Since I last blogged regarding the route at 140 miles…I have now completed 300 miles on my 700 mile trip. Below is a description of my actual ride, and of my “virtual” ride.

Actual Ride: My ride about the beautiful streets of The Villages continues. Unfortunately I had two accidents recently while attempting to learn to use pedals with clips. For anyone who has ever tried them, you remember that you have to snap your shoes onto them. The problem is that to get your foot disconnected from the pedal you have to move your heel outward and simultaneously lift your foot. This is no problem when you stop the bike slowly and deliberately. But on two occasions lately when I had to make a sudden stop, I simply couldn’t extricate either of my shoes from the pedals, and went right over on to the ground. The first time I fell in the grass, and there were no injuries. The second time I fell on a concrete section of the golf cart/bicycle path…and got some bad scrapes on my left knee and left elbow (see photo). My wife then pulled rank on me and made me to go back to the old pedals…which I did. They are not as efficient in pedaling, but I think they are much safer in the long run.

Virtual Ride: I have now completed 300 miles of my trip from the office of the Foundation in Rosemont, IL to the site of this year’s AAPMR convention in Atlanta, GA. When I last blogged about the trip I was in Clinton, IN. I again headed south on Route 41 (which runs all the way to Atlanta). I went through Vincennes and then on to Evansville. Before leaving the state of Indiana I reflected on the old adage that every little town in Indiana has a gas station and a university…it is probably true. After entering Kentucky I went through innumerable small towns and then through Hopkinsville. I finally made it to Springfield, TN.

Vincennes, IN is a very interesting place for its size (only 18,000 people). It produced William Henry Harrison, Red Skelton and a couple dozen other notables. There is a park honoring George Rogers Clark. The town seems dominated by Vincennes University, the first college in Indiana, founded in 1801. Since Vincennes is one of the oldest towns in Indiana, it has the oldest library, post office, etc. in Indiana.

Evansville, IN is a classic river town on the Ohio River. It is the third largest town in Indiana and has 117,000 citizens. It boasts the corporate headquarters for Mead Johnson Pharmaceuticals. Its major university is University of Evansville, whose teams are known as the Evansville Purple Aces. I mentioned in my last blog the regional medical schools that are scattered throughout Indiana and which offer the first two years of medical school. One of those is in Evansville, and when I was chair of the PM&R department at IU in Indianapolis, I occasionally drove down to Evansville to give lectures to those students. Evansville is a very nice place, and surprisingly for its size has a zoo, symphony, museum and even a children’s museum. 

I could talk forever about the Commonwealth of Kentucky, since I am a Kentucky Colonel (there is a long story as to why I am a Kentucky Colonel). My father was born in a coal mining town in Kentucky. It is a state where the fastest horses in the world are bred on pristine bluegrass farms. Kentucky has amazing wealth, but also has astounding poverty…all mixed together. Basketball, Baptists, and Bourbon seem to dominate the state. I was recruited about 30 years ago to be the chair of a Kentucky PM&R program. I was interviewed by the board members of their major rehab center. One of them owned a brewery, and one owned a tobacco warehouse. Another (I think) owned part of a race track. I told them they might be looking for the wrong guy because I didn’t smoke, drink or gamble. The chair of the group laughed and said that I was perfect…because they wanted me to run the program while they did those things.

Hopkinsville, Kentucky is worth a visit. The 31,577 inhabitants couldn’t be more welcoming. They might be the buckle on the Bible belt. The county they area in is even called “Christian County.” Hopkinsville has a fabled history. It changed hands a half dozen times in the Civil War, and its people were divided about which side they were on. Jefferson Davis, the president of the Confederate States of America was born just outside the city.

I crossed the border into Tennessee just after leaving Guthrie, Kentucky. Guthrie only has 1500 people, so you can’t blink when you ride through it or you’ll miss it. But, it is a “hotbed” of motels for tourists who come to experience the great Kentucky outdoors…Captain Kirk from Priceline will even help you get a good deal on a motel in Guthrie!

I finally made it to Springfield, TN…still on Route 41. I spent a night there. Believe it or not, this town claims to be the Springfield that is the real home of Homer Simpson of TV fame. If you want to see a hilarious video produced by their Chamber of Commerce about their claim, go to http://www.springfield-tn.org/ and click on the video.