Day 75: Birdsville, KY

We are once again cycling our way south toward Baton Rouge, LA.   There is a free ferry across the Ohio River at Cave-in-Rock, IL, so that's how we got to Kentucky this morning after our drive south from Carmi.  It's not a ferry in the sense that I'm familiar with - it's basically a barge moved by a tugboat that is attached to the side.  It's pretty ingenious how they pivot the tugboat to face the opposite direction after they've offloaded vehicles and are preparing for the return trip across.

The tug as it pivots in order to push the ferry-barge in the opposite direction.

The upriver view of the Ohio River from the ferry.

It felt good to be back in the saddle again.  Five days of rest and three pieces of pecan pie were starting to manifest themselves in undesirable ways.  But I think my metabolism will be back in high gear soon enough.

It was clear as we were crossing the river that there is less elevation on the south shore of the Ohio than on the north side.  So while there were plenty of rollers, most weren't steep and none were long enough to have been memorable.  If that stays that way for most of the riding across Kentucky and Tennessee, then it should be pleasant riding (provided the weather continues to cooperate).

Due to spacing of campgrounds (our options were to ride around 30 miles or more than 60) it was a short day for us.  We're camping for the night in Birdsville, KY at Birdsville RV and Campground ($17, power, water and showers), situated on the south shore of the Ohio River.  The sites are spaced reasonably far apart for a private campground, and their are plenty of vacant sites (I think the end of the season is closing in and it will be shut down in a couple of weeks).

There's a dredge working just downstream from us, working to maintain the depth (probably 9 feet) of the main shipping channel.  I'd take a picture, but with our 4X optical zoom it comes out as a blurry little blob.

End of the ride at Birdsville, KY