July 5th, Springfield, KY - Berea, KY
Day 40
Today’s ride seemed very relaxed as we are still adjusting to getting back into the swing of riding in our regular routine. I woke up this morning and my alarm clock read 645 am. I thought I had overslept my fellow riders but it turned out they were all sound asleep. We started our ride around 9 am and rode in honor of Katie Ferrell’s great grandfather. His story was very sad. He first discovered he had Alzheimer’s when he read the story of Ronald Reagan. He read of how he felt confused and didn’t know why and then showed it to his family and said, “I think I have this same problem.” So we rode in his honor and enjoyed another day in the best state in the USA, Kentucky.
We rode the first 16 miles into Perryville, Ky and had a great moment. Perryville is the home of Eddy Montgomery of the country band Montgomery Gentry. So in honor of Eddy and the great state of Kentucky we played the song “This is My Town” and all sang along. I am sure there have been 100 people that sang it before us, but we felt pretty original.
We rode another 12 miles into Danville, KY to eat some lunch at the Pizza Hut. Wade, Tyler, and I reminisced of our ride this past October as we rode the same road into Danville and ate lunch at the same Pizza Hut. We all put a major hurt on the pizza buffet and even took a little cat nap in the Pizza Hut. I don’t know if they appreciated us making ourselves at home in their restaurant but we enjoyed it none the less.
We rode the final 32 miles into Berea and started to feel the groove again of riding at a strong pace. Fraternity brother and good friend, Ben Harper, met us about 10 miles outside of Berea to use his Toyota Prius as our chase vehicle. We rode into the local park, right next to Berea College to be welcomed by a small group of friends. JB Goll, Jessie Hitt, and Melany Musick came from Fiji IHQ to welcome us. JB had the horns that they use in South Africa for the Fifa World Cup and sounded in our arrival as we rolled in. A fellow hilltopper, Mark, also met us to take pictures and congratulate us on our progress. Barb from the local Alzheimer’s Association chapter also met us to encourage us and grab a few photos. We had a nice time hanging under the gazeebo and catching up with our friends.
We then drove to our place for the night. Fraternity brother’s, Malcolm Lunceford, parents have let us stay in their house for the night and were very welcoming. They had a sign in their front yard and fixed us a wonderful dinner. We also had some visitors including Luke Gilliam (best bro ever) and Katie Hindman. Sara Puckett, fellow Hilltopper and my neighbor for the last year, also came by and brought some Ale8 from her hometown of Winchester.
We had a great day and ask for thoughts and prayers as tomorrow we will begin to traverse the Appalachian mountains.
In His Adventure,
Chaz Vittitow
