From Western Kentucky East

We start to move East

Our next stop was near Louisville where we spent 3 nights.  On Monday we arrived at Gramma’s Campground and then headed out to find a Visitor Center and do some shopping. 

Gramma's Campground is a Mom and Pop place
with many long term resident's who enjoy a growing herd of burros

Each year the owner sells some of his herd to campgrounds
You'll see more burros in later pictures!

Tuesday we went to the Bernheim Arboretum which, although it did require walking 2-3 miles, was wonderful. Definitely worth the walk to see the Forest Giants by artist Thomas Dambo, a lot of  trees and beautiful flowers.  This is an amazing place that anyone visiting the area should see. 

The three Forest Giants are built from pallets, lumber trimmings, tree branches and dead tree falls. They are magical. The path from the Visitors Center provides a set of "Giant Footprints" to follow. Little Nis examines his reflection in a pond. 

Little Nis across the pond

Nils doesn't mind me joining his reflecting pond

Ray is more like a tiny younger brother

Mama Loumari reclines against a tree with her collection of nature items in a sacred circle behind her and she is "expecting another baby" 

Mama Loumari's sacred circle's nature treasures

Little Elina builds a 'stone feather' as she sits in a small meadow. The feather is easier to see when standing near her. She is much taller than her little brother and obviously believes in the importance of a sacred circle!

If you go to ThomasDambo.com, you can read the full story of of the family, including the children's father, Isak.

We had lunch at Isaac's Cafe in the Visitor's Center. Our food was wonderful. Although the weather wasn't perfect, it was great for walking the paths and fields of the Bernheim! We finished our visit by enjoying the Canopy Tree Walk, which lets you observe the surrounding natural forest from above the tops of the trees.

Next we drove to the Jim Beam Distillery and it was very interesting to see. We were able to do a self-guided walking tour and see much of this distillery. To me the most amazing parts of this operation were the bourbon storage buildings. There are 5 of these buildings and each building will store 20,000 fifty gallon barrels of bourbon or 1 million gallons and they had 5 of these at this site and are building a 6^th one. That’s a lot of bourbon and this is only one of many Jim Beam plants.  

The warehouses are not heated artificially, just by the difference between summer and winter temperatures. Jim Beam rotates their barrels throughout the warehouse, thus equalizing the impact of different temps in each floor of the buildings.

One of the 5 Bourbon Aging Warehouses

The newest warehouse is visible from the road and is at least twice as big as the other five

For dinner that night we met some old RVing friends Barbara and Bernie and Pam and Dean Brown. It had been 5 or 6 years since we’ve seen these friends and it was great to get together for a delicious Mexican dinner at El Nopal.

Obviously David has earned his Mini-Bernie nickname-
with the same twinkle in his eye as his Dad

On to Horse Country

The next day we planned to visit Churchill Downs and the Louisville Slugger Baseball Bat factory.  We did get to Churchill Downs and it was one of the best places we’ve ever visited. They do a great job of telling you the history of Churchill Downs as well as the history of horse racing. They have a 20 minute film that was very interesting and very well done.  

Such an impressive entrance

The current Derby Winner  near the museum entrance

The most amusing museum display regarding jockeys included this wonderful American Express advertisement photo near a height chart where a nine-year-old girl and her mother discussed that the daughter was 2 inches shorter than Bill Shoemaker (he was almost 4' 11'')and she weighed 5 lbs less than Shoemaker (he was less than 100 lbs.) when he rode his Derby winners.

Bill Shoemaker and Wilt Chamberlain in an American Express Ad
Photo by Annie Leibowitz

The movie displays on the screen above our heads.
The seats swivel so we can follow the movie as it moves around "The Track"

We took the guided Walking Tour of Churchill Downs. It took us to the tunnel where the horses and jockeys enter the track, we stood in the Winner's Circle, leaned on the rail in a spot we never would get to if we went to the Derby, and learned that Woodford Distillery seems to be the most important advertiser at Churchill Downs.

Our tour was being filmed for TV as we walked

Each year's Winners are listed along the balcony where we walked-
Triple Crown Winners are in Yellow!

Horses stand in the stalls on the right before they head to the track

The original cupolas frame the tunnel to the track

The tunnel floor looks like cobble stones but is a resilient tile
that accommodates the "athletes" who enter this tunnel

We couldn't count all the times we saw Woodford Reserve
around the track

Looking toward the gate for the first pass of the horses

The white pole in the center is the finish line-
Closer than it appears

We stopped for lunch at a little restaurant that was previewed on the Food Channel’s Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives. Not exactly what we were expecting but the food was good as was the craft beer. 

After lunch we drove to the Louisville Slugger factory but decided not to go in. Parking was very difficult to find and expensive plus neither one of us wanted to spend $28 just for admission and then extra for a factory tour so we passed and returned to the RV.

We move again

Thursday, June 20th, we drove to the Elkhorn Forks Campground near Frankfort, KY. This was a last minute change in RV parks for us and we were lucky to find this wonderful park. In order to stay for a week we had to relocate sites twice but it was worth it because the park is exceptionally nice and there is a lot to see in this area.  

Our first campsite along the river was beautiful

Our third spot wasn't as picturesque but it served our purpose

Friday we went to the Kentucky Horse Park which we were told is a must see and we had to agree.  The purpose of this beautiful 1224 acre farm is to teach people about the connection between humans and horses. The park is larger than 4 theme parks at Disney World combined but is organized around exhibits, museums, barns, and other attractions fairly close together and an easy walk from one to the other. 

As you walk through the park you pass 17 sculptures of famous horses such as Secretariat, Man O’ War, John Henry, and Staff Sergeant Reckless to name a few.  The story of Staff Sergeant Reckless is quite amazing.  The horse Reckless joined the Marines to carry ammunition for the 75mm Rifle Platoon of the 5^th Marines during the Korean War. She quickly earned the love and respect of all the Marines in this platoon. 

 If you get a chance you should go to the Horse Park if for no other reason than to stand by this statue.  Her Military Decorations include two Purple Hearts, Good Conduct Medal, a Presidential Unit Citation with star, National Defense Service Medal, Korean Service Metal, the full description is above.

The park has various shows during the day including a visit to the Hall of Champions to see some champion horses including Go For Gin who won the Kentucky Derby and finished 2^nd in the Preakness and Belmont and missed the triple crown by a total of two lengths in the Preakness and Belmont. 

Go for Gin

We also saw and learned about Mr. Muscleman, a champion trotter.

Mr. Muscleman

And finally Be A Bono, a champion American Quarter horse. Three beautiful animals.  Be a Bono was the first animal of such star quality to have gene therapy to repair a damaged knee. The slight bulge on her left hind leg is where they removed the cells for the operation. Quite fascinating!

After the Hall of Champions we went to a riding ring to see something they call The Parade of Breeds where 5 different breeds of horses are paraded around the ring as the announcer explained the history of each breed.  

The Miniature Horse

The Fell Pony

The Lippizan

The Friesian

The Percheron

Amazing contrast as they stood together

Our last stop before lunch was at the Big Barn to learn about draft horses and their harnesses.  These are some big animals, standing around 6ft in. at the withers and weighing 1800 to 2200 lbs. Unbelievable!

After lunch we did a tour of the International Museum of the Horse.  In this 3 story museum we learned about the history of horses from the caveman era to current times.  They gave us a map layout of the museum in case we didn’t have time to finish and I now understand why. It took us almost 3 hours and the last hour we really didn’t spend the time we should have but we were pretty beat. There were sections about Buffalo Soldiers and their horses, draft horses, horses in sports, and Arabian horses.  This was a full day and we were happy to get back to the RV and relax.

After the rain stopped late Saturday morning we decided to visit a farmer’s market, a distillery, a winery, and of course Walmart.  The farmer’s market was disappointing but the Woodford Distillery was a beautiful place, the winery was very nice although neither of us liked the wine all that much, and Walmart was Walmart!

Sunday was our day to move at this campground so we had to stay in the RV until almost 2:00 before our new site was available. Not a bad thing since we were able to relax a little then head out to find Aldi to pick up a few things. The rest of Sunday was spent watching some golf and planning the rest of our time here.

Helpful Hints from the Campground

When we visited the office here at this RV park they gave us a sheet of things to do in the local area.  We followed some of their recommendations and had a nice day touring local sights including the state capitol building in Frankfort, a very old covered bridge, a house built by Frank Lloyd Wright, an old abandoned Whiskey Distillery built in 1887 and to finish the day a tour of the Buffalo Creek Distillery.  There are some beautiful old buildings in the area including the state capitol building and a couple of museums.  In addition, there is more grass in Kentucky that I’ve ever seen and I have yet to see any blue grass. 

(For pictures of the capitol, the Frank Lloyd Wright House, the covered Bridge, and the old distillery see this link to the Google Album for From Western KY East. https://photos.app.goo.gl/4e7zM5ryFemDjBrT6)

The tour of the Buffalo Creek Distillery was very interesting. It included visits to 3 or 4 storage buildings where various types of bourbon are stored including barrels of bourbon that were 10 years old. Buffalo Creek Distillery does not move barrels of bourbon around as it ages. The barrels are distributed at different floor levels in each building and left there until the bourbon is ready for bottling.  

Our next last stop on the tour
the bottling and hand-labeling of their most
expensive Bourbons 

After the tour we were treated to a tasting of some of their products.  We started by tasting some White Dog which is what bourbon starts out as before aging.  I think he said it was 125 proof and it tasted it!  Then we sampled two bourbons which were nice and finally a sample of something they call Bourbon Cream Liqueur.  The liqueur was good enough that we had to bring a bottle back to the RV.

The next day we continued touring local areas including the towns of Midway and Versailles.  Nice towns with some old buildings and history. Midway was somewhat like Sanford in that they had a train track going right through the middle of town.  Enjoyable day and beautiful weather.

Our last day in Kentucky was spent touring Fort Boonesborough Historic Site and the Richmond Civil War Battlefield.  The Fort Boonesborough site included candle making, a blacksmith, wood carving, and soap making with re-enactors in many of the sites.  The Boonesborough Historic Society has done a great job with this site and I’m glad we were able to visit is. 

We then went to the Richmond Civil War Battlefield. This is a civil war battle that we have never heard about before, but it was very interesting and the visitor center had a lot of information and displays for us to look at.  They also have a driving tour which you take in your own car but it’s in a very busy traffic area and we only made one stop and decided to head back to the RV.

Tomorrow we head out to the Greenville, Tennessee area for 2-3 nights. We ended up staying one night due to the limits of the location. If our site were level, if the WiFi worked, or the satellite found a signal, we might have stayed. The Lazy Llamas are visible on the hill, a campers garden with free veggies as long as you help weed, and a t-ball field are all part of this 25 acre facility. The owners are expanding and improving the campground so we may visit again.

And it seems the burros got here before we did!