A Monologue with the Æther

I’ve been in the Appalachian Mountains since the climb from Stuart, VA. I get up and leave Whitesburg, Ky. Traffic is light early and through out the day. The highway I’m using is not heavily travelled. I spend the day climbing up and coasting down. It is difficult to make much westward progress loaded as I am. At some point during the day, as I’m climbing up hill, I am reminded that I’m in coal country. I fail to exit onto the gravel shoulder quickly enough for the coal trucker that is coming up the grade behind me. As the truck passes, the driver releases disel soot from his stack. I ride for a while in the hanging cloud of disel. In the late afternoon, I see a sign for camping near a place called Gay’s Creek, KY. I drop down off the highway and find the campground. It’s nice and if I remember correctly it was a family owned campground with facilities. It’s alongside a stream. I meet a couple close to my age. They are also touring by bicycle, but they are following one of the old Bikecentennial routes. I sleep.