August 18- Boonville to Chavies, KY

We started in steady rain from Linda's B&B. The hills were getting longer and steeper, but we couldn't make the usual good time on the downhills because of the wet roads. It was too warm for me to wear a rain jacket, and Sandy soon took hers off, too.

Our plan was to ride 65 miles to Hindman, and at the halfway point we stopped for lunch at a convenience store/ deli in the little town of Chavies. We were soaking wet from the rain and sweat, pretty tired from the morning's hard hills, and cold in the store's air conditioning. After lunch, while Sandy was in the ladies' room, I was in a conversation with a local man who was interested in the history of the Transamerica Bike Trail, which has gone through Chavies since its inception in the Bicentennial year. Given our discomfort from the morning's ride, I asked, "I don't suppose there is somewhere here we could be put up for the night?" He thought a moment and said he'd make some phone calls. By the time Sandy came out, he had already decided our best bet was the local church, and he was heading to his car to go see the pastor. Sandy was surprised at the turn of events, and not all that anxious to stop when he came back with the news that we were welcome at the church, which had cots, but his offer to get warm showers at his house won her heart. So we headed a few doors down to the home of our new helpful friend, John Goss, and met his Yorkshire terrier which was totally blind from a canine form of glaucoma.

We were soon installed in the basement of the Church of God's older of two buildings. There was no TV or wifi; there was a comfortable sofa, however, and we soon conked out for a long nap. Still, it was a long and lazy afternoon. Sandy was running out of her current Kindle book, and without a wifi or ATT connection, I couldn't update the blog (I'm writing two days later). In short, our brains rotted. After dinner, back at the convenience store, it was an early bedtime.

We had called the day before to the hostel in Hindman and left a phone message that we would be there. We felt bad that we had no phone connection at Chavies to be able to let them know we wouldn't make it.

We never did find out how to pronounce Chavies.