Kentucky - Day 25 - Lexington and environs

Camp Nelson RV Park, Lancaster
Friday, 25 October 2019

today's route

I drove through more pretty countryside today, first on my way to Lexington and then south to tonight's campground.

Lexington

On the way into town I passed what looked like a castle (see left) - and it turns out it was.  The internet tells me it's called Kentucky Castle, and Martin Castle, and Versailles Castle (probably because it's in the town of Versailles), but it does business as CastlePost and is a luxury hotel.  And why on earth it'd have so many names is something probably only the locals know.

In Lexington, I went first to a recycling center, located in a nitty-gritty part of town, which was quite near a very nice part of town, unusually.  And very thankful to get rid of most of my recyclables.

Past Mary Todd Lincoln's house (red brick, several stories, about 2' or 3' away from the street (cars now, not horses - changes the size of the roads).  Through an old business section that's been revitalized and looks quite trendy now. 

I was charmed by the stonework around the porches on the old houses I drove by.  This was stone outlining the porch ceilings as well as the floors, and it had cut-out designs but also, unusually, quite a bit of what I think is called bas relief, that sort of partial sculpture that raises a design from the background of the stone.  Really attractive.

RV Supply
And north to an RV supply business.  One of the drawers in my cabin has, from time to time, failed to latch shut - a feature that's important when you're driving down the road.  I've always before managed to fix it, which involved taking all the stuff out of the drawer and pulling the drawer completely out from its slightly oily tracks and use a screwdriver to pry out the catch that was stuck in an already closed position, without the drawer being closed to be held in that position.  A tedious process but it worked.  Up until now.

This morning when it happened again, I couldn't make it work and finally took the whole latch off the frame and discovered it was broken.  I found more online - apparently it's a common item to fall apart - but I'm not in a position to tell Amazon or someone an address to send me this part, moving around as much as I am.

This RV place had some latches that looked identical to the one I took off the drawer and, though they cost almost twice as much as Amazon's, I bought them.  But I didn't want to take the time to install right there because I wasn't parked in a particularly convenient place for all the traffic at that RV place and because the dogs really wanted to go for a walk.  So we left.  In the meantime, for purposes of today's traveling, I'd put all the contents of the drawer into various other storage areas - not conveniently - and put the drawer itself on the floor where my shoes live, and they now live in the drawer - again, not conveniently.

But after some thought, I decided to wait until I got to camp tonight to try to put the drawer back together, since everything was already stowed for travel anyway.

What's in town
I crossed a bridge in town and found myself on Oliver Lewis Way.  Not having heard of him I looked him up to see why he merits a street and learned he was an African-American jockey who, in 1875, rode Aristides when he won the first Kentucky Derby.  So yes, he deserves a street in the city that calls itself the Horse Capital of the World.

Lexington is also the home of the University of Kentucky, founded in 1865, originally called the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Kentucky, it now has more than 30,000 students.  It's huge - its buildings cover a lot of territory.

Much smaller is Transylvania University, also in Lexington.  Founded in 1780 as the first university in Kentucky, in now has just under 1,000 students.  But it's a lovely campus and seems to focus on the sciences.

I saw lots of evidence that people here value horses - Thoroughbred Park, e.g. - but sadly, no horses themselves.  Altogether, Lexington seems to be an attractive vibrant city of about 325,000 folks.

Oil Change
A Jiffy Lube that promised on the phone that its doors were 16' tall was in the southwest side of town, on my way to my next campground.

Turned out the doors were plenty tall, but the doors' width turned out not to be enough, when combined with the sharp angle of their driveway, to make them think I could get the RV all the way inside without scraping it (and also their building).  So they squeezed me enough inside that they could get my engine over their pit to drain the oil and got 'er done.  And I'm glad to not have to worry about that for another few months.

Back on the road
In Kentucky, or at least in this part of Kentucky, the county jailer is an elected position.  Having never seen that before, I can't help wondering about the history of that situation.  And at least in some parts, it's a seriously contested race, according to the yard signs I saw.

Again I saw tobacco hanging inside barns.

I'd only had about 3 hours of sleep last night, so driving on the winding roads that constitute much of Kentucky's roadways was a little scary sometimes.  You'd think fear could keep you awake, but when your body wants to sleep, it does.  Fortunately, it was only about 25 miles from the Jiffy Lube to the campground.

Camp Nelson RV Park
Unfortunately, the online information about the campground was misleading, to say the least.  The aerial photo on the RV park's website showed campers parked around a large green area, so I figured it didn't matter so much where our site was since I could always take the dogs on that green space.

Well, that green space is sort of there - or would be, I guess, if it were as large as the photo made it look and if it were actually green.  But that's not where I got put.  First, the person in the office had trouble believing I'd been told on the phone I didn't need to make a reservation, which of course gave me a sinking feeling about where I'd end up. 

She consulted the owner and they found me a spot down a long heavily wooded narrow drive to a muddy narrow space along the drive.  Previous tenants had left tracks showing they'd parked parallel to the road, and that's what I did too.  But the ground was so uneven, and previous folks had added their ruts to the uneven ground, that I worked for about 5 minutes trying to find a place that was remotely level that was also close enough to plug in to the electrical outlet, which I shared with the site next door.

My stress level had already gone up several notches because, as I was pulling away from the office to follow this woman to the site, Gracie started vomiting (she eats grass when I'm not paying attention, which often causes this).  Fortunately she threw up on the kitchen floor and not on the dog bed, which she often does, but I didn't think I could just stop and make that woman wait while I climbed back over the dog bed and over the vomit to get to the paper towels to mop it up.  So I was driving back to this remote area of the campground with unwanted liquid rolling around on the floor.  It's no wonder I have blood pressure problems.

So I mopped that up even before I started the 5-minute positioning process.  We weren't even pretending to be level there, it was just the best I could find, and my electric cord was stretched as far as it could go.

I took the dogs for a quick walk and it started to rain. 

While we were walking, I saw the office person showing someone else to the site right next to ours.  She came down to where we were and said they'd talked like they planned to party tonight but, don't worry, their 10 PM quiet time was strictly enforced and if I had any trouble I should call the office right away.  But with my bedtime as about 7:30, a 10:00 curfew isn't much help. 

And the wifi that I'd been promised when I first called the campground turned out to be available - if I wanted to pay $2.95/hour.

Oh well.  As Roseanne Roseannadanna used to say, "It just goes to show you, it's always something - if it ain't one thing, it's another."  (Gilda Radner was a genius.)

But the rain, continuing for much of the night, deadened sound, and the young guys next door went out to dinner and didn't come back till I was asleep, so it all went okay, notwithstanding the tilted cabin.  But with all that, I was not in the mood to horse around with the brackets for that drawer.  We all ate supper, I watched a video to unwind, and that was the end to an odd sort of day.

Kentucky - Day 24

Taylorsville Lake State Park
Thursday, 24 October 2019

There're a lot of deer in this campground.  Late yesterday afternoon when I was walking the dogs for the last time, Dexter and I saw a deer, who saw us at the same time and went racing across a field into the nearby trees.  After Dext finally settled down and we kept walking, I saw the deer peeking out from the trees and told it that yes, we were still here.

Instead of turning back into the growth, the deer started racing back across the field straight at us, and I was stunned to see him and wondered if he (it had antlers) were suicidal, when he suddenly swerved and went running at an angle behind us where we'd just walked past - and went running into the growth there.  And fortunately Dexter noticed nothing at all until he heard the crash into the bushes, but by then there was no deer to be seen.  And for some reason, Gracie reacted not even a little bit to this deer, though I think she must have seen it in the beginning.  The whole episode was odd.

I've seen several at a time at other times during other walks, so I think there must be a whole herd around here.

Earlier today I saw what I think must have been a weasel crossing the road ahead of us.  Fortunately, neither dog saw that. 

But walking them early in the morning before it gets light is a real challenge.  We can never go any real distance without them jumping around and pulling on the leashes - and even almost barking one morning - all of which terrifies me and I have to take them back to the RV.  After so many times of being dragged and having my shoulders wrenched by them wanting to chase things, I'm extra sensitive now.  Terror isn't really too strong a word for what I feel, wanting to avoid more pain and inconvenience, and I can come back from some of those walks just shaking from repressed fear.  Maybe one day they'll grow out of it.

Many of the campers at this campground are enthusiastic about Halloween and have lots of decorations up.  People with a corner campsite have multiple blow-up decorations that are wonderful dragons.  I've never seen anything like them.  All the ones they have are different, and they have at least a half dozen.  They're all at least 6' tall and their wings move.  Some have bright red eyes, one has (apparent) flames coming from its mouth.  They're just amazing.

We've been having very chilly mornings but very warm afternoons, which is nice.  And I'm very thankful my heater's working.

The nice couple who are now next door to me (I've changed campsites twice now) came over this evening very concerned about my coughing.  I apologized and told them I'd close up the windows so they didn't have to hear it so much, but they were mostly concerned about my health.  The woman also has asthma and thought that might be my problem, and said she too has an uncomfortable reaction to the inhaler she's been prescribed.  I told them I just won't even use mine and turned it in to one of those drug deposit places because I couldn't risk feeling weird from it when I was traveling alone - the dogs not knowing CPR and so forth.

But they suggested I might also be allergic to one of the many pollens floating around Kentucky right now - that she and her daughter both have trouble with them - and suggested I keep the RV sealed up for a while.  Good advice, though hard to take when the days are so pleasant.  But better than bothering the neighbors.

Kentucky - Day 23 - Frankfort

Taylorsville Lake State Park
Wednesday, 23 October 2019

today's route

I realized recently that the oil change I'm supposed to have every 5,000 miles should have been done 1,000 miles ago.  Now that I'm near a couple of decent-sized cities, I made getting that done a top priority.  The problem always is finding an oil change place with doors tall enough to take me, and I've learned to call first.

Because the person assured me their doors were 12' tall, I went trustingly to a Valvoline place in Frankfort.  Pulled in, only to have them stop me and say that the person had gotten it wrong and their doors were only 10' tall.  This RV is, apparently, 10½' tall.  It took 2 of them to figure out how I could get out of the very tiny space a customer drives into and how to get me turned around.  Not a great experience.  And still no oil change.  I'll have to try someplace in Lexington.

Discouraged, I drove into downtown Frankfort to see the state capitol.  The online directions brought me almost to the capitol's front door steps.  I'm used to other capitol buildings being set back from the road a little, often with wide lawns or at least wide courtyards or sidewalks.  And some are even guarded by some serious security.  Not Kentucky.

Kentucky State Capitol, built 1910

There are 2 drives around the building, and my directions took me first to the drive closest to the building - way too close to take a photo.  I waited to take mine until I was farther away.  It looks like there's a big green lawn, but the drive is right alongside the building. 

At this point I was very near the Governor's Mansion, but the dogs wanted to walk and I didn't want to stop at this point so I didn't get out myself to take my own photo.  This one I found online.  Pretty impressive, isn't it?  And even more so in person.  It does have a big front lawn.

Executive Mansion, built 1914

On the other side of the capitol is something that I think is unique: a floral clock.  This photo too is from online, but it's about what I saw.

Kentucky's Floral Clock, created 1964

The clock is actually functioning and is 34' across.  The minute hand is 20' long and weighs 530 pounds.  The whole clock, suspended over a pool and fountain, weighs 100 tons (because dirt is heavy).  Those really are plants growing in the clock face.  It's stunning to look at, and it's immediately across the drive closest to the capitol.

It's all very impressive and I'm glad I braved the traffic and road system to find it.

I drove out Capital Avenue, passing Rebecca Ruth's Candy Company, which claims to have created the original bourbon balls in 1936.  I didn't know that until I saw the sign as I passed - and just as well, probably, though they offer tours.

I drove past Kentucky State University, which seems much larger than it apparently is.  The internet says it has about 1,600 students.  It's a historically black university, founded in 1886 as the State Normal School for Colored Persons.  It became the state's second land grant college in 1890.  Maybe the whole school fronts on the street I was driving on, but I'd have said it was a much bigger school than 1,600.

A main street in town is called Versailles Road, and leads to the nearby town of Versailles.  Although here in Kentucky, it's pronounced ver-SALES.

I'd intended to go to the Kentucky History Museum but discovered that the only real parking available there is in a parking garage.  I didn't even bother to check because no parking garages anywhere take 10½' tall vehicles.  Too bad, though.  I'd have liked to learn more about the state.

But in another way it's probably just as well, because by then I was a lot tireder than I'd have expected.  I guess all that coughing the other day - some of which continues every day now and then - took more out of me than I'd expected.

I'd planned 2 different alternate routes back to the campground, and in the end took neither.  The one I took both coming and going from town wasn't even the one Google told me to take.  I'd had a good look at where they wanted me to go and knew it'd be miserable for my RV on those roads and took some that were a bit more mainstream.  It turned out to be a reasonable route, and because I was tired I took it back again.

On the way I passed 3 more distilleries: Wild Turkey, Four Roses, and Buffalo Trace.

I passed a goat farm with several of them playing in a yard (and was so entranced I missed my turn and had to find a place to turn around and go back).

I also saw a Red-tailed Hawk fly across the road and land in a tree - and would never have known that was the kind of hawk it was until I got a good flash of the tail when it landed on the tree branch.  Really pretty.

(internet photo)

What I saw of Frankfort I liked.  It's not very big - I think about 20,000 residents - and I'm guessing it'd be bigger if Lexington weren't so close - only about a half-hour's drive for normal drivers.  Frankfort's old and has a lot of history.  I guess I'd call it sort of cozy, for a capital city.  I'm glad I made the trip.

Kentucky - Day 22

Taylorsville Lake State Park

Tuesday, 22 October 2019

Yesterday afternoon I started coughing so bad (from asthma) it made me feel a little sick and I decided to stay in the campground today and get some rest, rather than going to Frankfort as I’d planned.

I didn’t feel a whole lot better this morning and was glad I’d already made the decision to stay.

The campsite I have is level and comfortable and the wifi signal I get is at least intermittent so I could get a little work done.  Plus, there are a lot of areas where I can walk the dogs and there aren’t many other dogs yet this week.

I ended up spending the entire day trying to find places to stay for the rest of the month.  I’d already found that campgrounds in the mountains seemed to be booked up, which is why I haven’t been over there so far.  But I’ve only got just over a week left in my month and still a big chunk of the state I haven’t seen.

First, I decided I’d stay in this park longer than I’d planned.  My reservation ends tomorrow, and I’ll have to change campsites, but I decided not to push myself too much, to keep my health intact.  So I’ll go visit Frankfort tomorrow, come back here, wait in camp an extra day, and then visit Lexington on the way to somewhere else.  And it was where the somewhere else would be that I started with.

What I did was check each state park in the mountain region to see which sites they had where the dogs and I could be comfortable, and then when those sites would be available.  In several parks, there weren’t any places that fit.

Next I tried to choose parks that were on a somewhat logical route through the area, that had sites I liked that were available when I needed them.  That eliminated more parks.

I finally came up with a plan for every night except this Friday.  No state park anywhere at all near Lexington had a space available for Friday night, including this one.  So then I tried to find a private park (which there aren’t all that many of in Kentucky, surprisingly) that wasn’t advertising itself as removed from the bustle of daily life – translation: no wifi service.  I finally found one that might work, called them, and they said yes, they had wifi service and yes, they had a space available and no, I didn’t need to make a reservation (which I thought sounded ominous).

And to finish it all off, I found a KOA in Tennessee that seemed convenient to the Cumberland Gap, which I planned to go through when leaving Kentucky, and that had the space I asked for available for the first few days of November (which also sounded ominous, because I’d have thought that particular site would be a popular one).

So it took from 7:30 AM until 3:15 PM (with time out for dog-walking and lunch), but I’ve got us reservations for almost 2 more weeks.

During the course of this, I discovered one state park that had only one space available and would accept a reservation no shorter than 7 days.  When I called the park to ask why, they told me the one space was available only because someone had called to cancel just this morning, and the reason for the 7-day booking period was their special Halloween celebration this weekend.  They said not only are they fully booked this year, they’re already sold out for next year.  I guess this is what Halloween has morphed into, since traditional Trick-or-Treating has gotten so weird.

Despite all this, I still feel much better this afternoon than I did yesterday and am glad I decided not to go out sightseeing today.

I've been seeing these tiny purple flowers in much of the state.  I don't know what they are, but they're really cheerful.

This is the official state license plate.  I've seen a variety of specialty plates, but no personalized plates, and the vast majority of cars have this one.

Kentucky - Day 21 - Maker's Mark Distillery

Taylorsville Lake State Park
Monday, 21 October 2019

today's route

[I ran out of wifi signal at this point and wrote this post on my computer's word processing program.  I have no control over the font. But the problem I ran into this morning is that the signal is so weak it took 5-8 minutes per photo to download them - extremely time-consuming.]

I happened to notice on the AAA map that the Maker’s Mark Distillery was in the neighborhood of this campground and decided today was the day for the bourbon distillery visit I’d been promising myself.

According to online mapping programs, it was less than an hour away from here, mostly along county roads, and I only hoped that I’d be sober enough to get myself back here safely after the tour.  I didn’t know I also needed to hope that I could even find the distillery in the first place.

I vetoed some of Google’s planned route on the basis that the roads it recommended appeared on satellite to be good only for locals or people driving cars.   Still, even the ones I ended up taking were inadequate.  Some were only 1½ lanes wide – not so good when I met opposing traffic a couple of times.  Others were 2 lanes, but only in the sense that 2 vehicles could squeeze by each other without one of them leaving the road.  No shoulders anywhere and almost no pullouts that weren’t somebody’s driveway.

Plus, as I’m noticing frequently in Kentucky, directional signs or even street name signs are completely inadequate.  I’m beginning to think that in this state the attitude is, if you don’t already know where you are, then you don’t need to be here.

And it’s country out here.  Old Briar Dog Road.  Old Possum Ridge Road.  That sort of thing.  Making coming around a bend and seeing St. Rose Catholic Church up on a hill in tiny Springfield startling.

St. Rose Catholic Church of Springfield

But I made it to the distillery somehow.  Walked the dogs around the large, nicely landscaped parking area.  Had some lunch (figuring it was better to drink on a full stomach).  Talked to some people who’d just been on the tour who said it was well worth the price of admission.

Which, I found, was $14.  A little steep for me, but this was something I'd wanted to do so I paid it.

side 1

side 2

This historical marker at the entrance sums up the background for the distillery, but the present business has moved far beyond that.

Our very bouncy and enthusiastic guide, Kelly, took us at top speed through the distilling process – and the tour still lasted just over an hour, even at her speed.  She was very nice, though, and gladly went back over things when I asked questions as we walked from one place to another.

This distillery is family-owned, on its 3rd generation now.  The founder, Bill Samuels, Sr., turned his back on his family’s bourbon recipe, which he regarded as harsh rotgut, and worked to create a softer, sweeter bourbon.  What he came up with was a mixture of 70% corn, 14% malted barley, and 16% soft red winter wheat.  Kelly said they don’t mind at all telling the recipe because the secret part is the yeast they use.  Both the corn and the wheat are grown locally; the barley comes from the Great Plains region of the US.

All the grains are first put through a roller mill to make the taste sweeter.  They’re then cooked for 3½ hours, which turns the starch into sugar.  The grains are then combined with the yeast and ferment over a 3-day period.

There are 8 of these enormous vats in this room, most with this fermenting brew in them.  The vats are made of cypress and hold 20,000 gallons each.  On the first day of fermenting, the yeast is working on the sugars and is very active, as you can see from the bubbles in this photo.

This brew looks nothing like a liquid to me and somehow I missed hearing how the one becomes the other.  The next step I heard was that the fermented whiskey is put in barrels to age for at least 3 years in the warehouse.  They can store up to 2,000 barrels at a time in their warehouse here.  The barrels are first stored at the top of the warehouse, where the hot Kentucky summers help the aging process.  The barrels are made of white oak, charred to improve the taste of the whiskey.  Each barrel is used only once, and then they’re sent to Scotland where they’re used to make scotch (waste not, want not).

Eventually the barrels are moved to the bottom of the warehouse (see right) where it’s cooler – though not artificially cooled – it’s about the same temperature as outdoors, though kept a little cooler by the limestone walls that were part of the original gristmill on this site.  You can sort of see that the rear wall of this room is the original limestone.

As I understood it, the glasswork you see here is temporary.  For the next few months Maker’s Mark is honoring a local glass artist, and his works are displayed throughout the multiple buildings.

Back to the whiskey.  Beginning while the barrels are still at the top of the warehouse, a panel of tasters samples each barrel periodically to determine when it’s ready to be moved farther down.  Kelly said Maker’s Mark is either the only distillery or one of the only distilleries to hand rotate their barrels.  They bottle by taste rather than by age of the whiskey.

I’ve got photos of the whole bottling line but can’t quite remember what each step of the process does.

The photo at left shows each bottle being cleaned with a shot of bourbon jetted inside.  

The one at right shows the bottles being filled with whiskey. 

The photo at left shows the bottles being corked. 

I don’t remember the step shown at right but hate to leave out the photo in case somebody else knows what’s happening. 

 Each bottle is hand-dipped (left) in their signature red wax.  These women will work at this station only 30 minutes at a time, to prevent accidents with the hot wax (320°) from tired workers.  The wax has a polymer in it that helps it dry faster and hold its shape better than plain wax would.

The photo at right above looks back at the whole line, which you can see isn’t really all that big.   

The photo at left shows the bottles moving past a fan to help along the wax-drying process.  The one at right shows the finished product being boxed.

The product that’s being bottled in these photos isn’t the usual Maker’s Mark whisky but instead Maker’s 46.  That’s a newer product with a recipe created by (I think) the grandson, present owner Rob Samuels.  He wanted to see if he could come up with an even smoother version of the original recipe.  He starts with the fully matured Maker’s Mark whisky, then ages it 9 more weeks with 10 French oak staves, charred on one side, added to each barrel for a different flavor. 

Maker’s 46 needs a cooler temperature than the original recipe, and is stored in this specially constructed building (left).  Its green roof (can you see the plants?) help keep it at a steady 50° inside.

Maker’s Mark is proud of its different appearance, most of which was designed by Margie, the wife of the original founder.  Kelly went on about her at some length.  The shape of the bottle was Margie’s idea, as was the wax sealant and the red color of it.  Even the name of the liquor was Margie’s: she collected pewter and pointed out to her husband that each piece of pewter was marked with an identifier of the maker.  Hence, Maker’s Mark whisky.  And yes, in the US all bourbon is spelled “whiskey.”  But the family came from Scotland, where the liquid is spelled “whisky.”  To honor their background, they decided to call their liquor Maker’s Mark Whisky.

Kelly took us all through a tasting session.  (See photo at right.)  Going clockwise beginning at the far left (the clear liquid): Maker’s White, 130 proof, cut to 110 proof with limestone water before bottling; original Maker’s Mark, 90 proof when bottled; Maker’s 46, 94 proof; [at this point I was getting a little worried about staying sober for those roads, despite the very small samples, as you can see]; Maker’s Mark Cask Strength, 108-115 proof, straight out of the barrel so every batch is a slightly different level of alcohol, what we had today was 109 proof; and Maker’s Mark Private Select - Cask Strength, today’s was 110.7 proof.

It all tasted like bourbon to me, and I’m just not familiar enough with it to be able to distinguish the nuances of the various products.  It all tasted fine, and apparently I can save a lot of money by being happy with the original (which I’m sure is less expensive).

What I absolutely loved were the bourbon balls we got after the tasting.  The bourbon was infused into the ball itself, rather than being something inside a chocolate casing, and each one had a pecan half on top.  Turns out that’s a bourbon product I can get enthusiastic about.

Signs in the gift shop said they wanted to respect local merchants by not undercutting prices on the products, so the whisky was the same price I was seeing in liquor stores.  And almost all they had on display were the Maker’s 46 and Maker’s Mark Cask Strength, which I didn’t want to pay extra for since I couldn’t appreciate it.

I did find those bourbon balls, but their smallest package was 16 balls for $25.  If they’d had one with 8 balls I’d have bought it gladly, but $25 for a dessert I’d have trouble storing – I just couldn’t see it.  Oh well.  Maybe another time.

Several people were taking their 2nd or 3rd or 4th tour here, and afterwards I could understand why since there was more information than I could easily absorb in this one go-round.

I’d intended to take a different route back to the campground, to see some different countryside, but that’s not how it worked out.  As I said, they’re a little casual about their signage in this state and I got completely lost.  In fact, I was only kept from sheer panic by my trusty AAA map which, when I finally came to a road big enough to be on it, showed me that I had almost made a complete loop and in a few more miles would be back on the road I’d taken in the morning.  My guess is what happened was as much the fault of Google’s directions as it was a lack of signs, because those directions often tell me a road’s named something that doesn’t match at all with the signs that are posted.  This may have been one of those times.  Oh well.  At least I got back to the campground.

Kentucky - Day 20 - easterly drive

Taylorsville Lake State Park Campground
Sunday, 20 October 2019

today's route

I drove down to what's called the Western Kentucky Parkway, that I'd driven on 3 weeks ago when I first came to the state.  Driving east, I noticed that the leaves were changing colors, compared to my earlier drive.

I'm still seeing almost all cows at the farms I pass.  I do believe Kentucky's got a lot of horses, but I sure haven't seen more than a few.

I could see on the map that tonight's campground is in a rural area so stopped in Elizabethtown for several hours to do chores.

I found a recycling center (yea!) but it only let me recycle some stuff - no glass, no mixed paper - just cardboard, cans, and plastics #1 & #2.  But it helped.

Then I went to a laundromat that turned out to be closed on Sundays.  The online directions for that one insisted - as in refused to consider an alternative - that I drive around to the back of the building and walk through some trees and down a bank, rather than turning into the driveway like regular folks.  Not the first time something like that's happened. 

Found another laundromat that was extremely popular and every machine was taken.  But I snagged one as someone was emptying their clothes.  The machines were expensive but efficient and clean clothes are nice to have.

And finally I found a grocery store.  Kroger seems to have a near monopoly on the grocery business in Kentucky.  I'm not a fan, as you remember, but I have to eat and like Walmart even less.  So Kroger it is.

Driving through town I noticed that Elizabethtown, known as Etown to the residents, has a preponderance of brick buildings.  Wonder if they had a bad fire in the town's past.

I passed a sign for Las Chalupas Mex-Mex Restaurant.  That's a first for me.

Back on the road, I passed a Kentucky historical marker titled "Romantic 1825 Tragedy."  I didn't stop but looked it up and this is what I found.  https://www.hmdb.org/marker

Taylorsville (note the "-ville") Lake State Park is very spread-out with a variety of facilities.  I turned too soon for the campground and found myself on a road with signs saying "Road Ends In Water."  That sounded ominous but I thought it was the right road so kept on going.  I finally found the end, which I guess does end in water - it leads to a boat ramp into the lake and a largish parking lot.  Much better than the high water crossing I was envisioning.

Today being a Sunday, folks were clearing out of the campground so it was only about half-full by nighttime.  Seems a comfortable place.

Kentucky - Days 15 - 19

Ohio County Park Campground
Tuesday the 15th through Saturday the 19th October 2019

route for Tuesday the 15th

Brady had assured me on the phone Monday afternoon that the new heater board had come in and we agreed to meet at 9:30 Tuesday.  When I got there, I found another client picking up his repaired 5th wheel (leaving Brady's driveway he ran into a ditch and knocked down a neighbor's mailbox - hope I don't meet him in a campground some day), but I didn't have to wait long.

It did take a while, though, to install the new board into my heater.  It came with directions to, without fail, hook up some system or other than Brady couldn't find on my heater, so he was on the phone several times with the company's tech service person.  Then he had trouble getting my original thermostat to recognize the new control board, and trouble even getting power to the various parts.  But he finally got it all to work and didn't charge me for all the time he used.  Nice guy, tries to be fair.  It doesn't make the same noises it used to make, but it provides heat like it used to, and that's what counts.  No more chilly floors!

I spent some time trying to find a recycling center I'd seen online, but when I did find it, it turned out to be a scrap metal recycler.  Kentucky's not real serious about recycling.  None of the campgrounds do anything about it and I have trouble finding public bins in most towns.  After awhile, it really crowds my toilet (I collect stuff behind the toilet till I can dump it).

Driving around town I stumbled on a plant making Ragu products.  Good smells in the air.  And just down the street I found the Glenmore Distillery (bourbon).

For some reason, the exit numbers have been changed all along the interstate from Ownesboro south.  They're now 2 off from what they were, and because online mapping programs haven't adjusted their algorithms, their directions aren't trustworthy.  Weird.

Back at the campground, I decided to stay until after the weekend.  Yesterday I found it almost impossible to locate a campground anywhere east of here for the weekend.  I even called the KOA south of Louisville where I started the month, and they only had a couple of spots available tomorrow - a Wednesday!  Campgrounds are always not too busy on Wednesdays.  The KOA said the whole campground was booked for this weekend because it was their Halloween celebration and people were flocking in.

I'd only considered leaving here anyway to get a stronger wifi signal, but it looked like I couldn't even get a campsite, let alone the wifi.  I'm comfortable here and I figure I can tolerate the intermittent signal.

I've found this to be an interesting campground anyway.  Ohio County Park seems to be heavily used by residents from the whole area, and there are plenty of facilities for them.  There's an amphitheater, fields for soccer and baseball, a basketball court and tennis courts, a rebuilt historic Fort Hartford, a couple of small playgrounds, the county senior center, a paved hike-n-bike trail, two large dog parks, a resident flock of Ruddy Turnstones (birds), a quilt square for the Kentucky Quilt Trail, a horse ring, 2 big multi-use buildings that can hold a bouncy house or an indoor horse ring or a band concert or any kind of gathering.  It's really no wonder so many people come here to this park. 

Saturday afternoon and evening there was a benefit shindig, though I wasn't sure who was being benefited, whether it was First Responders in general or one First Responder in particular.  They had antique cars (e.g. a '60s era Mustang - how can it be an antique if it's within my lifetime?), multiple motorcycles, a rock band (complete with off-key lead singer), an auction, grilled hamburgers and hot dogs.  I'm sure a good time was had by all.  I walked the dogs through the area accidentally, when all I intended was to find out what was going on.

The campground is small, but the sites are fairly well-spaced.  Most are shaded and level.  About half have electric & water hookups, and the rest have sewer as well.  It's quiet and pleasant and, of course, you can't beat the price.  Even on Saturday night there were only about 2 dozen campers, and most of those live there full-time.

But there's not really any advertising about it that I found.  I think I stumbled across it in an online search.  Good find.

It was really frustrating to sometimes take 5 minutes or more to copy a photo from my own files to the blog, and sometimes I couldn't get a signal at all.  But that was the only drawback to staying here and I'm glad I did.