The pike came to its end at
Greensburg,
another county town, 25 m. s.w.; and from that point the tourist must
resort to a “dirt road,” leading in a similar direction for a
similar distance, in order to reach the Mammoth Cave. Putting together the
rather meager testimony and decidedly contradictory beliefs of various
people of the hotel concerning this route, I decided that the first half
would supply quite as toilsome wheeling as the 20 m. just gone over, and
that the last half would be quite impassable except on foot. I, therefore,
turned my course directly away from the Cave, and rode northward 9 m. to
Springfield, thence northwestward 19 m. to Bardstown (both of these being
county seats), thence southward 15 m. to New Haven, where I arrived just
before 8 o’clock, having been a little less than 11 h. on the road. I
was now about 15 m. w. of Lebanon, whence I started in the morning, and was
no nearer the Cave than then; for my day’s course of 43 m. may be
roughly described as bounding three sides of a square. For the first h. out
of Lebanon my riding was continuous, over a good gravel pike, somewhat
hilly and winding; and then, at the end of the 5 ½ m., a few rods of
loose stone had to be walked over.
Another h. brought me to the court-house in
Springfield,
about 4 m.; whence I rode up a very long hill, and at the top of it had a
very long talk with “an Irish gentleman on horseback,”
returning from church. By this lime the heaviness produced by
yesterday’s rain had quite disappeared, and the gravel track grew
smoother as I advanced. I stopped 1 h. for dinner at the little hamlet of
Fredericktown,
9 ½ m. from Springfield, and about the same distance from Bardstown,
which I reached at 5 o’clock, after a ride of 2 ½ h. During
the first third of this time I rode without dismount, and covered 4
½ m., including 1 ½ m. of continuous up-hill work.
The delay of ½ h., caused by the sudden coming of a sharp
shower at
Bardstown,
was improved in tightening my steering-head; and then followed the best and
prettiest riding of the day, 15 m. of smooth gravel pike, much of it shaded
and all of it on an up-grade or down-grade. From a bridge, near some
kerosene barrels and machinery, where I stopped to drink, just before 7
o’clock, I rode without dismount for 1 h., 7 m., to the New Haven
House. Coasting might have been indulged in here continuously, for at least
1 m., though the occasional watercourses would have required care. The
hotel presented a sadly curious contrast to its better-known namesake in
Connecticut; for its chambers were uncarpeted, and its general aspect was
extremely dirty; but, as I finally managed to secure a washbowl and a
pitcher of water and some towels, and as my bed proved to be free from the
expected bugs, I was not disposed to repine. So cool was the weather that
during the forenoon of this day, as well as during the whole of the
previous one, I kept my jacket on; though that addition to my white-flannel
riding-shirt was discarded for the rest of the tour.