Day 16: Lincoln Homestead State Park, KY - Danville, KY (24/150)

Today was a crazy day, which I decided to call "groundhog day". Those paying attention might also note that the map counter in the title has moved backwards, here is why: After setting out quite early today, a groundhog (see picture below) decided to run into my rear derailleur. Yes that's right, read that again... a f*ckin groundhog ran INTO my rear derailleur! It happened during a descend of a small hill and happened so fast that I barely had time to react. Anyhow... the hanger which attaches the derailleur to the frame was bent and torn and hence there was no way I could continue by bike. So I hitchhiked via a passing tire service truck with my bike back to Danville to the bike store where I stopped yesterday. As the bike shop only opened at 10am, I had some time to first grab a morning coffee with cheesecake at the local coffee house.

The guys at the bike store were surprised to see me again and pretty amazed by the story of the groundhog. After having a look at the derailleur, Ernst told me that I needed a replacement hanger, but that the derailleur itself is probably fine. The hanger is frame specific and hence not in stock so had to be ordered from somewhere, just to be safe Ernst ordered a spare one as well (in case of further groundhog attacks). They will be sending it overnight, hence it should be there tomorrow morning, so I can continue again. I planned to call Dany and Paige to check if I could stay one more night with them, but instead Ernst offered me to stay at his place for the night (in Danville and hence more conveniently located). I first went into town to have some awesome hotdogs at the local hot dog joint and do some blog updating at the library, after which Ernst was so kind to drive me in his convertible (first time ever in a convertible for me) to his place.

At Ernst's place I could sit in the shade on a little patio and have some nice time reading. Somewhat later Ernst's wife Cathy arrived and we had a glass of wine on the patio and talked about things like Holland, Kentucky, traveling , cycling and what not. Later we had some gourmet dinner together with their daughter and Cathy's mom including baked salmon, red beet salad, corn off the cob and some key lime pie to finish off. Dinner was absolutely delicious and a good change from the typical pasta with red sauce that I'm having most days :) After dinner we watched an episode of Sherlock Holmes (which I'm definitely gonna watch when I'm back home!). It really was a perfect relaxing day, but hopefully my bike can be fixed tomorrow morning, so I can start making up for the lost time...