Day 12 – Bardstown, KY to Sonora, KY

I guess the one thing we’ve learned on this trip is that no matter how much you plan things out, sometimes the universe has different ideas for you.  Last night we were all hoping to get to bed early. JP and I could leave right from the hotel and we figured we could be on the road by 7am. It was raining pretty good when we settled in for the night but we didn’t think much of it. Well, about the time I was nodding off (10:30), all the iPhones went nuts with a weather emergency. This wasn’t a simple severe thunderstorm… nope, it was a proper tornado warning. There was circulation spotted on radar in the storm and it was just a few miles away. On the map below, we were in Bardstown, the red rectangle is where the tornado was.

Anyhoo, the power in the hotel went out a few minutes later and we heard the tornado sirens roaring. So grabbed all the expensive stuff and put it in the bathroom and then took everyone to the fire stairs. There were only a few other families in the stairwell… most were in the 1st floor hall. After about 15 minutes, the storm wound down a bit and the area of concern for Bardstown had drifted southeast. So we went back to our rooms to get some sleep.

Or so we thought. I realized that we had left the vent in the top of the MCC open. It’s in theory storm proof (it’s got a big hood on it to prevent rain from getting in) but I was concerned that 50mph winds might have been more than the vent could handle. So I went outside in the remains of the storm (mostly lightening and heavy rain) to check things out. Sure enough, water had come in the MCC. Worse, it hadn’t really run straight down the vent… rather it went down the walls and had soaked the control panel will all the light and step controls. One of the lights was stuck “on” even when the switch was set to off.

Safe to say I was a bit stressed about damage to the MCC. It’s our lifeline on the road and it’s not the cheapest vehicle in the world. So I flipped the battery disconnect to remove power from the cabin electronics like the lights, fridge, TV, computers, etc. I then turned on the MCC and ran the air conditioner at full throttle for about an hour to dry things out. Really it wasn’t too bad. Nature put on a good light show and I kicked back in one of the rear seats and practiced the banjo we bought a few days ago.

After an hour the switch panel was basically back to normal and I decided to get some Z’s.

I should note that Heidi was stressed that we hadn’t put yesterdays post up after we lost power. She was able to get it edited and posted from our iPad in the middle of the storm. That’s some dedication 🙂

So, thinking that was the craziness for the week, JP and I hit the road in the morning. We left about an hour late b/c I needed to sleep in after my late night AC/banjo bender. It was humid as all get out, but overcast so it was pleasant riding weather. About 15 miles in to the ride we started to see some serious storm damage. Lots of downed trees, sounds of chainsaws, and power trucks roaming around.

We got to a rail crossing and found a stopped train and a line of cars waiting for it to move. About the same time, Heidi and the boys caught up to us in the MCC. After about 10 minutes, the train finally got itself going and out of the way of the intersection. Heidi took the MCC ahead to the first rally point of the day. A few minutes later, she called to say that the road was closed ahead. So JP and I decided to SAG around the closure and pick up on the other side. We all piled in to the MCC and started to work our way around on a detour.

JP goes to call Art, and at the same time Art calls Heidi. Odd. Turns out, Art had his own mechanical today:

[From JP]: The Mercedes-Benz (MB) E350 Wagon was down and out when Art came out of the hotel this morning. Front end sitting way to low to the ground and ratteling when driving. After a tow to Lexington where we saw a crazy castle on the way – we entered the dealership. Art has MB roadside assistance and they towed the car 80 miles for free to the dealership. Dealership is sending a replacement strut overnight w/ a promise that it will be good to go between 10am-1pm next day (Friday). Brilliant! [/JP]

So Heidi drove us to Art, JP jumped out of the MCC and went with Art and the wrecker to go to Lexington.

Heidi dropped me back off on the route and continued on. She stopped at Lincoln’s birthplace with the boys. I made pretty good time on that leg and was able to meet up with them at the monument for a bit.  It was warm and humid by that point of the day, and I think that kept most folks from walking up the stairs to the actual cabin. I was able to snap a number of photos of the whole monument with just the boys in front of it. Dax doesn’t tend to cooperate with picture taking.

After my stop there, I rode to the end of the route. Definitely a hot ride at the end, but the landscape is getting increasingly flat so the heat isn’t too bad. Also, I passed a horse drawn buggy, so it’s nice to know I’m faster than the Amish.

After a shower, we went and bummed around Cave City KY. Even though it seemed a little kitschy, we hit Dinosaur World… basically a big park with replica dinosaurs  all over the place. I was prepared for a bucket of lame, but it was actually impressive. There were a LOT of dinosaurs there and they were all well done. And unlike a number of other roadside attractions, these were very well maintained. Plus I got to put my head inside of a dinosaur mouth. Dax was a bit freaked by it at times, but must have walked over a mile looking at it all.

And just so you know, we survived the dino attack below.

Tomorrow is our official rest day. Time to work on bikes, clean the MCC, and enjoy the caves a bit. Sleepy time.