July 31st ride- KY10/22 with pictures

There was a nip in the air as I set out at approximately 8:00am toward Kentucky. My plan was to ride on KY10 for about 20 miles, take some pictures and turn around before it got too hot. Instead, I ended up riding the entire July 3rd route.

(Click on the thumbnails for a high resolution version of the pictures)

This first picture is very similar to pictures in previous posts, a meandering road under a canopy of green leaves. The temperature was several degrees cooler when passing through this spot.

A few minutes later, I stopped again clicked these pictures. The scenery all along KY10 is pretty much like this- gentle hills, valleys and farms.

I had stopped here to take a picture of the "twisties" sign board when I spotted a barn in the distance. I was hoping to see some horses there.

At the barn, I didn't find horses, but I saw a very disinterested cow and a grumpy old bull. When I pulled over to take a picture, he quickly stood up, expressed his displeasure with a loud snort, and turned away. And the cow, she didn't even glance my way once. (I've expressed this very sentiment several times in my life, usually when I'm in a bar! )

A couple of miles down the road I spotted more cows grazing and took some more pictures. By then the sun was high up in the sky and the pictures came out highly overexposed. I've tried to fix them with some post processing but this is as good as I can get them to look.

As I continued riding on KY10, I had an interesting adventure: an encounter with a dog! I had taken a narrow by-road hoping to find some horses when I passed a trailer-home. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a very annoyed dog running full tilt toward me, barking at the top of his lungs. I was quite far away from him, so I didn't worry about it. A couple of hundred yards down, the road dead ended and I realized I'd have to turn around and go back the same way. And this time the dog would be waiting for me! I desperately searched my mind for the protocol to be followed when on a motorcycle and approached by a rabid dog: "Downshift, approach the animal slowly. As it nears the motorcycle, open the throttle and accelerate away. This will startle it and throw its timing off." And it worked! As I sped away, I glanced at the rear view mirror and though I saw a bewildered expression on his face. "......and stay away..." he barked.

As I neared Falmouth, KY I saw three horses trotting about in a farm. I stopped to take some pictures. When they saw me, the horses came over to the fence to investigate. I guess they were hoping for a handful of sugar or some carrots. As I was getting my camera out, I kept talking to them, so that they wouldn't lose interest and gallop away.

I didn't stop again for pictures and just focused on enjoying the rest of the ride on KY22. Overall, I'm quite pleased with the pictures, although all of them were severely overexposed. I need to get an SLR.