There's a big power plant in Madison.
As we were coming into town, a local rider named Bob rode with Greg for awhile talking. Bob's favorite place for dinner is a local shrimp restaurant. To get there we rode along the river. This is a view of the bridge we will go over tomorrow.
The shrimp restaurant was not open for another hour so we rode back into town to try to find the Broadway Hotel and Tavern, which a lady had recommended to me as I was waiting outside the post office in Charlestown while Greg was inside mailing some excess baggage back home. The restaurant is closed on Tuesdays but the owner let us in to look around. The bar dates from the 1860s. He recommended their other restaurant in town, the "Off-Broadway" Tap Room. They were having taco Tuesday so I had 4 tacos.
The climb up into Clifty Falls State Park is very steep and long. It took us a while to find the campground.
Our camp site cost $24 but is fairly nice, with an electrical outlet box and situated not too far from the showers and toilets.
We're going back into Kentucky.
Val, who left us over a month ago, has driven out all the way from Utah to re-join the tour. Instead of her cute little green VW beetle, this time she is driving a rental car. Again, the idea is that she will drive to our destination each day, ride back to meet us, then ride with us to the end. It will be wonderful to see her always-smiling face again!
We're camping at Kincaid Lake State Park. The lake is not far from our camp site.
Greg amazed the ranger with some of his magic tricks. The ranger later came back with a Kentucky map, which will help us plan our short cut tomorrow.
We decided to take Matt and Wendy's suggestion and short cut the official Adventure Cycling route. The alternate route turned out to be fine for cycling. Much of it had no shoulders but almost no traffic either.
We crossed the river at Augusta on the ferry. Augusta is famous for being George Clooney's hometown. Whenever he visits the press swamps the town.
The B&B in Georgetown that is listed on the Adventure Cycling map was full but they recommended the Ammen home B&B.
It is a historic building built in the early 1800s. Mr. Ammen was a boyhood friend of General, later President, Ulysses S. Grant. Mike, the current owner, has done extensive restorations on the place and it is beautiful inside. When he was removing the 12 layers of wallpaper he came across various inscriptions on inner layers. This one appears to be dated 1893.
One of the rooms is dedicated to displays of the history of the house.
This piano, built by Adam Stodart prior to 1834, is said to have been the first piano brought to Georgetown.
At first we three were the only guests, but another couple came in later and ate breakfast with us the next morning.
Anybody have an idea of what the two stop signs are for?
The only lodging in Milford is a B&B but they were booked up, no doubt because it was a Saturday. You can can camp in the city park, but there are no showers. However, when we visited the RRT outdoor supply store they offered to let us use the shower in the store.
They also had some food left over from an event so they fed us too. Greg had a blast showing them some of his magic tricks.
He always gets laughter and smiles when his audience realizes they have been tricked.
Here's a good shot of Greg's bike outside the bike shop.
We had dinner at the Little Miami Brewing Company. I didn't really eat all these nachos.
Val and Greg voted Milford as their favorite town of the entire tour because of the wonderful welcome from the folks at RRT, the great Little Miami brewing company, and the general ambience of the town.
By the timie we finished dinner we didn't get to the park until late. We set up the tents on the edge of the baseball field by the light of the headlights on Val's rental car.
We were on bike trails all day.
By the time we met Val in Oregonia it was getting late. She was sharing a table at a restaurant with Rob and Robin, a couple of locals who were doing a day ride.
By the time we ate, it was getting too late to ride to Xenia before dark. Rob and Robin volunteered to ride back to their car and come and pick up Val and take her to Xenia. Greg and I rode back, but it was pitch dark by the time we got there.
We had planned to stay at the Greene County Fairgrounds, but the fair is going on right now, so we are instead staying at a combination U-Haul office and flea-bag motel.
Last updated August 6, 2018