24 April ‘09

Friday

Sometimes it seems that you are never at the right spot at the right time, and in Louisville we are 2 weeks early AND two days late…  Two days before we arrived, Louisville enjoyed their “Thunder Over Louisville” fireworks show.  We have been told that it is THE largest fireworks display in the country.    The best seat for the show is “anywhere downtown”…  They have two weeks of celebration prior to the big race at Churchill Downs and “Derby Day”… 

This morning we drove out to Churchill Downs to take in the museum and track.  We heard that we wouldn’t be able to go out to see the grandstands

and track because “the trainers are working with the Derby horses” but when we purchased our entry tickets they told us the tour to the track would take place in “20 minutes”.  That announcement made our day… 

I’ve been a little surprised by names that have continuously come up…  Living in the Pacific Northwest, we have always read, visited, and traveled the waters of Lewis and Clark that related to “our area”.  Traveling through Tennessee and Kentucky their names and reputations are still with us as in our visiting the monument to York.  Well Clark has come up again…

The track is named for John and Henry Churchill, who leased 80 acres of land to their nephew, Colonel Meriwether Lewis Clark, Jr. (grandson of explorer William Clark). Clark was president of the Louisville Jockey Club in 1874. His father-in-law, Richard Ten Broeck, was a horse breeder and trainer, and introduced Clark to horse racing.  Clark ran the racing club for about 3 years but had trouble making enough money to do the necessary expansion.  He found a buyer by the name of Applegate.  Applegate sold the track in 1902 to Charles Grainger who really took charge and made Churchill Downs what it is today.  A new clubhouse was built, the highly recognizable “twin spires” were added,

and the length of today’s track was completed.  Today, Churchill Downs covers 147 acres and reaches crowds of 150,000 highly energetic fans that want to flock to the wagering booths at Derby day. 

One more spot that I we see on TV while watching the race, is the Paddock, were we'll see the "Saddle Up" call again this year. 

I found this note of history to be interesting…On June 5, 1907, African American jockey James Lee set a record that has never been beaten when he won the entire six-race card at Churchill Downs.

The tour to the grounds didn’t disappoint, it was great.  We did have a chance to see a “retired” Derby horse, but unfortunately neither Louise nor I can remember her name…but she was really beautiful and did a great job of coming in 4^th on her day at “The Show”. 

22 April ‘09

Wednesday

While walking around Louisville we happened upon a large bronze statue overlooking the Ohio River.  "His name was York - just York, nothing more, for he was a slave who had no legal right to own anything, even a last name.  York was a slave, the personal body servant of Captain William Clark. York had been born into the Clark household and probably began his service to William Clark as a young boy.  They were reported to be about the same age, but York was a servant to young William Clark.   When William Clark joined with Meriwether Lewis to search for a route from the Missouri River to the Pacific Ocean, he took his slave with him. York worked alongside the other men. He carried a gun and hunted for food like the others. He shared in the dangers, work, and he traveled to the shore of the Pacific Ocean.

 York was the only African American member of the Lewis and Clark expedition, served as an equal member of the team, and was granted freedoms and responsibilities beyond anything he had known back East. When the expedition encountered Indians who had never seen a black man before, York was a marvel to them.  His black complexion was seen as a mark of great honor.  The very thing which marked York as mere property and a slave in the United States was seen as a sign of special worth and dignity by the Natives. The Arikara, for instance, were astonished at the Black man and considered him "big medicine." When the expedition returned to the United States every member received not just the money and land they were promised by the government, but double portions of land and money.  Only York received no payment.  As a slave, he was owed nothing.  All of his work was the property of his master, William Clark.  York and Clark soon moved apart and never made contact with each other again. 

Today was a day we would walk a lot…  After taking in the river front, we headed back into town again to check out what Louisville offered for lunch.  Bristol’s was going to be our choice, and what a great choice it was…  We not only had a great meal, but we had a server that went above and beyond to make us welcome to Louisville.  We stopped into a shop just across the street from the restaurant.  They had a large display of “Derby Hats”

and we just had to check them out seeing as how the Derby was coming up next week.

Located in the heart of historic downtown Louisville, Kentucky, we walked over to the Muhammad Ali Center. 

 It was set up as a cultural attraction and international education center inspired by the ideals of the hometown hero Muhammad Ali.  They put together a great collection of pre-Ali to Ali today.  Unfortunately we didn’t have to time to do the center justice, but we sure hope that the next time we get back we will find more time to enjoy it. 

We had previously made arrangements to view “The Kentucky Story” at the Kentucky Center and Brown Theatre.  I was expecting it to be like “Flying Over Washington”, but it really let me down…it would rate “Fair” and barely worth the $6. 

OK, our last stop for the day…The Louisville Slugger Museum and manufacturing plant.

  Surprising to us it was locate on Main Street, Louisville.  Brass commemorative Home Plates were imbedded in concrete just outside of the museum for such baseball greats as Babe Ruth

and softball great Dr. Dot Richardson and others.  Inside you could purchase Louisville Bats with your signature etched into it, tour the plant were they spin the bats to perfection, and…for a dollar, you could take swings at 10 balls in the batting cage to see what you could do with a 40mph baseball coming at you.   

I must say, it has been a long time since I’ve had a bat in my hand and…I didn’t do too bad at hitting a few back to the fence with some force (I did it twice…). 

21 April ‘09

Tuesday

We left Mammoth Cave’s on a bright and sunny morning that we hoped would stay…it didn’t…  Driving up I-65 toward Louisville, Louise came up with a stop that we thought we would enjoy  the boyhood home of Abe Lincoln.  Just outside of Hodgenville, we arrived at The Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historic Site. 

It had been a long journey since his birth on February 12, 1809 in a small cabin near a mill that is now Hodgenville, Kentucky.   The park is located in a forested setting on what was once Sinking Spring Farm, which had been purchased for $200 in 1808 by Thomas and Nancy Lincoln. Abraham (Abe) was born soon afterwards and spent his first two and a half years here before moving to a farm on Knob Creek about 10 miles to the north.  Although it was cool, overcast, and off and on rain, we enjoyed the drive through the brilliant green Kentucky countryside.  I must say however, the roads we traveled off of the Interstate were very narrow and kept me on my toes the whole time we were driving to and from the Lincoln sites.
The park consists of a visitors’ center, the birthplace memorial and Sinking Spring. As we have seen all over this part of Kentucky, the forest has been terribly damaged by the ice storm in January and many areas of the park have been closed because of danger from falling branches still hanging above trails and open areas. Unfortunately, the park facility at Knob Creek was closed due to ice storm damage. 

One more thing, this last March 13^th, the US Mint issued a new Lincoln One-Cent coin that has a re-design of the Lincoln cabin. 

Leaving the Lincoln Historic Site behind we continued on those same narrow roads on our way to Makers Mark in Loretto, Kentucky about 30 miles further off of the main roads.  I’m sure they don’t travel many of these roads with motor homes and larger trucks.  They are narrow roads and there are NO shoulders

5 miles outside of Loretto and following a long driveway we found ourselves arriving at Maker’s Mark Distillery.  Unfortunately for us, they didn’t have a parking area that could handle a motor home with a toad.  We tried to make a U-turn but found ourselves caught half in and half out of the parking lot.  Fortunately we weren’t in a position of blocking anyone right away, but we still had to un-hook the toad pretty quickly.  After getting the car parked we took the coach over to the side of the driveway and finally felt we were set to go in and join a tour. 

Maker’s Mark Bourbon Distillery is in a beautiful surrounding of dark green hills, a crystal clear stream, and buildings that date back to the early 1920’s.  One of the buildings was called the “first package” store in Kentucky and it just happens to be here at Marker's Mark. 

Those that wanted to re-fill their bottles or flasks would pull up to this building and purchase their needs.  Something of interest about the distillery, bottling, and warehouse buildings, they are all painted in a dark charcoal coloring with dark red shutters.  The dark charcoal color is perfect because of the black mold that all distilleries produce and cover all the buildings and trees within 100 yards of the brewing area.  This tour was much quicker than the one we took at Jack Daniel’s but on this one we were awarded with a tasting room that we could actually taste Maker’s Mark Bourbon.  One more tasting was offered during the tour…sample the mash… 

 The first tank of mash had a sweeter taste to it.  The second tasted a little like a “stale beer” and the last one was just plain sour.  Maker’s Mark also has made it’s self a recognizable mark…the red waxing seal it receives at the end of the bottling process.

  I’ll say one thing, I did enjoy the tour here at Maker’s Mark but I still enjoy J/D more….what can I say??? 

For some reason I had a heck of a day “feeling” the directions we were traveling today.  It could have been that the narrow and undulating roads kept me holding the wheel tight and eyes close to the coach.  I just felt lost all day.  Finally we intercepted with I-65 again and headed the last 20 miles toward Louisville and our next campground.

20 April ‘09

Monday

We had another night of off and on rain.  As we slept(?) the rain would come down with vengeance, and then it would come down with the sound of a droplet the size of a baseball…BLOP, BLOP, BLOP…  I have to say, we have had better sleep.  Just after 10am we drove off to tour the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, Kentucky.  The National Corvette Museum is perfectly located directly across the highway from the GM plant that manufactures the Corvette.  While we were there, they had 4 Vett’s all ready for the new owners to accept delivery.  One of the couples taking delivery was walking through the museum with their son and daughter in law as we were walking in.  Their conversation indicated that it was to be their 2^nd or 3^rd time taking delivery of their new car.  Lots of excitement…  Of course the first thing you do when coming into a museum like this, is to watch a video.  The video was titled The History of the Corvette and was worth the 15 minutes that it took to watch it.

Following the video you walk out into the display area that feature the Corvettes in realistic period settings

such as a 1960’s Mobile Station and etc…  Then it was onto a large interactive Pitcrew Challenge that puts you in the pits with the chance to set a record for changing a tire or fueling the car before it jets out onto the track again…  Another display was set with all the original (except one..) Corvette Pace Cars from around the world races…  I was amazed at the amount of Vett’s that were on “Temporary Display” by the private owners around the country.  All of the Pace Cars (except one…) are owned by General Motors Company. 

19 April ‘09

Sunday

Our time had run out in Nashville, so we decided to travel up to Kentucky and stay three nights at Mammoth Cave National Park.  It was only a 90 mile run north, but we really wanted to see Mammoth Cave.  After setting up camp, we noticed that all the campsites had a large pile of wood available to them.  Driving in we noticed a lot of trees and branches down so we’re guessing that’s where all the wood has come from.  In talking with the Ranger we found out that this last January they had a disastrous ice storm that took out all the trees.  It took the Rangers 3 days to get the road cleared enough to get into the Information Center.  Well we’re the glad recipients of this fine fire wood.  It’s been a long time since we’ve had a fire and a long time since we’ve had the opportunity to roast marshmallows…they were so good…  On one our our drives around the park we came upon one of the two ferries that cross the Green River. 

 Unfortunately they can't take any RV's...

This morning we got the early awakening of heavy rain on the top of the coach.  We had planned to hike into one of the caves but when I checked the time, I almost changed my mind.  I don’t mind an early morning alarm, but this was just plain nuts.  I did get back to sleep and get a little more rest and when the time to get up did arrive, I was a little more agreeable.  We knew that the cave tour that we wanted to take left at 10am, so about 9 we went down to buy our tickets.  We wanted to take The Grand Tour.  The Grand Tour covers 4 miles in just over 4 hours and reaches a depth of 280ft.  We’ll have over 670 steps and have hills that will “stress you” as you climb over Mt. Everest (whatever that means). 

 They tell us this is physically demanding hike (which we need…) and will expose us to gypsum encrusted halls, twisting canyons, narrow passages,

 underground hills, vast chambers, waterfalls, and tapestries of dripstone. 

Well we did find some of it to be demanding and physical, but overall it was a great day for a hike (especially underground…).  It would have been nice to have come out and find the sun shining, but that didn’t happen.  Fact is, we had to run for the car.  Thank God we had taken it, because this morning we had debated whether or not too because we are only camped about a ½ mile away and thought we could handle the walk back without any problem. 

Over 10,000 years ago, the Paleo-Indians we hunting in this area along the Green River and most likely used the Mammoth Caves for shelter.  They think the next to arrive were the Late Archaic and Early woodland Indians from 4 to 2,000 years ago.  Around 1816 the caves became a tourist interest.  The guides through the caves were the enslaved people from the owners of the land holding the caves.  With over 365 miles of surveyed passageways, the Mammoth Cave is over twice as long as any know cave.  The Geologists think there could be 600 miles of yet undiscovered passageways to come. 

Well no fire in the pit tonight.  It’s still buried in about 2 inches of rain and we’re expecting more tonight sometime.  By the way, this camp ground only offers “no hook-up sites so we’re (I hate to use this term…) DRY CAMPING…