The part of Kentucky the ferry brought me to was extremely rural,and, you guessed it, hilly. After a few challenging hours I found myself in the little town of Sturgis, Kentucky. It was pretty late by the time I got there and the did not seem to be any great spots for camping. As usual, I asked around among various likely folks at convenience stores. One fellow, who had come up to me to ask about my ride and adventures, suggested I ask the man who ran the country store across the road if I could camp on his grounds. I found him, as suggested, Andrew Arnold is his name, and he was most helpful. He was very excited about my ride and we talked quite a bit. He showed me where I could camp on his backyard cornfield, and even suggested I use the bathroom in one of his rental cabins!!!! Plus, as shown in the picture, he made me coffee and an absolutely killer BLT for breakfast. All as a gift, needless to say. His father, Durwood, came in the kitchen while I was there for breakfast,and we all had a good old time talking and laughing.

No way around it, though, I had to get back on the bike. Somehow I had it in my mind that the bike store was in Henderson, but actually it was a good deal farther, in Owensboro. So I had a long hot ride ahead of me, trying to keep up the pace so I could get to a bike store on time. As it happened I got into Owensboro pretty late and decided that a motel was the only realistic option. It worked out well, because Owensboro was having a grand opening of its beautiful new riverfront park (still on the Ohio of course) and it was fun to be part of this celebration. I hung out a little with the crowd at the VFW which is right next to the park (bikers for the most part) for a while and generally enjoyed the party vibe. The less said about the motel, the better. 

Next day was Saturday and I headed out first thing for Brecks Bike Shop several blocks away. One of the mechanics there, Eric, understood my situation and he gave my wheel the necessary attention. In less than an hour, having dropped only one hundred dollars, I was back on the road with a new rear wheel that is twice as strong as the original. Eric tested my chain and thought it was worn beyond what is acceptable but pointed out that sometimes replacing a chain that is very worn leaves you with shifting and skipping problems worse than before because the sprockets themselves have been worn by the worn chain. I decided to take the matter under advisement since my shifting and skipping problems were not severe.