"The Moth" - Day 1163 (Year 4, Day 68)

Clarksville, IN / Louisville, KY

As I'm typing this, I realize I always pronounced the KY city as Looey-ville.  Natives here say Loo-ah-vul.

No, the title is not in any way related to "Mothra," the Japanese movie of a monster moth.  If any of my readers listen to NPR, it is a nationwide organization of storytellers (see www.themoth.org).  Basically, you start at the ground level ("StorySlam") and if you are the winner, you proceed to the next level ("GrandSlam") until you finally proceed to the national level, where, if you win there, your story will be broadcast on the radio show and performed live in the headquarters in NYC.  Stories are true & real and come from the heart.  They can be extremely funny, heart-warming, horrific.  They can make you laugh or cry. (** Dad and Linda - if you're reading this, it would have been awesome to tell our story 17 years ago.  Then again, it's never too late!)

We were fortunate to get tickets to a local performance of StorySlam.  Every month (in about 10 states), they have one such performance.  There is a given theme: this month it was "caution."  If you arrive early enough, anyone can register to come up on stage to tell their related story.  Only 10 people get to tell, so if there are more, names are picked out of a bag.  There are 3 sets of 3 judges, so the person who gets the most points gets to go to the next level of competition (against others from other states).  The next StorySlam at the end of Sept has the theme of "schooled".  Unfortunately, I can't think of any stories in my own life to tell, that can take up 5 minutes on that topic.  But if we're still here, it will be fun to attend.

Here are 2 photos:  a selfie and a photo of one of storytellers.  The board behind him is where they kept track of everyone's scores.

  

A museum day - Day 1161 (Year 4, Day 66)

Clarksville, IN / Louisville, KY

Not much to report on for the rest of last week.  Services were lovely and there was a nice kiddush lunch in honor of a baby naming and another baby born within the past month.

We had promised ourselves that we would try as hard as possible to use every Sunday to do fun stuff since we both work so hard during the week and it's the only opportunity we have to explore the myriad things to do in the area.

There is a place in downtown Louisville called "Museum Row" which houses a bunch of museums (history, science & art), as well as a few distilleries (Evan Williams, Peerless) and the Performing Arts Center.  Each place has it's own $10+ admission fee but there is an offer to purchase a ticket that lets you into everything, which basically comes out to about 50% off.  So we decided to go that route since many of the places on that ticket were places we wanted to visit anyway.  Also, downtown Louisville is only about 10 minutes away.

We started out the day on Sunday, after my doing a load of laundry, with my getting a haircut (they didn't open until 11:00, but the museums didn't open until noon, so it worked out perfectly).  The plan was to visit the history museum and then Evan Williams.  We took our urb-es with us and found that riding them around downtown was very enjoyable, as the sidewalks were wide and mostly even, and there was practically no one walking there.  Some photos of the downtown area (way back, when the downtown was built, it was predominantly an industrial area for the tobacco industry):

    

This is a photo of the Louisville Slugger Museum.  We didn't visit there (yet) but I love the Louisville Slugger baseball bat which is taller than the building!



We arrived at the Frazier History Museum at 12:30 pm and didn't leave until 4:30!  So much to see and do there; such an amazing place (if you're into history).  It could have been much more as they had an exhibit (a movie and an entire floor) devoted to The Hunger Games.  It's not something we ever read or watched, so we chose to skip that.  Mostly we spent our time between 2 other exhibits:  Lewis & Clark and Prohibition, 2 major events that affected this area of Kentucky.

  


I was extremely impressed by the way the museum was set up, with  many interactive exhibits.  So much scenery and sound effects to make it seem so real!  Besides learning so much, you really felt like you were part of the history. Kudos to the curators.

To prove the point, in the Lewis & Clark exhibit:
 
  

(not sure if you can see the bear behind me in the background "attacking" me!)

And in the Speakeasy part of the Prohibition exhibit - the "bartender" doing some card tricks (we actually played a betting game that folks back then would have played, that required no real thought -- kind of like the game of War but with betting):



Had to love this one:



In that exhibit, they played different music depending on what room you were in.  I never realized that "Happy Days are Here Again" was based on the end of Prohibition!  Does make a lot of sense though.

By the time we finished going through the museum, based on both the hour and our exhaustion levels, we decided it was time to go home.  Perhaps we'll go to Evan Williams and maybe another museum next Sunday.  Meanwhile, looking forward to another work week (not liking having to work, but very grateful to G-d that we have a livelihood and can work).

Solar Eclipse experience - Day 1155 (Year 4, Day 60)

Clarksville, IN / Louisville, KY

I wish I could say our experience was similar to many others who have posted in social media, having been somewhere in the path of totality (this being the "great eclipse of 2017" where most of the US witnessed a total eclipse of the sun.  Our area was 96%).

Several weeks ago, we saw special viewing glasses in the supermarket.  It was on a day when I read about all these scams and counterfeit glasses, so I was hesitant to buy something I didn't know was on the approved list.  Mitch felt otherwise but didn't follow his gut and agreed not to buy them.

Later that week, we visited the distillery where we learned they were having a free solar eclipse party on their rooftop patio (open bar & food), glasses included.  They said it was open to anyone and didn't mention that we needed reservations, so we were planning to go and show up a little early.  The previous day I contacted them to find out what time they suggested we be there.  They said the rooftop was filled to capacity (we did need a reservation after all) but we could view on their promenade patio as long as we brought our own glasses.  By now, this was totally impossible.

So Mitch came home early and we made a few pinhole viewers out of cardboard boxes.  It really wasn't that great.  However (I can't explain the science behind it) you can see the shape of the eclipse through the shadows cast between the leaves on the trees.  We are surrounded by trees and the shadows cast on the ground and reflecting on the truck cast hundreds of crescent shapes!  We also found that if we created a small hole with our clenched hands, we could also see the shape.  It was pretty spectacular, although nothing like viewing the actual eclipse.  It didn't get dark either but the brightness level got much dimmer.  It was kind of surreal.

There was a winning side to this, however.  One of my best friends from college -- Mindy -- traveled with her boyfriend from NYC to their closest point of totality, which was Nashville, TN (I also learned that my sister Amy was there as well).  I hadn't seen Mindy in ages (it's been so long I've lost count, but at least 5 years).  She looked at a map and discovered that Louisville was only a 2-1/2 hr. drive from Nashville and decided they'd take a little detour and come visit with us overnight.  They left Nashville around 2:30 and predicted they'd be here around 5-6ish.  No one counted on how horrific the traffic would be, and they didn't arrive until 9:30 pm!  I brought in some vegetarian Chinese takeout (yes, went off my diet, but back on today).  Unfortunately, we all had to get up early in the morning, so we couldn't pull an all-nighter (Mitch turned in at 10:30; the rest of us at 11:30).  It was a fantastic and intense and sadly way too short visit.

Some photos of the shapes thru the leaves.  Cool, but nothing like the real thing.
   

I also had a chance to walk around the campground.  Here are a few photos:

Fairly spacious sites, at least in our section of the park.  They get much closer on the other side:

  

The little lake that's part of the property.  You have to cross a field to get there:



The bigger lake behind us.  There's a fence all around and you have to pay to use it.

Long, tiring day - Day 1153 (Year 4, Day 58)

Clarksville, IN / Louisville, KY

We did indeed get the truck back on Friday afternoon, so we were able to tow ourselves to the next campground, 5 miles north of where we were.  We woke up at 8:00 am, and were packed and hitched by 9:15 am.  I did the driving.  For something that should have been so easy (just heading up the road), we didn't get settled in until about 11:30 (we pulled into the campground at 9:30 am).  First, it took a bit of time to get out of the campground because the site and internal roads were so narrow.  Mitch had to walk in front of me and guide me which way to turn the wheel so I wouldn't crash into any of the parked cars which were in front of their respective RVs.

The drive was uneventful - as I said, pretty much just up the road.  However, pulling into our pull through site (which should just be 1-2-3, like pulling a car into a parking spot) took quite a while because of several obstacles: a tree and 2 wooden posts in the way.  It took a lot of maneuvering to get situated just right.

I can't really give much of an impression of the campground yet; hopefully I'll have a chance to go out and explore over the next day or 2 (and take some photos).  It's certainly an improvement over the last place -- there are lots of trees and grass and a lake (pond?) on either side of us.  Sites are very close, but due to a tree in the middle of the site next to us, no one can park there so it seems like we have a ton of room on our side (if someone was there, we'd probably be within inches of each other).  But as I said, I'll get out to explore before passing judgement.

After getting settled, I had some laundry to do and Mitch took a nap.  At about 12:30, we had a few errands to run, so we went to Staples (to ship some equipment he had to return to his company), then CVS (a rx for me was ready), then we stopped at Denny's for a quick bite, then Walmart for some groceries.  We got home around 4:15 pm.  Then unpacking, continuing with the laundry and assorted other household stuff.

This area of Clarksville, IN reminds me a bit of Raleigh/Cary with nothing but malls and shopping centers all over the place.  So many places to shop and eat!

I look forward to spending our remaining Sundays here going to more fun places.

Truck update - Day 1149 (Year 4, Day 54)

Clarksville, IN / Louisville, KY

We are still truck-less but we rented a car today, so at least Mitch can get back to work until it's fixed.  They said most likely tomorrow, with the small possibility of Friday.

Regarding the water in the fuel tank - it was definitely a bad sensor which was all corroded.  Not sure why they spent 2 times emptying the tanks and draining the (alleged) water without checking the sensor first.  We will ask.  There's also a bit of corrosion in the gas tanks but we're not going to replace the tanks right now.  Solution at the moment is add a fuel cleaner every time we fill the tanks and to keep them as full as possible rather than waiting until they're almost empty before filling.

As for the electrical problem, it's still not really clear what caused the problem.  It was explained that the alternator and batteries work in sync; if one goes out, the other one will be affected.  The truck died because the batteries were bad (probably due to Mitch not maintaining them; they are not maintenance free and fluids need to be monitored constantly).  This could have affected the alternator which was not charging the batteries properly.  Of course, it could also have been a faulty alternator (which was replaced back in April) which could have made the batteries go bad.  We really have no way of knowing.  But both are being replaced (we'll get a credit for the alternator as it's still under warranty).

Meanwhile, the other (a bit nicer) campground 5 miles away still has a site available for us.  They are right around the corner from the mechanic, so we stopped by to take a look.  Not a resort but still a bit nicer and the sites are more spacious.  Plus it's about 1/3 of the cost.  Yes, the company pays for it, but they give us $x per week towards the rent (and will pay if the cost is more than x).  However, if the rent is less than x, that means more $ in our pockets.  So the option of free rent or making a small profit was a no-brainer, even if it's an additional 5 mile commute (which is mostly highway).  So we plan to move once more time on Sunday.  The mechanic even said that if for any reason the truck isn't ready by Friday, he may have some friends with a truck that can tow us there.

So  hopefully I will post again after we move on Sunday, with our own truck!

It just doesn't end - Day 1148 (Year 4, Day 53)

Clarksville, IN / Louisville,  KY

Or the real title should be "Mitch and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day" (credit to Judith Viorst).

We left off yesterday with Mitch starting the day with the water in fuel line light going on again.  He was planning to bring the truck to the mechanic after work and possibly renting a car so he wouldn't have to miss another day of work.  At about 4:15 pm, the truck wouldn't start.  He called roadside assistance for a tow (as always, making it VERY CLEAR that he needs something to tow a 1 ton truck, like a flat bed or something that tows semis.  To make a really long story short, bottom line is they didn't tow him until 8:45 am this morning - 16 1/2 hours later!  He kept getting pushed back and pushed back and pushed back and finally when someone showed up at 4:30 am, it was the wrong sized truck.  Yes, we put in a complaint but not much will come of it, I'm sure, although hopefully the company will reassess the towing companies they contract with.

Meanwhile, also remember that Mitch wakes up at 5:10 am and leaves home by 6ish, and goes to bed between 8 and 9 pm.  Having the truck at the mechanic and having a rental car ready to go would have worked perfectly in his plans.  So not only did he have a 16 1/2 hour wait, and by the time he got home it was nearly 10:00 am, he was running on about 30 hours of  no sleep.  So even if he could still rent a car this morning, he was totally unable to work and thus lost another day's pay.

So what's the status of the truck?  Who knows?  Seems the mechanic left work and didn't bother to call with an update so we won't know until the morning when it will be ready.  The battery did need to be replaced but he still had trouble starting it after it was installed, so believes there's a problem in the electrical system.  No clue if he resolved the issue of the water in fuel (probably just needs a new sensor).

So for now, the plan is to call the shop when they open at 7:30 am.  If the truck will be ready in the morning, he'll wait it out.  If not until the afternoon, or they can't give a definitive answer, he'll need to rent a car.

Meanwhile, my days have been crazy busy with work without any time to come up for air.

More tomorrow with good news, I hope.

(#$%R&(@) Truck problems - Day 1147 (Year 4, Day 52)

Clarksville, IN / Louisville, KY

The saga continues.  You may recall that last week Mitch saw a message on the dashboard about "water in the fuel tank."  He brought the truck into a local mechanic (it took hours of research to find someone that could look at it in less than a week.  In fact one of the places we called said "if you can find someone, you probably want to avoid them," meaning all decent diesel mechanics in the area are swamped and the ones who aren't don't do good business.)  We should have heeded that advice.

Mitch brought the truck in the next day.  They drained the tank, the warning light went off and we were on our way, $350 later.  Next day, same warning light came on.  Mitch brought it in again.  This time they totally drained the tank (the 105 gallon one), allegedly did a few other things -- took an entire day and now Mitch had lost 18 hours of work.  Got it back and light went off.

Now, less than a week later, the light goes on again!  We are about to enter a very fierce battle with the shop now.  Mitch can't afford to lose more time off work, so we need to insist they either give us a loaner vehicle or pay for a rental car, then they can fix it at their own pace - and FIX IT they must!!!  Already threatening them with a report to the BBB and posting all over social media.

At the moment, we are waiting to hear back from the owner of the shop what he plans to do to accommodate us.  Most likely will rent a car out of our own pocket just so Mitch doesn't have to miss work and have to deal with this afterwards.  But who knows?  Will keep you posted....

Meanwhile, a nicer campground, 5 miles further north that we're on the waiting list for, just called me today with an opening this week.  But if the truck is in the shop, we have no way to tow our home over there without the truck!

UPDATE:  About 5 minutes after posting this, Mitch called to tell me his battery died!  He's ready to call it quits.  I said it's all just mechanical problems and for every problem, there's a solution. But - BIG SIGH!!!

Another distillery tour - Day 1146 (Year 4, Day 51)

Clarksville, IN / Louisville, KY

Today was the first time in this area that we had a chance to get out and explore.  There are so many things to do, we just didn't know where to start and realistically, we can't do everything in one day!  Hopefully we'll have a chance to pace ourselves.  We left home at about 1:00 (Mitch was a bit delayed helping a family member with tech support; I had wanted to leave around 11.  Such is life - plans made in bubbles as always).

I love farmers markets and the summer/early fall is a great time when all the fresh produce from local farms are available.  There are quite a few little local farmers markets in and around Louisville and we found 2 that are open on Sundays (most are Friday and Saturday, but there are also a few during the week).  We chose the closer one to go to, which is actually sponsored by and set up in front of a natural foods market called Rainbow Blossoms (a local and much smaller version of Whole Foods).  We found a few nice things there.

Here are some photos of the bridge we need to cross over the Ohio River between IN and KY, and the Louisville skyline (first one's a bit blurry -- I was in a moving truck after all, but it captures most of the scene).

    

Next, our main event was visiting a distillery, but instead of something on the Bourbon Trail, we went to a place called Copper & Kings which distills brandy, gin and absinthe.  It was an extremely interesting tour (Mitch and I were the only ones!).  Among all the interesting tidbits we learned about the brandy-making process and the use of copper stills, was that this is aged in barrels to rock & roll music (apparently the vibrations help break up the molecules and make it a smoother drink).  They also have a huge party room and rooftop where they hold a lot of events (they're having a solar eclipse party where we hope to go if it's not cloudy or raining that day).  We ended the tour with tastings, and I admit I'm not really a brandy, gin or absinthe fan.  I think I'll stick to bourbon and wine.  It was also very nice -- they were preparing for a party later in the evening and someone was in the kitchen cooking (it smelled delicious).  Joking around, I asked if I could have some since I hadn't eaten lunch.  She prepared a huge plate of noodles and vegetables (I picked out the veggies and left Mitch the pasta).  Really, really nice of her to do that!  It was darn tasty too!

The company is also very environmentally and community friendly.  The buildings are mostly made of used shipping containers, all their aging barrels are recycled from other distilleries which can't reuse their barrels, they have a large butterfly garden, and they're a really big part of the community - including inviting local artists to help design their labels!  They hold weekly concerts there as well as special events such as weddings (they have a large kitchen and do catering as well).

The distillery is in a section of Louisville called Butchertown, which as the name suggests, used to be an area where people brought their animals for slaughter.  Across the street is a pork processing plant, so we're told the town usually has a pretty bad aroma.  Now it has become industrialized and more on the hipster side.

  

The butterfly garden (just one small part of it - it went around the entire building).  In the background is the pork processing plant.

Entrance to the visitor's center.  Me in front of the sign

Entrance to the distillery building.  All the orange are the shipping containers.  It's not in the photo, but there was a nice reflecting pool on the outside

The space between the visitor's area and distillery building had an open air patio.  The benches and tables are made of recycled lumber.

A beautiful sky above:

Two of the huge copper stills:

Our tour guide in front of the bottling room:

The aging room in the basement.  The aroma was awesome!

  

We picked up the tour at 2:30 and were finished at 4:00, at which time we decided to head back home.  Until next week's adventures....

Quick update on truck - Day 1142 (Year 4, Day 47)

 Clarksville, IN / Louisville, KY

Just an update on the truck....  apparently the problem is not all that unusual, especially if one hasn't changed the fuel filter for a long time (which we hadn't).  We also didn't use the large front tank, which is probably what caused water to get into the tank to begin with.

It took a while to hunt down a diesel mechanic who had the time to work on our truck today, but we were successful and Mitch was able to return to work a little after noon.  Work performed (which, if one has the skills to change one's own oil, this could also be done) was to drain the gas tank and change out the filters.

Unfortunately, they didn't drain it quite enough and the warning light came back on this afternoon.  So back to the shop in the morning....

Never a dull moment - Day 1141 (Year 4, Day 46)

Clarksville, IN / Louisville, KY

Mitch just called me from the road saying that he saw a message on the dashboard "water in fuel".  No clue what that means or what to do about it.  More research and possibly time off work to get it to a mechanic.  Oy!!!

Home "Sweet" Home - Day 1141 (Year 4, Day 46)

Clarksville, IN / Louisville, KY

I would have posted on my arrival date on Sunday, but I was extremely out of sorts (more about that later).  Then I was bogged down with work.

I have both locations listed because Clarksville, IN is literally over the border of KY (you only need to cross a bridge) from Louisville.  This is where the campground is, but Mitch is working in Louisville, so I consider us in both places.

I also want to take a pause here and tell how Mitch is working 12 hour days.  Apparently, the emergency that he was called here for was that the tri-annual inspections need to be finished by the end of October and they were way, way, way behind schedule and therefore needed to call in the folks who were qualified to help finish.  However, despite the few added people, at 8 or even 10 hour days, they would still not be able to finish on time.  I'm just hoping they don't ask him to start working weekends (he wouldn't work Saturdays anyway).  There's so much to do in this area and Sunday is the only day we have to do anything.

About "Home "Sweet" Home" -- When we're in travel mode, we put bungie cords on the upper cabinets, the bar stools on the couch along with all our tzochkies, etc, etc with regard to packing things up so they don't fall or break while on the earthquake-like ride.  It's a major hassle to pack up and break down, so while in travel mode, we just keep everything packed up except what we really need to live with on a daily basis.  It's not real pretty living like this, but I always know there's an end point when we reach our destination.  Home Sweet Home is when I can finally put everything back in its proper place and put out my tzhochkies.  So arriving at this campground, where we'll probably be until the end of October, is where I can call home ("home is where we park it").  Set up my tzhochkies (amazing how such little things can make me happy):

The full extent of my tchotchies: in front of the sink and a teeny shelf en route to the bedroom:

     


On Sunday, being that we only had about 50 miles and an hour to travel, we were in no rush to get out the door.  We left the campground in Bardstown, KY at 11:30 and arrived in Clarksville, IN at 12:30.  This is where I had my little breakdown (which, as explained a bit further, I did get over).  I guess I've gotten spoiled and somewhat accustomed to being in nice to really nice places.  I knew from various online reviews that the place we were heading to was NOT going to be in that category; it had nothing but bad reviews.  I did try to prepare myself mentally for that.  Unfortunately, we didn't have any other options.  For one week, Mitch was commuting at least 80 miles a day, and since he's already putting in 12 hour days, it was too much.  Plus, it was too far from a shul and we really liked the community we found in Louisville.  There are a few other campgrounds within commuting and shul distance, but none of them had any long-term availability due to it being a touristy area, the hot rod competition, the KY state fair, the Bourbon festival and a few other big events in the area.  As it is, this place really didn't either, but we were able to negotiate something and they jumped through a lot of hoops to figure out how to move people around so we could stay.

One thing to note is a lesson learned -- we pulled in, unhitched the truck and started connecting the electric, sewer and water.  Discovered we were about 3 feet too far away for the electric cord to reach the pole.  Had to spend another 30 minutes trying to re-hitch the truck in the very tight space just to move it a few feet forward.  Lesson:  always connect everything first before unhitching!

So why was I complaining?  Take a look at some of the views (these photos actually make it look almost nice):

    

In the 2nd picture, we couldn't even park near our rig.  This is basically a large parking lot and the spaces are very close together.  The roads inside the park are next to impossible to maneuver (I'm dreading leaving; I'm thankful we were in a pull through site right near the entrance).  When you enter the park, there's a gas station, so this must have been the back parking lot of the station before it was a campground.  The nicer rigs only stay a night or 2, but the ones around the perimeter (what I see out my window) are old, filthy and falling apart.  Not to mention that right behind us are freight train tracks, so there are loud trains going by just about every 1/2 hour all day, all night.

So suffice it to say that when we arrived and after we set up, I got into such a deep funk that I needed a good, long cry.  I HATE(D) IT HERE.

But by later in the evening and into Monday, I came to my senses.  For those non-believers, please skip this part.  But I made Torah (Bible, Old Testament) my guiding light.  Just very recently, we studied about all the travels our ancestors had in their 40 year journey through the desert and how each place had a lesson to teach.  Despite everything they had, my ancestors always found something to complain about!  I realized that I was doing the same thing.  I came to realize (as I always believed) that there's a reason for everything and there's a reason we've landed in this spot at this time.  I don't know what it is yet, but as long as I hold on to the faith that I'm meant to be here (and pray that by the time we leave I will have accomplished that and hope that I know that I've accomplished it) everything will work out just fine.  I believe strongly that God is providing for all of our needs -- we have a roof over our heads, food on the table, it's a safe place even if it doesn't look very pretty, and a good community to be a part of.

So once I adjusted my mind to accept this, I felt a whole lot better and this place doesn't seem so bad after all.  At first I was planning to keep all my shades closed and live like a hermit, but I decided against that.  The shades are all open and I even venture out for a walk a few times a day, if nothing else, just to stretch my legs.  Who knows -- maybe while I'm out walking, I'll meet someone interesting that we can exchange stories with.

Going forward, other than our hopefully good adventures out on a Sunday, I don't think I'll have much interesting stuff to post other than "day in the life" - both of us working.

Arriving in Louisville: Part II - Day 1134 (Year 4, Day 39)

Bardstown, KY

Please read Part I first:  http://mitcheryl-rv-journey.blogspot.com/2017/08/the-journey-to-kentucky-part-i-day-1134.html

So we spent the weekend in the parking lot of the Louisville Exposition Center.  I also forgot to mention that we were next to the airport and could see the windows on the planes as they came in for a landing.  I bet the folks could see me waving to them!

One great thing is that we landed in an area with a nice sized Jewish community, which we really missed.  As it happens, every 4th Friday this Chabad has a community dinner after Friday night services, and since this was the 4th Friday, we really lucked out with the timing, especially since we were driving half the day and I wouldn't have had time to prepare for Shabbat (baking the challah or doing the rest of the cooking).  The services were very moving and the rabbi, his wife and the congregation very welcoming.  We also went to Saturday services and were invited to the rabbi's home for lunch afterwards.  Out of all the places we've visited for services, this is the latest time services started!  Normally it's either 9:30 or 10:00.  Here we were told 10:30, but they didn't start until about 11:00, which means it didn't end until 1:30.  There was a nibble (cholent, actually, which I couldn't eat due to the potatoes and beans, but it was pareve so Mitch could have some) at the shul before we headed over to the rabbi's house for lunch at 2:00.

When we returned from services/lunch, it was almost 5:00 pm.  The parking lot was filled to capacity due to the amusement park.  We realized that if we wanted to get out of our space, we had to do it very early, before folks started coming in again (remember, we're about the size of a semi truck and we need a lot of room to maneuver).  The option we were facing was moving to the alternate parking lot (where all the hot rodders would be), with no hookups.  I don't mind conserving water and our black tank is large enough to go at least 1 to 1-1/2 weeks without dumping, but not having electricity was a real concern, especially since I needed to work.  We have a 5500 watt generator, but you can't really run it for 12+ hours straight (not only because it runs on propane and the tank runs out after 2 days of part time use, but because I fear it would overheat or break down if left on that long. (** an after thought - I posted this question to my RV peers on Facebook and the general consensus is that it is PERFECTLY SAFE to run the genny 24/7, although we'll run out of propane fairly quickly).  The rabbi had offered for me to stay at their Hebrew school during the day, and I also toyed with taking a taxi to the nearest library and setting up shop there.  However, neither of these options were very appealing or convenient due to the fact that we don't have a second car and Mitch leaves for work between 5:30 and 6:00 am (although a taxi or Uber would have worked in a pinch).

I did a little more research and found the closest campground that had any openings was in Bardstown, about 35 miles south of the city.  Mitch agreed that although it would mean a fairly long commute, having full hookups was really the best option, especially since it was only for 1 week (on the plus side, the company pays for his travel time and mileage).  So we hitched up the truck at 8:00 am (very challenging on the angle we had to park--see his post with the photos--but it only took about 1/2 hr) and drove 45 minutes on mostly back country roads.

* Little diversion and another interesting challenge in our journey:  the address we needed was on Boston Road.  Apparently, there is a Boston Road and an OLD Boston Road, which is what we really needed, but the campground doesn't mention that.  The GPS (which was actually Google Maps on the phone since we're still waiting for our RV GPS to be replaced) took us down a very narrow, dirt road and told us we arrived at our destination, which was a broken down shack.  It was very hard, but we were fortunate to find, about 1/4 mile down the path, a place to pull up so we could back up onto the road again in the right direction to get back to the main road.  Mitch expertly gave me directions to back it up.  When we called the campground, they told us that this was the WORST road in the entire county!!!  Kind of reminds me of another time we took a wrong turn and had to figure out how to back out in a tight area where there was nowhere to turn.  Remember, dear readers, this is like a semi truck, not like backing up a car!!!)   Harrowing experience, indeed!

The campground we're staying in is out in the country, surrounded by soybean farms.  Right now, it's mostly empty and I feel like we have the place all to ourselves.  Here are some photos of my views:

    

We landed at the campground in Bardstown at about 9:30 am and were set up by 10:00.  I had some client work to do which I wasn't able to finish during the travel week, and Mitch needed to nap.  Note that Kentucky, especially this part of the state, is the Bourbon Capital (my 2nd favorite adult drink is bourbon, 1st is wine).  We enjoyed the moonshine tour in Gatlinburg, TN and I am really looking forward to visiting as many bourbon distilleries as possible, in particular Evan Williams, Makers Mark and Woodford Reserve).  We wanted to go out and do something special, so we decided to visit the nearest distillery, which is Heaven Hills.  Here are some photos:

This is a bull made out of barrels.  We're literally holding the bull by its horns:

Inside the warehouse.  Smelled awesome, like bourbon!

Some bourbon aging in barrels.  They don't make Evan Williams, but they do help age it in their warehouse.

 
The tasting room!



After the tour, we needed to stop at a supermarket for a few groceries.  The route took us through the downtown area, which like most small towns, is very quaint and historical.  There's actually a lot of civil war (Confederate) history here including a museum and colonial village.  We didn't have the time or energy to go there on Sunday.  Perhaps while we're in Louisville, we'll drive the 40 miles to visit (although that's doubtful given all there is to do in Louisville).

So that pretty much covers it.  We'll enjoy the isolation/peace & quiet this week and move on to the next location next week.

The journey to Kentucky: Part I - Day 1134 (Year 4, Day 39)

Bardsville, KY

This post recounts our journey from Washington, NC to our present location (we will be moving one more time next week--more about that in Part II).  I do give my thanks to G-d for bringing us safely to our intermediate and final destinations without incident.  The route we took (mostly I-77 and I-65) had a few rest areas along the way so we were able to change drivers at the halfway points.

So, as you may recall, last Monday at 4:00 pm Mitch got a call from his nationwide supervisor saying there was an emergency in Louisville KY and since Mitch is one of the few folks with certification for this job, he was needed there ASAP.  We started the 700 mile journey on Tuesday afternoon at approximately 1:30 pm and decided to drive about 130 miles, which took us to Mebane, NC. The campground was a real gem and resort and I wish we could have stayed longer (as an aside, I look forward to the day when we can travel with serendipity - to come and go as we please rather than having to follow a strict schedule).  Unfortunately, I had a lot of client work to do (challenge of the week is trying to squeeze 8 hours of work into about 4), so I couldn't even venture out to explore the campground or partake of any of the activities.  Here are a few photos of the premises:

The office.  I love the bottle tree and the peacock!

 

Following are more photos of the campground, nice office and our spacious site:

   

We left the campground around 8:30 am on Wednesday morning, again planning to drive about 150 miles.  We landed about approx. 11:00 am.  That took us to Wytheville, VA (pronounced with-ville, not why-thville), where again we found another gem of a park and wish we could have stayed much longer.  In fact, this place even had a bowling alley and mini golf!  They had a pool with a water slide, and we did get to enjoy the pool in the afternoon.  As was the case yesterday, it would have been awesome to partake of some of the activities, but work precluded that from happening. (Note: I'm not complaining - I'm extremely grateful I have a livelihood.  Perhaps someday, if we're ever able to retire, we'll have the luxury to be serendipitous).  Although on Tuesday and Thursday we did not unhitch, we did unhitch here as we needed to fill up with gas and Mitch didn't want to go to the truck stop which cost 3x more; he found a place on Gas Buddy that sold diesel for 15c per gallon less but it couldn't have fit the rig.  There was a Denny's nearby, so we decided after a long day and hard drive, we would treat ourselves to a meal out and not have to bother with cooking and dishes (I had a nice piece of salmon and Mitch had an omelet).  We re-hitched the truck when we returned from dinner.

Below are some photos of the campground and Mitch on the water slide!

This is a photo of the mountains in the foreground, which we would be crossing the next day:



Some pics of the Wytheville campground:

Pool w/water slide

Here's a video of Mitch on the water slide:

From the pool - note the view of the mountains!

note the mini golf there too!

On Thursday morning, again we left at approx. 8:00 am and arrived at our next destination around noon.  Since we still had about 400 miles to go, we needed to drive at least 200 miles.  This took us to Argillite, KY (that's a hard "g") which is just over the border of West Virginia.  The drive through the WV mountains was really amazing, even though I hate driving on steep grades as we have to pull 20,000 lbs up and have 20,000 lbs pushing us down, but our engine and transmission towing system, thank God, did it's job and it was just fine, even though we can't get up to speed limit climbing and need to drive slowly with our flashers on).  It was a beautiful drive, except when we hit a torrential downpour.  For the most part, the roads were in good condition and there was very little traffic.
Here are some amazing views on the drive:

   

Once again, the campground we stayed at was another little gem that I would have loved to stay at longer.  The towns we passed through also seemed to be quaint with a lot of history, which I would have liked to explore further.

This brings us to Friday and our arrival in Louisville, 176 miles away.  We left the campground at 7:30 am and got there at 10:30.  As you may recall, there is the national hot rod association championship finals going on here this week (Aug. 1-6).  They expect over 12,000 cars and people from all over the world to attend so we weren't able to find a campground anywhere nearby.  The Exposition Center has a parking lot with a few full hookups around the perimeter.  It is also right behind Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom and shares the parking lot with them.  Here is a photo of the "great" view out my front door (this was when the parking lot was mostly empty):




But at least we had a place to park.  (Mitch wrote about the parking experience in the previous blog entry).  We were only allowed to stay there until Sunday, as they needed the entire lot for the rally.  They offered for us to park in a different parking lot which was being designated for RV and hot rod parking - no hookups.

Things did turn around a little, which I will write about in Part II.