For a week in August 2008, the Fat Boy and Company took off on a loop tour to ride amongst beautiful farmlands, wide river valleys and sharp ridges of southern Indiana, southeast Illinois and western Kentucky.

From Owensboro, Ky., we crossed the Ohio River to Indiana on the new US 231 bridge (the William H. Natcher Bridge) at Maceo and headed north to Jasper. We tested our climbing legs in the hills of the Hoosier National Forest and Columbia-Jackson State Forest between Jasper and French Lick before heading west to Washington. North of Washington, we rode the wide White River valley north and west to Sullivan. From there, we headed west to cross the Wabash River to Illinois at Hutsonville. In Illinois, the route had us meander west and south to Olney (of the Home of the White Squirrels fame) and Carmi before re-crossing the Ohio River at Old Shawneetown to return to Kentucky. After staying the night in Henderson, we crossed the Green River near Sebree and returned to Owensboro to conclude the tour. (Here's a rough map of the tour route.)

We were unbelievably fortunate in picking the perfect week weather-wise: the weather was consistently sunny and comfortable in the 80s during the day and cooled down to the 60s at night. It was fantastic weather for the Ohio River Valley in mid-August.

The cast of characters: Greg Beachy, Chris Cecil, Earl Crowe, Duc Do (the Fat Boy), Thomas Hurst, Dickie Swift, and Tony Thompson.