Distance today = 50.49 km; Total distance = 11,448.45 km; Location = Princess – 38 22.800′ N, 82 42.944′ W; Start time = 0831, Finish time = 1613

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/221659977

Another cool morning – man, I love it when the temperature is down. I was on Highway 60 for most of the day but, unlike yesterday, it was much kinder to me today – less traffic and better shoulders. It was, otherwise, an uneventful day. I will reach West Virginia tomorrow.

I forgot to mention, a week or so ago, I passed an enormous factory in the town of Campbellsville, Kentucky. It was bigger than ten football fields and three of four stories high – one gigantic rectangular prism. There were hundreds of trucks coming and going. It turned out to be Amazon.com’s distribution centre. I can’t even imagine how many books were inside.

Distance today = 51.77 km; Total distance = 11,500.22 km; Location = Barboursville – 38 25.489′ N, 82 15.806′ W; Start time = 0819, Finish time = 1640

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/222025101

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really enjoying the mornings now. When I start running, the temperature is around 15C – perfect. It still gets warm later in the day – today’s high was 32C – but the humidity has been low, so I’ve been very comfortable all day long.

My first 14 km was through a beautiful, quiet, and hilly region. It was ideal for running. However, these remote areas tend to have lots of dogs, many of which are quite aggressive. Today two Rottweilers raced toward me. I usually don’t concern myself too much with dogs that look like they’re about to attack, as they almost always stop before they reach me. Rottweilers make me a little more nervous, though. However, these two must have been trained as guard dogs, because they stopped, one either side of the driveway at the edge of the property’s boundary, and stood there barking. They did not want to venture further than their stipulated turf. I relaxed at that point.

I soon crossed over into West Virginia, and was thinking of then crossing the Ohio River and running a few miles in the state of Ohio. But the bridge did not allow for pedestrians. As it turned out, the bridge further up stream, where I would have crossed back over, had a pedestrian facility, but I couldn’t cross the same bridge twice – that would amount to back-tracking. So I settled for running for a while along the levee on the banks of the Ohio – wasn’t there a song about that?

Near the end of the day I was following Google Maps, when I came to a “bridge”. The maps showed it existed, but there was only a gaping chasm. I really didn’t want to go back several kilometres, so I clambered down the bank, took off my shoes, and waded across a ford in the stream. Luckily it was shallow enough. I can foresee that one day there will be a river too wide and deep for me to solve this sort of problem so opportunistically.

We are now in the 19th state of the run so far. I’m not exactly sure yet which I’ll choose as the 20th.

Distance today = 52.58 km; Total distance = 11,552.80 km; Location = Dunbar – 38 21.519′ N, 81.44.333′ W; Start time = 0814, Finish time = 1623

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/222343256

For some reason, I had a bad night’s sleep, and woke feeling tired. But it wasn’t too bad a day in the end. I reached the milestone of 6,000 miles run in the US.

Half way through the day, Carmel pulled over ahead of me, waiting to give me a drink. She had stopped among workers who were picking up rubbish on the side of the road, and hopped out to take photos. It turned out she had plonked herself right in the middle of a group of female prisoners from a maximum security jail. The women were on inmate road patrol. The female guard in the van behind was checking Carmel out keenly. I’m sure she thought Carmel was trying to “spring” one of the prisoners. She probably had her gun at the ready, in case.

Later, I noted a historic marker indicating an archaeological site where pre-historic locals had lived around 10,000 BC – right on that spot. I have also been enjoying all the Civil War historic markers. There have been hundreds in recent weeks, pointing out a battle that occurred here, a battalion that had camped there, a general had held a meeting in this place, or an army had eaten breakfast in that place. Knowing these things took place on the ground on which I’m standing is quite surreal.