Liberty, KY to Mammoth Cave, KY — 88.8 mi, 5427 ft
Some of you may have heard about my recent sprained ankle. Today was the day I began to pretend like it no longer existed. Yes, reader, you read that correctly. Only two days after I sprained my ankle and a day after visiting an urgent care, I have decided that my ankle is NOT sprained and therefore will not be treating it as such.
My hubris, however, is not completely unlimited, so I did begrudgingly convince myself to drive one of our two cars (I took our usual minivan and left the obnoxiously ginormous 5.8 L V8 GMC Sierra to Drew) and let my ankle rest at least ONE more day.
Part of this probably awful mindset could be explained by a recent conversation with my brother, Daniel, who accurately said, “bro, you better get back on the bike soon or else you’re a FRAUD,” followed by my deep conversation with Caroline asking if we were frauds. Short answer: maybe, but all of us are kind of frauds since we have to drive every 6 days anyway, so an extra few days in the car really can’t matter that much.
When we began the morning, I knew that if I was gonna be stuck in the car, I HAD to make the most of the day and was gonna sidequest max. Fitting with the vibe of the day, I also want my blog to be extra whimsical, so I will be adding in haikus for every major portion of the day. If you feel particularly moved, I would be happy to accept nominations for the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize. 😆
On the note of sidequest maxing, I also really wanted to feel useful despite my injury, so I decided to cook breakfast for the team with the farm-fresh eggs that Pastor Roger Allen had given us. My scrambled egg endeavour was going well until I remembered that at home, my family always adds milk to our omelets and scrambled eggs. Of course, the fridge did not support this idea at all, but I was undeterred, as the pantry had dried milk!!! Note: I have never used dried milk before. Second note: I will never use dried milk again.
Unbeknownst to the team, I poured the dry milk powder into the eggs and watched my 12 eggs of hard work go to waste, with ALL of the dry milk sticking together in huge clumps that refused to mix into the egg mix. Alas, I decided that I couldn’t go down this easily and spent the next 15 minutes fishing the dry milk powder out of the egg mix. Nate definitely walked by me a couple of times while I was doing this, so I am really not sure if he actually didn’t see or just decided to spare my ego, but regardless, team, don’t even worry; all of the powder was successfully removed, and a slightly rubbery but cooked plate of scrambled eggs was made!
Haiku #1:
I tried to cook eggs
Dry milk does not mix with eggs
Eggs are served anyway
After packing up our team’s sprawling possessions from Pastor Allen’s fellowship hall, the team finally rolled out, with Caroline and I whipping the minivan and Drew following us in the 5.8 L V8 GMC Sierra. Since Drew was on a voice call with us, we quickly realized that Drew couldn’t listen to his music, so I selflessly offered to be his radio. My terrible singing turned into the worst rendition of Adele’s “Hello” that you have literally heard in your entire life. Let me set the scene.
I cannot sing to save my life. Caroline and Drew can maybe actually sing, but Drew has a half-second delay due to the call between cars. Our car sounds something like this:
“SO HeLlO – SO hELlo – FrOm ThE OThERsIDe – OtHeRsIDeEeEE”
Actually, I’ll just let you experience it yourself.
Haiku #2:
Tatiana “sings”
Caroline has burst eardrums
Adele says “Goodbye”
When we reached our first rest stop, we were greeted by a very nice doggy who actually looked just like Max (the dog that bit Caroline), as well as a BEAUTIFUL playground with lots of sports equipment, swings, a basketball court, and a volleyball net. Obviously, we had to pet the dog (successful), climb on the playset (successful), swing on the swings (successful), and teach Caroline how to throw a football (unfortunately unsuccessful).
Haiku #3:
Max has now returned
Throwing a football is hard
We get to be kids
It was then time for us to move to our next rest stop at Harden Coffee. Last year’s Spokes team had hyped this up in their blogs as the best rest stop so far, so our hopes were incredibly high, and the team was GEEKED to all get coffee and explore the town.
Drew, Caroline, and I used our extra time to roam into an extremely cute stationery store and a book shop with paperbacks for $2. One of my roles on the team (aside from morning duty as described in the other blogs – you’re welcome, Drew) is to be the shameless person who calls places and asks for donations. On this note, people have been SO incredibly kind to us. My job has been beyond easy, and it takes me at most three calls per city to get our team a meal. The trip is truly a monumental effort from the entire community, not just our team of 7. As the three of us walked around the town, I made a single call to La Cabana Mexican Bar and Grill near Mammoth Cave, which immediately agreed to feed us for dinner.
Soon after, however, Drew was summoned to be our team’s hero and returned to the first rest stop where Nunu had unfortunately left her phone. Meanwhile, the rest of the team carefully chose from the coffee selection, with significantly high worries expressed about where and when the team could take their “post-coffee poops.”
Haiku #4:
Drew is a hero
Yummy coffee makes us lit
We all need to poop
Sooooo next rest stop? Duh. What else could possibly be the purpose of Spokes??
At this point, Caroline, Drew, and I head to the third rest stop of the day at Brush Creek Baptist Church. We are greeted by the most insanely awesome surprise ever. THE CHURCH HAS A RIVER AND A WATERFALL!!!!
Obviously, the three of us go and explore it (me hiking on my “no longer sprained ankle”), diving back into Caroline’s Conservation Council roots where she got to engage with the nature and soil of different ecosystems. Drew climbed up the side of the waterfall, leaving the two injured people sad and lonely at the bottom (rude). Soon after, we were joined by Nate and Nunu, who also marveled at the incredible beauty of nature.
So what’s for lunch?? You guessed it. SANDWICHES! I’m sure you can’t be more excited than me, proven by this beautiful moment where I was so eager to start making my sandwich that I accidentally mistook the sunblock bottle for mayo!
At this point, Aarushi and Carmen STILL had not arrived, so Drew had his second opportunity to be a hero and make sure that they were okay. Once he finally found them, they arrived with beautiful gifts of free cantaloupes from Mike and Nancy Tucker at Milby’s Produce (thank you, guys!!!).
After they ate, we, of course, had to show them the waterfall, and Aarushi, Drew, and Carmen, of course, had to climb it, ditching the sad and lonely injured folks AGAIN. This time, though, they were able to climb higher, with the three of them edging each other on. When they came down, they were covered in mud, and we especially noticed that all three of them had dirty butts.
Drew and Carmen approached this issue like normal people. A little water, splash splash on the butt, good to go!
Aarushi, however, took a completely different approach. In a horrifying display, she proceeded to crouch in the water, crab style, with her stomach towards the sky, and then thrust her hips up and down to get her butt in and out of the water. Our eyes are truly scarred forever.
To make matters worse, this now meant that Aarushi had a chamois completely full of water. Do not fear, as she had a wonderful solution to this problem, too! Aarushi proceeded to grip her butt with both hands, squeeze as hard as she could, and say “I’M GRABBING MY OWN BUTT JUST TO FEEL SOMETHING!” She claims that this was meant to wring out her chamois. This is, of course, why she is my best friend 🙂
Haiku #5:
We climb waterfalls
Who will grab Aarushi’s butt
Maybe only her
Finally, Drew, Caroline, and I sent off our bikers, and the three of us moved to our last rest stop, Farmwald’s Dutch Bakery and Deli. This store is run by the local Amish community, which is a group that I have gotten to interact with a few times in the past on trips through Pennsylvania with my grandparents, Brenda and Tom. On our last visit to Lancaster County about a year ago, we stumbled upon an Amish and Mennonite auction, and the people there kindly let us stay to watch (I had never been to an auction before!). Aligned with my philosophy of dilly-dallying as much as possible, I wanted to explore the neighborhood around Farmwald’s and see if there were any open shops that we could wander around. Sadly, the nearest one was closed, so we turned around and waited for our bikers in the deli.
When Nunu and Nate arrived, I immediately knew that my choice not to bike that day was the right one. They were the most exhausted I had ever seen them, telling us about their awful downhill where the wind was so strong that it felt like an uphill. The next group of bikers that came in was in similar shape, so we knew that the team needed emergency fuel to finish the ride. Thank you, Farmwald’s, for our first dinner, consisting of the best pulled pork sandwiches, burgers, and cheesecake EVER.
Haiku #6:
The bikers are dead
Farmwald’s cures the exhaustion
10 miles to go
At this point, the driving group was convinced that we would have to SAG our bikers, as there were 10 miles to go and only 45 minutes before sunset. In this vein, Drew got his THIRD chance to be a hero today and went to follow Aarushi and Carmen in the back while Caroline and I set up our tents at the campground.
Of course, Aarushi and Carmen are just the GOATs, and even as the light waned, they refused to stop on the last two-mile climb up to the campsite so that Drew physically could not SAG them out. We are definitely a group of stubborn tough cookies.
Finally, we got to wrap up our day with INSANELY delicious Mexican food for the second dinner and GREAT vibes from Louis and Nolasco. Thank you, guys, for being so kind and donating a meal to our team. It was DELICIOUS!! Extra shoutout for the birria tacos that literally brought life back into my eyes.
Haiku #7:
People are so kind
Nolasco feeds us great food
Our hearts are happy
At this point, the long day (and long blog) are coming to a close. Nightly routines proceeded as usual, only a little stinkier than normal for some of us due to the coin showers at Mammoth Cave (6 quarters for 4 minutes per person… and guess how many quarters we had on hand).
Regardless, I was happy that my ankle had clearly “completely healed” and that I got to experience a beautiful sidequesting day in the car with no SAGs. Life is good 🙂
With love to the moon and back,
Tatiana ❤
MIT Spokes 2026 
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