"The Great Green River Ferry Day Adventure."

Somehow or another I came to find out that there are nine operating riverboat ferrys in the state of Kentucky.

Well ain't that cool? Already been over the Valley View, a few times in fact when I lived in Lexington. Goes across the KY River, Richmond Road from Lexington to Richmond or vice versa. Did it in my old Suzuki Sidekick lol. Top down of course :-). Anyway, that's ones done, but if the goal is to do them on all on the bike them were gonna have to go back, no biggie, figure that out later. Side note: The Valley View Ferry is the oldest continuously operating business in the state of Kentucky. A ferry has been in that location operating since the time when Kentucky was still a part of Virginia. Obviously not the same ferry but a ferry. Okay back to the map. Lets sort this thing out to have done all of these by bike.

Well, lets look at the ones farthest away and start there. Dorena-Hickman crosses the Mississippi from Missouri to KY. The only way to go directly from Kentucky to Missouri or vice versa. Did it last year already. :-).

Check. Moving on. Which ones are the next farthest away? Well shit lol. Northern KY. (Anderson and Augusta) Damn. That's gonna be a haul. That one of those up at the ass crack of dawn summer days and get in as much daylight as possible and go all day affairs. Surely there's someway to do them both on the same run? Probably. Nothing happening with this anytime soon, don't worry about it. Maybe even just go to Richmond and redo the Valley View ferry on the bike and then go on to Lexington and leave out the next am for the two in Northern Kentucky? Who knows. Figure it out later.

Whats next? Well Cave in Rock is a good days drive. Be neat to see the park. Maybe even go over to Garden of the Gods? Go down to Paducha? Who knows. Keep that one in mind. Whats next farthest away? Looks like Turkey Neck Bend and it looks like it's close to Lake Cumberland? Jamestown doesn't look that far away. Maybe drop by and see John and Freida? Someday soon probably with these two ferrys I'm thinking.

What else we got up here? Well I already done the Green River Ferry In Mammoth Cave a few weeks ago :-). Check, Moving on. Houchins is closed. Been there twice. This time the actual ferry was gone. Website needs updating.

Which brings us to the last two left, both fairly close to home, one is just the other side of Beaver Damn (Rochester) and nobody around here has ever even heard of it. Kinda weird but whatever, we'll figure it out. Looks like there is one real close by as well over in Edmundson county (Reeds). This is looking like a 150 mile or so round trip and knock out two of these? Deal. Where do I sign up? I couldn't get the map to display it but there was a way to get across the Reeds Ferry and then back to Beaver Dam and on to Fordsville and back the way I had come. So that's the plan, Knock out two of them, that's the goal, (Keep that in mind lol) And...were off.

It was a cool lil ride south of Beaver Dam to the Rochester Ferry. Rode past several access roads to the Peabody Wildlife Management Area.

I could see the TVA Paradise Coal fired Power Plant the next county over, Muhlenberg, Drakesboro I believe. 

(Not my picture :-()

Keep in mind I'm headed to cross the Green River by ferry twice today. So, yeah, this was playing through my mind, especially after I saw the Paradise facility and the Peabody Wildlife Management Area. Song even mentions the Rochester Dam. I didn't see it but I did go through Rochester and I did cross the Rochester Ferry across the Green River. 

Pretty sure, I would have to check, but I believe my Grandfather worked building the Paradise Power Plant. He was a boilermaker, based out of Louisville, seems like he would have. He worked building other power plants in the region. I remember we went somewhere he was working when I was very small and we climbed into the cab of a shovel and it was ginormous. I mean it had a refrigerator in it. just blew my mind as a small kid. Like I said I'll have to check with some relatives, but if my grandfather did work at Paradise? That shovel John is singing about was the one I climbed inside.

Rochester Ferry Crossing.

The Ferry Captain was really nice. Told me what road to take (Provo Road) so that I didn't have to double back to make it over to the Reeds Ferry. "Take Provo Road" he says, "You'll like it, it's pretty country with hills and curves, you'll come out just this side of Morgantown on 79. Take a left at the Hardees in Morgantown and it will take you right to Reeds Ferry". Awesome. We're off.

Welcome to the "Things don't always go as planned" segment of the story lol. I made it to Reeds Ferry. I crossed the Green River on it lol. I rode back home. But on the way to Reeds Ferry? With no warning signs or MPH markers? Got caught up in a wide sweeping left turn. The thing just went on and on forever. Drifted a lil to the right. I always stay in the center of the road when no one is coming on the other side so I can have the whole road to maneuver in if I need to. Anyway, pulled back to center. Still in this damn thing. I'm on a strange, curvy country road I don't know, 75-80 miles from home. I'm doing 35-40 tops. Drift to the right again. No biggie. Pull it back to center. The next time I drifted to the right? By the time we tried to pull her back? By the time someone could say "Oh shit!" I had it down to 15 mph but I was picking myself off the blacktop as the long sweeping curve suddenly had got sharp. I was on that front brake hard and as I went into the grass? That was all she wrote. "Fuck!, where's the bike? Relax, your in shock, not near as bad as the last time that's obvious, few scrapes and bruises, you'll be alright." Go check the bike. Fuck. Turn signal broke, signal still works, that's good, the wire didn't snap, same with the rear running light that was a causality as well. Shifter is bent to hell. Camera? Ha! What camera? lol. It was shot. Pictures from this point were taken on the phone which was not damaged. After a few tries, we get the bike started up, go across the Reeds Ferry.

I'm heading home. I made it back to beaver Dam. Getting gas. "Fuck my ankle hurts." Lets just get home and get cleaned up. Hey, here's a thought, stop by Fawn and Jason's and get cleaned up. I know Fawn's gonna have hydrogen peroxide and cotton balls. Yeah, lets go do that. Cool. Rolling. Bikes riding good. Things are looking a lot better than they could have been believe me. Five miles from Fordsville, 12 miles or so from Fawns, I go to downshift and...I...feel...the shifter peg...slowly...give way lol. I look down and see the shifter peg on one side and the bolt on the other and both go bouncing, tinkling their lil merry way down the road lol. Of course the shifter beg breaks off I was thinking, Why wouldn't the shifter peg break off? I swear, I smiled from ear to ear, laughed a good belly laugh looked down at what I had to work with and thought downshifting won't be a problem and it wasn't, I could easily tap the shifter with the base of my boot. Coming up in the gears? Lol. That was a lil different story lol. I had to use the back of my heel to go from first to fifth and I'm about 30 miles from home on a curvy ass hilly country road. I think someone remembers something about "Deer thirty over here"? Yeah. That road. Nice. Fuck Fawn and Jason's now. This fucking thing is getting ridden home without stopping. What was once an accident has now been turned into a full blown adventure. Forget the ferrys lol, now the objective is to make it home thirty miles on hilly curvy country back roads with no shifter peg.

Well? We made it :-). I stopped by the Dollar Store on the way home and got some hydrogen peroxide and cotton balls lol. Didn't know how many I had at home and I didn't wanna have to come back. Went home, cleaned up. Went to Christians. Told him what happened. "I think you'll be alright." He says. "Me too". "Sucks about the bike, at least it's nothing to expensive." "I know right?" Went home. Sat on the porch. Do what I do. Got Fawns mom's number. She lives down the road from us. She is a nurse. Went to see her. She said I did alright but cleaned me up a lil bit more. By now my ankle was killing me. "RICE. Rest. Ice. Compress. Elevate." Gotcha Kim, cool thanks. "Ice packs, hip and ankle." Yes mam. "Four ibuprofen three times a day for a week. Morning noon and night." "A week?" A week." "K".

Anyway. Not the way one would like to end their riding season lol but things happen. No more cross country jaunts without full leathers. I don't care if its 95 degrees. Good. I'll sweat and loose some weight lol. I know how to stay hydrated (somebody else better be). Gotta stop and get gas every 80 miles or so anyway. Drink plenty of liquids, that's the plan these days.

Some people would say, "Well why didn't he write this a while back when it happened, he don't want people to know when he messes up etc." (I posted the pictures crossing both ferrys on a different forum) The truth is this. You're already doing something only three percent of the population does. Everybody thinks your showing off to begin with. So how much more are you showing off when you get back on your bike injured and ride 75 miles back home and have the shifter peg fall off the last thirty miles? To do a post explaining all that soon after it happens seems more like showing off to me. A "Look at me look what I did" kinda thing. I wasn't into it, I figured the story would work it's way out of me in due time, which it did. The people that needed to know soon, knew, after I knew everything was okay. The only thing really wounded was my feelings and ego and it's not like that won't never happen again lol. Pretty used to that state of affairs :-). It's like when somebody asked me soon after I first met her and we went for a walk and I was limping cause my knee was hurting and I said I was in an accident and she said "Oh really? What kind of accident?" and I said "I'd really rather not say, some day down the road I'll tell you but not now." Same exact thing if you ask me. If others don't think so? So be it, what can I do about it? It's the truth. Moving on.

Besides...

Chicks did scars they say :-).

...and that, in a nut shell, was "The Great Green River Ferry Day Adventure."