Rest Day in Paducah, KY (August 25th)

Paducah's bike shop had two of the trustworthy tires I started my ride on (Bontrager 650 x 25mm), so I scooped them up, and they'll hopefully make it to California. I now have three spare tires (!), but can really ride without worry. When Kathleen and I limped into Paducah Sunday evening, we weren't expecting much. We didn't see much, either, during our walk. However, we decided to take a rest day because of the threat of thunderstorms (though it ended up being sunny all day ...). Downtown Paducah is really charming. At the confluence of the Tennessee and Ohio Rivers AND with the Illinois-Central Line running through it, it was at the center of rail and river trade in the 1800s. William Clark (of Lewis and Clark fame) platted out the streets in the early 1800s, a grid that remains today. The city has an artist relocation program, which seems to really enliven its downtown. There's lots more fascinating Paducah history to be found on Wikipedia here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paducah,_ky We ate lunch and stopped in at a local pub for a bourbon. We met a Marshall County native who was a well-traveled Phish fan. Kathleen and I spent the afternoon talking with him and other regulars at the pub (one of whom was complaining of his gout - you know you're in a good spot when the bartender listens to gout stories). The still-robust building stock, shopping and obvious care Paducah-ans (?) put into their downtown development really won us over. I'd started the day annoyed at being at the gray weather's mercy, but finished it thankful for a fun day of exploration.