Today's Miles = 49.8
Average Speed = 9.0 mph
Maximum Speed = 33.6 mph
Total Miles = 899.1

It was hard to leave the Lane household in the morning as there was always just one more thing to talk about. Eventually I did get my wheels back on the road and I rode into Harrodsburg for lunch and to look around.

Harrodsburg, founded in 1774, is the oldest continuously occupied white settlement west of the Alleghenies. The town boasts of a recreation of the original fort built by the early settlers, and I spent a good piece of my afternoon there. Like many monuments I've seen that were built before the middle 1950's, it didn't seem like there was much effort to represent the point of view of the native tribes that were displaced by settlers, but I can't blame people for trying to honor the memory of their forbearers who struggled to carve out a new country. I was stuck here, as I had been at the Jamestown fort, by how impregnable a simple log fort was when resisting the technology available to the Native Americans. A small number of men properly fortified with food, water, and gunpowder, could hold out for long amounts of time against much larger numbers of opposers.

It was late in the afternoon when I finally left Harrodsburg and I had left myself in an awkward position without many lodging choices reachable in what was left of the day. I rode to Springfield where there were two motels available, but the first was too expensive and the second never answered the phone. There was a public park in town where camping was allowed, but it didn't seem like too appealing of a place to stay.

With daylight rapidly running out on me I hurried on to the Lincoln Homestead State Park. I made it there just after the sun had set but before dusk had faded. Pitching my tent quickly I had a dinnertime snack of crackers and cheese, then crawled into my sleeping bag for the night.