Post Ride day 28

Current City: Paducah, KY

Yesterday was our most "productive" day if you want to say it like that. We came out of the stalls hammering and made it through 2 states! To be honest though our stint in Illinois was only about 35 miles...but we hammered it out! As many of you have also heard we had a police escort into the state of Kentucky, I guess our story is getting out there!....Here's how it went.

We had just finished lunch and we heading to the bridge to crossover the Ohio River into the state of Kentucky. There aren't many bridges that crossover so the traffic can be bad at times. We get to the Illinois side of the bridge and notice there are no shoulders or bike lanes to ride on. The bridge is very narrow with just enough room to drive on. Tony says that he doesn't like bridges so he goes ahead of us and makes it across. It's really hard to tell where we are at how long this bridge is and what's on the other side. After Tony goes, Dave and I start going with Dave bringing up the rear. We go about 1/4 of a mile and we go over some expansion gaps in the bridge and my tire blows out. We stop on the bridge and decide to keep going rather than go back. We decided to keep going because all the tools and equipment are in the truck and the truck is in Kentucky, we are on a bridge. We start walking...and walking...and walking. The bridge turns out to be a lot longer than we expected. Then the traffic picks up on the bridge. 18 wheelers are coming down every 15 seconds it seems like. Dave starts waving his hands in the middle of the road as the truckers are coming to get their attention. After he gets their attention we both grab onto the steel support beams and hold on for dear life until they pass by...imagine doing this for about 1 1/2. As we make it to the end of the bridge the guard rail continues so it's no help what so ever. Finally a cop comes from the opposite direction and asks how we were and we told him we have a flat, no tools, no spare and there's no where to get off the side. He politely says for us to try and get off as quick as we can...will do. We notice he turns around at the other end of the bridge and when he gets to us he turns on his lights. Remember we are walking our bikes down this busy bridge with our riding shoes on ( riding shoes are like a reverse 2 in heel, you can't walk fast). So as we entered into Kentucky we are pushing my bike with a police escort and about 20 cars/trucks lined up behind it. Praise the Lord for the cop because there was a hairpin turn as you come into Kentucky that would have been very interesting with no shoulders or bike lane. That my friends was our triumphal entry into the great state of Kentucky....wonder what it will be like going into Virginia?