I-64 through Lexington, then south through the Natural Bridge area.
We had ridden this earlier in the spring in the rain, and today it was bright and sunny. The roads were excellent - Hwy 213 and 52 in particular. Nice lunch at a small mexican diner, I was the only customer. My radar went up when the proprietor started asking if I was traveling alone ... I said yes, paid, and left.
There was very little traffic until 5pm, when most folks get out of work. That's when the cars started comming into my lanes in the corners, and I headed back up to the interstate to get to the KOA in Milton, WV.
Turns out my parents had a flat tire on the camper two miles before the KOA. After he got the tire off, the state patrol drove him to a local tire place, waited while they put on a new one, and drove him back to the camper. His only comment was how fast the trooper drove, and how he planned to write a letter to the state patrol to tell them how good thier service was.
Unfortunately he re-injured his back changing the tire. A few years ago he experienced a sciatic nerve injury which it took the Norwegian government 5 months to repair with surgery. Then he was OK for about six months, and for the past year he has been having pain in his legs and back while waiting for another operation. Working on the tire caused the pain to amplify. If the Norwegian health care system had addressed the problem in the past year instead of putting him on waiting lists, he wouldn't be spending his vacation in bed in the camper on oxycodone.
Anyway .. back at the KOA we played cards and drank beer and prepared the next day of riding: West Virginia! The world's largest trailer park!
No comments:
Post a Comment