55. Danville, Kentucky

Day 55:  Saturday, August 15, 1981
Hodgenville to Danville:  75 miles

We cycled up to Bardstown, site of My Old Kentucky Home, which Stephen Foster wrote about.  Both Jack and I had been there before, so we didn't spend too much time looking around.  After lunch at McDonald's, we headed east.  Choo Choo, who slept in, was behind us, and we found later that she stayed in Bardstown for the night.  Kentucky towns are big on outdoor historical dramas.  One man who was a tourist told us not to miss The Stephen Foster Story at Bardstown:  he had seen it five times.  But we didn't want to spend the rest of the day there, so we skipped it.  Choo Choo saw it, and said that it wasn't so hot.  I don't think she has conventional touristy tastes.

Looks like horse country to me.  We're not far from Lexington.

Tobacco drying in a barn

Tobacco plants in bloom

The Bikecentennial route goes up to Harrodsburg, but we headed for Danville, because it had a campground and was closer.  As it was, the sun had set by the time we pulled into town.

The campground was at a summer stock dinner theater called Pioneer Playhouse.  The evening's performance had just begun.  The camping fee was $3, but it turned out to be a bargain.  We talked to the women in the box office, and as we were setting up camp, one of them came over with two of the dinners that they served their patrons.  So we ate well tonight!  Delicious barbecued chicken, plus our own hamburgers, plus tossed salad and garlic bread.  Not bad for two starving bikers after a 75-mile day!