Dry

A recipe for moonshine requires corn meal, sugar, water, yeast, and malt. Mix all the ingredients together, and put the mixture in the still. Heat the "mash" to 173 degrees. This will produce a vapor, which is trapped using a coil or tube. This is the coil you always see running from one container to the other. The resulting condensation is collected in the second container. This can be drunk. Or it can be left to age. As a bonus, you can use the original mash up to 8 times before you need to replace it with new. The process is simple, even though it takes a little time for the heating and cooling. Usually the stills are in the back woods or a yard with chickens running around and barefoot kids playing in front of the house. Kentucky has 120 counties, third most in the U.S. They are small, due to the oldtimers that made sure you could drive to the county courthouse and back in one day. 53 of of the counties are dry, 37 are "moist". The rest allow liquor to be sold. We're in London, Ky. now after riding 65 miles today. It looks to be a moist county, with no liquor sales, but some restaurants and bars, and golf courses, allowed to serve. To buy liquor over the counter, you have to drive to a wet county. Prohibition was a law passed by Congress over the veto of Woodrow Wilson. The congressmen were influenced by the temperance movement, and wanted to get reelected. They passed an unenforceable law, and to enforce it 1520 federal agents were put out into the field. Al Capone had a field day, and so did the bootleggers. Down here in Kentucky the sheriff was kin to most of the beverage makers. The law was repealed in 1933 after being on the books for 13 years. But here in Kentucky, the bible belt voters have gone back in time about 80 years.

We left Mammoth Cave at 7:30 on Saturday, and had a long day of riding, 85 miles, to get to Russell Springs, It was in a dry county. The road was long, curvy and back in the woods. A few times I think I spotted smoke from a still. We did see chickens in the yard. A couple of dogs ran out and chased us, and Laura raised her weapon, but never had to use it. We couldn't outrun them, but they're too inbred to know that. The hills were short, but steep. Up and down, about 500 times. On a water refill stop, we started talking to the locals and they advised we start taking the Parkways, which are like interstate hwys. Bikes are prohibited. We have been taking Parkways ever since. The cops must be out busting the moonshiners because we haven't seen one yet on the road. It makes the riding change from a chunky supermodel to a long, lanky one. We don't go up and down in every nook and cranny and holler, but ride up one long hill, then down a long hill on the other side. Last night, we stayed in Russell Springs at a mom and pop motel with no internet, hence the absence of blog. This morning we left at 6:30 and rode parkways all the way to London on the wide shoulder. I really miss the country roads, but for ease of riding we plan to take a parkway tomorrow. I miss meeting the dudes with the faces that are a study in seams and have 60 years of Kentucky grime under their fingernails. And we don't get the wild dogs or the caterpillar nests that Dora asked about. Bootleggers don't run on the parkways.

Bootlegger is a name put on the fellows that hid the flasks of moonshine in their boot, which went high up their leg. I'm sure the revnooers never looked there. I'm looking for a flask in every leg now. Tomorrow we are riding to Hazard, Ky. I beleive it may be the site of filming Dukes of Hazard, but more on that tomorrow if it turns out to be true. We are in Appalachian country now, so are expecting more hills. All is fine on big O, some squeaks and squeals, but that may be our knees. The St. Christopher medallion Mary gave us is working, we are having good travel luck. I listen to music, Laura listens to the book on her ipod. We sometimes go for a hour or more in silence, except for my singing with the ipod. This is what brings the dogs out. As I sing, they howl in annoyance, then come after us like they are chasing an ambulance. It's been about 5 weeks since we left Denver, and I will try to come up with another list of goods and bads, as a list of what to expect should anyone reading this be crazy enough to try a similar trip. We crossed into the eastern time zone today, another landmark for us. We would be able to smell Virginia by now, if it wasn't for the smell of corn mash.

Common names for moonshine: white lightning, skull cracker, popskull, bush whiskey,stumphole, 'splo, ruckus juice, rotgut, cat daddy, mule kick, hillbilly pop, old horsey, block and tackle, wild cat.