UGRR Day 14 Dover to Kentucky Dam

Riding Day 14 crossing into Kentucky 1/3 of the way there




Today was an excellent riding day with light cloud cover, temperatures in the high 70’s low humidity.

As usual, the ride started out with a couple hills in the first three miles. Although they were only 600 feet elevation gain instead of 700, the down hills were shorter, and the climbs were longer, the road narrower, and the traffic heavier. On the last hill, the incline showed up on Kathy’s Garmin as a 12% grade. Four miles into the ride we entered the Land between the Lakes National Park and the ride mellowed out a bit.

Entrance to the Land between the Lakes Area

The Land between the Lakes is a thin peninsula of land on the Tennessee Kentucky border that lies between the Tennessee River on the East and the Cumberland River on the West. The two rivers come together to form Kentucky Lake and the confluence has been dammed to provide hydro power and locks built to allow freight and boats access to the upper reaches of the Cumberland River from below.

A couple of short stiff climbs later we passed the remains from one of the old iron foundries which had been destroyed by an “insurgency of the slaves who fed the furnaces” in 1859. The stonework on the massive limestone blocks was intricate and precise.

The area was settled by several waves of Scots Irish immigrants before the American Revolution and again after and by 1850 there were a number of thriving farming communities doing trade on both rivers. There were also iron foundries that provided substantial amounts of pig iron up and down the rivers up until the early 20th century.

Information sign for the Great Western Furnace

How the Furnace worked

Remains of the furnace structure

14 miles into the park from the south is The Homeplace, an historical farm from the 1850s that functions as a living history museum. We took time to tour the buildings which included a “dog trot” house furnished with authentic furniture, quilts, dishes, and weaving and spinning equipment. Out in front two of the farmers were working with a young pair of oxen, training them to pull a light plow. In another farmhouse, two of the women were repairing a broken warp on a loom in preparation to continuing to weave on a half completed overshot coverlet of wool from the farms’ sheep.

Walking wheel on the porch of the "dog trot" house

"dog trot" house from the back

Quilting and spinning on the front porch

Mending the warp on the loom

There were some recently shorn sheep taking a break from the sun in a cool and shady tobacco barn, and chickens, ducks and a couple of goats wandering around with the horses in the pasture. It was very well laid out, and it was lovely just to have a wander among the garden plots, buildings and barns under the trees.

Overview of the Home Place

Sheep cooling off in the tobacco barn " I get high with a little help from my friends"

Young oxen learning to plow

As we rode back out onto the main road, the buffalo in the prairie land on the other side of the road had come out to graze. They were a bit away from the fence and the grass was at least thigh deep so it was hard to grasp how big they were but they were still impressive, even at a distance.

American Bison in thigh deep grass

Although the road was much wider in the park, and there were few traffic or dog hazards, the hills kept coming.

Are we there yet? Taking a break to breath after a hill


We all stopped at the Kentucky border for photos. Whoo Hoo! Margaritas along with dinner tonight to celebrate yet another state crossing. All six days of this stint of the ride have been in Tennessee so it will be nice to add a new name to the list.

Shortly after the border stop my legs went into lactic acid spasms so I rode in the SAG wagon for 15 miles. When I started out riding again, the promised lower hills had started to appear so although the rest of the ride wasn’t an absolute coast; it was easier and more pleasant. After leaving the park we pulled into Grand Rivers and found a bike shop and a bakery deli right next door to each other.

Wood-N-Wave (http://www.woodnwave.com/), the bike shop had primarily basic essentials and only a few of each things, but we were able to find a mirror, shorts, a couple of jersey’s, and some gloves so each rider had at least one essential item off their shopping lists. Several ladies took their b

The last 5 miles of the ride were the hardest in terms of traffic. Several highways converge to cross the Kentucky Dam. The roadway on the dam is one lane in each direction with no shoulder, a high curb and a chain link fence separating the rail road tracks from the roadway on the north side, and a high sidewalk across the middle third of the south side and nowhere for bikes to go except along the edge and pray.

There wasn’t any way to find a break in the fast moving traffic to make a block and take the lane so we went across in a line. Several of the large motor homes came close enough to reach out and touch. Half way across the bridge, the skies, which had been growing darker and darker, opened up and we had a 15 minute drizzle which made riding along the fast moving heavy traffic even tenser. By the time we got off of the dam and were negotiating the last highway interchange, the rain had stopped, but the puddles and the slick tires remained.

We pulled into Kentucky Dam Village just as the sun came out.

It has been a hard six days of riding, and I am very much looking forward to a day off to rest and recuperate, and to doing laundry so I can have some clean clothes to wear right side out. Our room has a view out over the lake, and there is very little noise except for the birdsongs and that is always a reward at the end of the ride.

Todya's Stats

distance 34.66 with a 15 mile SAG mid ride which is not included

time 2:52

elevation gain 3186 feet

speed 13.2