We kicked of the day from Princeton later than normal - leaving at 6am. Lucky and I left together from the Trail of Tears Park and headed north towards Marion KY. The road was a very narrow one and is the main thoroughfare between both cities. The trucks are scary, the tractors as well but what get me really nervous are how many people are flying by on these small roads looking down at their cell phones. Chris passed me about 10 miles out of town and I gave him Lucky because it just felt too dangerous.

After a few cool days, the heat and humidity came back today in force. I also spaced out for a minute and at a fork in the road i took the wrong one and ended up on a busy highway for 6 miles instead of the parallel country road.

I think we have pulled at least a hundred ticks from Lucky and today i realized that a few small scabs I had on my legs from the wilderness trek were actually small ticks. In the middle of the run I frantically scratched them out except for one which i needed tweezers for. The ticks in Kentucky are varied - big ones like up east but also minuscule ones that are very difficult to see.

Workman like day - didn’t interact with a single person on the road today.

Chris and I are boondocked up at the city parks and we just spoke with a local police officer who cleared us to stay. I told him how beautiful Kentucky is and he mentioned its all good except for the bugs and ticks! Side note on wild animals, he showed me a bunch of pictures and video of the 6 foxes he has at his house that come up to he and his girlfriend to feed. He told me you can’t keep as pets in KY and he wouldn’t want to anyway because while they are cute, they pee everywhere.

Tomorrow is last day in Kentucky as we will cross the Ohio River into Cave-in-Rock Illinois by ferry. My back is still tight so the miles are difficult. The one good piece of news is that my back hurts more than my shin so my shin is no longer an issue!

Thank you for your ongoing support.

Cheers,

David.