November 2006
Robertson County KY - Johnson Creek Covered Bridge
Old Blue Lick Rd
Mt Olivet, KY 41064
We left Goddard White Bridge heading west on KY32 and the bypass around Flemingsburg. KY32 is fairly straight but still a decent road. Approaching Elizaville I knew there was something historic about the town but I couldn't remember what is was. It finally came to me a couple of weeks after the ride. Franklin Sousley was from Elizaville. Franklin was one of the six flag raisers at Iwo Jima. Unfortunately he was one of the three that never made it off of the island alive. As we got west of Elizaville the curves increased and the ride improved towards Cowan. West of Cowan the we rode through some wooded areas as we approached our turn off onto KY681. This is also called Buchanan Creek Road. This road is fairly narrow but it was really in great shape and we turned it up pretty well given the size of the road. We got to Abners Mill Road and turned right following the signs for Blue Licks Battlefield SP. Abners Mill runs along a ridge overlooking the Licking River. There was a wide spot in the road where we stopped to look around. At the top of the hill we turned left on Old US68 and stopped at the old Blue Licks Union Church where we read an historical marker about George M. Bedinger who was an officer in the Revolutionary War and fought at Boonesborough and Yorktown. Although born in PA he came back to Kentucky and was the first to survey this area. He served in the KY legislature and U.S. Congress from 1803-06. He died in 1846 at age 87. We turned right on US68 and quickly turned left on KY165. After only a couple of miles we turned right on KY1029 which took us up to the intersection with BeeLick Road. It looks like KY1029 is signed that way to the bridge but it's also called Blue Lick Road (or Five Lick Road) as well. Either way a few short miles and the bridge was right there. Johnson Creek Bridge is a 110' long span built in 1870 of a Smith Truss design. It no longer carries traffic but is in fairly decent shape. We followed KY1029 north and jumped on US62 in Sardis thinking we were in store for a boring ride home. I couldn't have been more wrong. US62 from Sardis to Claysville was 17 miles of nearly perfect road. Just the right amount of straightness to allow easy passing and plenty of curves all in rolling hills. At Claysville we turned right onto KY1284 to hook up with US27 into Falmouth and then I471 and home. I will ride US62 again!!
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