Day 13: Leaving Virginia and Loving Kentucky: Cumberland Gap National Park, VA to Corbin, KY

Just before rolling into the campground last night I saw a warning sign for the Cumberland Gap tunnel. ‘Huh’ me thoughts, ‘I didn’t realize I had to go through a tunnel’. A few hours after that thought sunk in I figured I might want to see if I’m allowed to ride my bike through it. Nope. Google search revealed that the old road over the mountain was abandoned after the tunnel was completed, so I couldn’t go over the gap either. The path around would add about 70 miles and 4-5 thousand feet of vertical climb. Mild to moderate panic started to set in. I walked around the campsite asking various folks with pickup trucks if I could get a ride through the tunnel in the morning. I got plenty of sympathy, but no offers to help. As a last ditch effort I called the tunnel control booth, which surprisingly had its phone number published. They said, no problem, just roll into the HazMat lane and they’d take me through in a pickup truck. So much for my no cars plan. This would have bothered me before the trip started, but a certain pragmatism has set in at this point, so I didn’t sweat it. What did bother me was the idea of my bike somehow getting damaged… and I hadn’t even named her yet. To remedy that situation, I present Persephone.

About halfway through my ride, I came to a junction where I switched to an alternate route directly to the Northwest to get out of the mountains. It sets me up much better for the next few days. Originally I was avoiding this ‘Northwest passage’ since it was primarily along a US highway. But, traffic was incredibly light. So, I went for it. Easy Peasy. So far, Kentucky has been beautiful, and the art very avant garde: