Kentucky, Indiana, Kentucky
We rode out from our hotel in Louisville yesterday morning. There's a really nice loop that goes along the Ohio River for several miles, then up & over the Lewis & Clark Bridge, which has a separate bike/pedestrian path, then along the river on the Indiana side, over the bike/pedestrian Big Four Bridge (according to Wikipedia: It took its name from the defunct Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railway, which was nicknamed the "Big Four Railroad") back into Louisville. Although there was some traffic, and the River Road has no shoulder, it is a popular bike route and the cars seemed polite, or at least resigned to our presence. There were several chances to ride on bike paths or driveways through parks which we took happily.
Louisville is a city that reminds me more of coastal cities than the smaller cities we have seen so far. It feels more vibrant. There are tons of waterfront activities and trails, there is a lot of public art, including (wish it was not so hard to put pictures here) one bunch of birds in painted steel that I really liked. We walked down our street (for ice cream, of course) the first evening we spent here and realized the neighborhood was getting a bit less comfortable as we approached a freeway overpass. And as soon as we had passed the freeway, we found ourselves in a section with artists' activities everywhere: an old house with interesting paint, several studios, murals, and ice cream which turned out to be "artisanal" - but fortunately with a couple of ordinary flavors. There are also cyclists out there pretty much all the time. Not in the same numbers as we have in SF, but enough so I feel pretty confident that cars will be prepared for us.
The bridges are great. I like bridges anywhere, and Louisville has lots. There are a couple of freeways that cross into the city very close to the Big Four Bridge. One is modern, one older. They almost touch and the contrast is fun to see. Big Four is an old railroad bridge. It looks exactly like that - the upper part is unchanged - but the cities and states it belongs to have added long, beautifully paved curving ramps up to it, and the surface of the span is very smooth. It is really a walkway for people to linger on with its benches and views. We passed lots of families, lots of tourists, runners, other cyclists, older people (yes, even older than we are), one in a wheel chair, which shows how gentle the ramp up is. Lewis & Clark is several miles out of town, so was not as full of people, but there were several cyclists, a couple of runners, and a young mom with her little guy pedaling his training-wheeled bike furiously across the span. We talked to them a bit. He was 3 3/4 that very day; they had just moved here from Vermont so could not offer any suggested routes.
We rode east along the Indiana side for a while & stopped at a tiny local park for a snack. It looked almost like someone's back yard, with painted designs on the tables and other odds & ends that were far from standardized park gear, all very nice. While we ate, a couple of touring cyclists spotted us and pulled off the road to chat. They were riding from Montreal to Miami, using the Adventure Cycling Underground Railroad route. They were having a good trip, but were not particularly experienced cyclists. They did seem to be figuring it out pretty well! We talked for about 20 minutes & they headed west as we turned east. We got to the end of the road we had chosen and decided to turn around rather than take another, more inland road. I had seen an ice cream place in Jeffersonville, Indiana and was getting hungry again.
Google, it turned out, had made another of its bizarre errors. When I found the place on its map, I looked closely and thought it odd that the mall with the ice cream place backed up to the jail. Oh, well, a small town? No. It wasn't that small, and the building that backed up to the jail was actually the city government and the court house. Bruce asked 4 or 5 people if they knew of the ice cream place, and they all were baffled. But eventually one said she would try the main shopping street a few blocks away, and there we found - though not the one we had been looking for - a great place that makes candy, serves ice cream and soup and sandwiches, and has been right there since 1891! We have yet to figure out if the other place exists or if, as the woman who eventually gave us the good solution suspected, it's actually at a mall several miles away from where we stood.
Anyway, a great little ride. Thunder and lightning last night - at least Bruce saw & heard it. I slept through it all. Today we drive to Brown County State Park in Indiana. It was strongly recommended by a couple we met on the Honker Loop trail. We will see.
Louisville is a city that reminds me more of coastal cities than the smaller cities we have seen so far. It feels more vibrant. There are tons of waterfront activities and trails, there is a lot of public art, including (wish it was not so hard to put pictures here) one bunch of birds in painted steel that I really liked. We walked down our street (for ice cream, of course) the first evening we spent here and realized the neighborhood was getting a bit less comfortable as we approached a freeway overpass. And as soon as we had passed the freeway, we found ourselves in a section with artists' activities everywhere: an old house with interesting paint, several studios, murals, and ice cream which turned out to be "artisanal" - but fortunately with a couple of ordinary flavors. There are also cyclists out there pretty much all the time. Not in the same numbers as we have in SF, but enough so I feel pretty confident that cars will be prepared for us.
The bridges are great. I like bridges anywhere, and Louisville has lots. There are a couple of freeways that cross into the city very close to the Big Four Bridge. One is modern, one older. They almost touch and the contrast is fun to see. Big Four is an old railroad bridge. It looks exactly like that - the upper part is unchanged - but the cities and states it belongs to have added long, beautifully paved curving ramps up to it, and the surface of the span is very smooth. It is really a walkway for people to linger on with its benches and views. We passed lots of families, lots of tourists, runners, other cyclists, older people (yes, even older than we are), one in a wheel chair, which shows how gentle the ramp up is. Lewis & Clark is several miles out of town, so was not as full of people, but there were several cyclists, a couple of runners, and a young mom with her little guy pedaling his training-wheeled bike furiously across the span. We talked to them a bit. He was 3 3/4 that very day; they had just moved here from Vermont so could not offer any suggested routes.
We rode east along the Indiana side for a while & stopped at a tiny local park for a snack. It looked almost like someone's back yard, with painted designs on the tables and other odds & ends that were far from standardized park gear, all very nice. While we ate, a couple of touring cyclists spotted us and pulled off the road to chat. They were riding from Montreal to Miami, using the Adventure Cycling Underground Railroad route. They were having a good trip, but were not particularly experienced cyclists. They did seem to be figuring it out pretty well! We talked for about 20 minutes & they headed west as we turned east. We got to the end of the road we had chosen and decided to turn around rather than take another, more inland road. I had seen an ice cream place in Jeffersonville, Indiana and was getting hungry again.
Google, it turned out, had made another of its bizarre errors. When I found the place on its map, I looked closely and thought it odd that the mall with the ice cream place backed up to the jail. Oh, well, a small town? No. It wasn't that small, and the building that backed up to the jail was actually the city government and the court house. Bruce asked 4 or 5 people if they knew of the ice cream place, and they all were baffled. But eventually one said she would try the main shopping street a few blocks away, and there we found - though not the one we had been looking for - a great place that makes candy, serves ice cream and soup and sandwiches, and has been right there since 1891! We have yet to figure out if the other place exists or if, as the woman who eventually gave us the good solution suspected, it's actually at a mall several miles away from where we stood.
Anyway, a great little ride. Thunder and lightning last night - at least Bruce saw & heard it. I slept through it all. Today we drive to Brown County State Park in Indiana. It was strongly recommended by a couple we met on the Honker Loop trail. We will see.
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Bruce's comment: I really liked the ice cream shop, because they served me a chicken salad sandwich and beef barley soup. This was fare I'd been missing from our standard round of gas-station snacks and restaurant meals.
ReplyDeleteLouisville is a beautiful city when viewed from the Ohio River.