Oct. 24 – More Good People

I wanted to avoid traffic today, so I worked with my GPS to design a route that kept me on country roads most of the day. It was awesome and beautiful riding on peaceful roads with very few cars.

My route took me north and east over to Paducah and then further east towards an area called Land Between the Lakes, a national recreation area that leads into Tennessee. In Paducah I happened upon a little bike shop on 13th Street called…..”The 13th Street Bike Shop”. I had been wanting to check the air pressure in my tires for a few days and the shop owner and mechanic, John Spurlin, was happy to lend me his floor pump. I had also been having some problems with my rear derraileur – it wasn’t shifting properly and kept jumping gears. I asked John if he could check it out and he jumped right on it.

John is also a cycle tourer and a Warmshowers host….and he is a partner in two coffee shops in addition to owning the bike shop. We had a lot to talk about! Another friendly and interesting person met along my journey. He got my bike fixed up in no time and since I was hungry, he referred me to Big Ed’s Buffet, where the never ending southern cuisine almost put me in a food coma.

I left Paducah happy and pedaled on to Calvert City, where I figured I would either camp or get a motel. It is a busy and touristy area at the entry to the recreation area – the only option I could find for camping was a KOA that cost about as much as a motel, so I made my way to the Kentucky Lake Inn – and I am really glad that I did. As the motel owner, Mike Patel, checked me in we started to talk about business and life and kids and before we knew it we were chatting away. Mike is a very gregarious and hospitable hotelier and a devoted family man with a great immigrant success story. When I asked him where the nearest laundromat was (there aren’t any close by) – he offered to wash my dirty laundry at his facility and delivered the clean laundry to my door! I was blown away by his hospitality and will always remember his extra effort to make my stay at his Inn memorable.

Another awesome person and a new friend!