Around Louisville (Thurs.)

We had a pretty full agenda today and left the campground around 10:00 a.m.  (We can't seem to get to bed before midnight; we hate this stupid Daylight Savings Time out here.)   Our first stop was George Rogers Clark's homesite, here in Clarksville overlooking the Ohio River.

His home was right on the bluff overlooking the Ohio Falls on the river, on land given to him because of his military successes, which included Vincennes.  The falls really was a series of rapids caused by water flowing over ledges of hard limestone composed of vast numbers of fossils. 

The first rapids began in front of what is now downtown Louisville and coontinued to Sand Island, a distance of 2.5 miles and a drop of 26 feet.  When Dam was built in the 1920s, the river's flow was restricted and most of the rapids were covered with water.  Today, only remnants of these rapids remain below the dam. 

We left here and stopped back by the RV to get Joe's walking stick.  His right hip and left heel were hurting and he was having a hard time walking, so we hoped the walking stick might help.  Our next stop was at the "Falls of the Ohio State Park," where some busloads of school kids were enjoying a field trip with a picnic here.  We parked next to a pickup with a sign in his window that we probably need.

There were several people fishing on the "bank," and a boat or two out in the water.  We didn't walk down to the fossil beds

 but they have a very interesting history, going all the way back "387 million years ago when the earth was covered by water.  Vast numbers of corals, sponges and other sea creatures thrived under the prehistoric waters.  As the corals and other prehistoric sea inhabitants died, they were buried in layers of limey sediment that caused them to fossilize.  During the retreat of Ice Age glaciers, rushing melt-water carved the Ohi River basin and exposed the Devonian fossil beds, providing a unique view of the ancient coral sea floor, preserved in stone."

We worked our way through the interpretive center, and were glad we did because it explained a lot.  They even had a children's area.

As we left, we passed a statute of Lewis and Clark, with the inscription "When they shook hands, the Lewis and Clark Expedition began."  BTW, the Clark of Lewis and Clark was William Clark, brother to George Rogers Clark.

Our next adventure was Churchill Downs, so after a quick Quiznos lunch right across the street from the University of Louisville's Cardinal baseball/football stadium.

At Churchill Downs, we first walked into the track to get some information.  No racing today because they raced on Monday, the holiday.  Usually this time of year they race Thurs., Fri., Sat., and Sun.  We may come back tomorrow for the race.   

The ticket guy directed us over to the Kentucky Derby Museum, which was just at the end of all these buildings.  Joe heads through the "starting gate" to check out part of the museum, and one of the first exhibits was of some of the hats worn at the Derby.  I even picked out a favorite (black and red).

We had a really good walking tour

of this facility:  we got to see where the horses are saddled and walked prior to going out on the track, and the tunnel they walk through to the track.  Then we went out in the grandstands right next to the track, and we could see the barns in the back.  He said there were probably about 1300 horses in the barns right now.  He also told us that if nothing else, we should know who won the Derby the year we were born.

And the finish line.

But the best part was yet to come.  They always have one of the race horses here, and the one right now was the 2009 Derby winner, Mine That Bird (we actually watched that race on TV).  He is a beautiful horse.  A full-blooded miniature horse named Winston is always in residence here to provide company to the race horse.

We went through the

gift shop and Joe found a horse he thought he might be able to safely ride.  And we looked over the gold cups the Kentucky Derby winners receive (4 lbs of solid gold plus a jade base).

By now we were both dragging, so we headed back to the RV and had a little rest (I even took a short nap).  Then we went to dinner and made a Costco run, which was 10 miles east of Louisville.  I actually thought we might end up in Cincinnati, but GPS Lucille took us right to the store.  It was a full day, and we extended out time here by at least one more day so we can see a little more of what Louisville has to offer before we head on south/east. 

On the Road Again (Wed.)

After a busy morning of finishing up our packing chores, we headed out about 11:00 a.m. to Evansville, where we planned to make our first stops.  We hit the Flying J to dump our tank and fuel ($3.699 today), then headed over to the White Castle hamburger place.  Yes, Joe finally got his White Castles.  The Flying J there at US 41 and I-64 (west side) is a great find for us RVers -- it has 3 dump stations, propane, easy to get in and out of.  We will have to make a note of that one.

After we ate our hamburgers, we started heading East toward Newburgh on the Ohio River Scenic Bypass.   This road followed the path of the Ohio River and sometimes was RIGHT beside the river.  We had great views most of the day, if not of the river, then of our drive through part of the Hoosier National Forest, after we left the river trail.

Our first glimpse of the scenic beauty of this road was in Newburgh, where Joe made a wrong turn that took us back toward Evansville and we had to find a place to turn around.  Which turned out to be right on the river, and along the Newburgh locks.  We hoped a boat or barge would pass through them while we were there but no such luck, although there was a barge moving down the river.  The houses along this road were really beautiful too -- some high dollar real estate in Newburgh, Indiana.

We came upon a larger set of locks at Cannelton, so we pulled over here too.  A barge was sitting just outside the locks but it didn't seem to be moving, even after I motioned it to come on through!  Neither of us thinks we have ever seen a boat or barge go through locks so that would be a cool sight.

There is also what looks to be a nuclear power plant right along here at Cannelton, although there was a huge pile of coal there too so Joe couldn't figure out exactly what kind of power plant it is.

Joe picked out our route today (Hwy 66) but he kept grumbling about the "crooked road" that I picked out.  But it was very pretty, although not overly wide in some places.  When this highway turned north, we took Hwy 62 instead of I-64, but we only went a few miles until we ran into detour signs and we ended up on I-64 anyway.  But before we first turned onto 62, I had Joe look at the map to get his bearings and make sure he still wanted to stay with the scenic roads, which he did.  As soon as we turned to it, though, he said, "it's sure uphill, it didn't look uphill on the map."  Guess we need a topo map in the future.

So here we are, Joe by his driving machine, and me with the Ohio River in the background, traveling the backroads we so enjoy.  We have never driven through this part of Indiana before and it was well worth the extra time and miles it took.  We managed to make this 150-mile trip into a 5-hour drive, and 200 miles.

We camped in Clarksville, Indiana, just across the river from Louisville (campgrounds are not too plentiful around here).  We got off the road about 5:00 and this Add-More Campground turned out to be a nice place.  We warmed up some Bobe's pizza for dinner, then took a walk around the park, but Joe wore his flipflops and is still suffering from that mistake -- his heel is really hurting him, but he did manage to walk over to the showers and get cleaned up.  So, he's watching some old western on TV, and all of a sudden he says, "Look at that, that guy just flew off his horse and he didn't even break a rib."  Never a dull moment in the old Winnebago!

BTW, we got word that the furnace at Lucille got repaired today, so that's one loose end that is done.

Tomorrow we are going to see what Louisville has to offer.  I have a list of 6 things to see, so we'll see how many of them we actually get to.  We may have to stay an extra day here.

Getting Ready to Leave (Tues.)

Today is the day we start working toward leaving Vincennes.  Joe still has some unfinished "Lucille" projects -- 2 kitchen chairs in the shop; furnace still waiting on parts; replaster under living room window.  Unfortunately, he was unable to move any of these things along.  The chairs still aren't done -- maybe tomorrow.  The furnace guy isn't sure they have the right part but Joe did make contact with someone else who thinks he has the part and that might get taken care of tomorrow.  And Joe didn't hear from the replaster guy.  Maybe tomorrow.

Meanwhile, I moved forward with my projects.  We got the car washed and stopped by the cemetery in Oaktown where my sister is buried.  I got the laundry caught up, and the bathroom cleaned.  And most of the stuff stored under the bed.  And we made a grocery run and picked up just a few things.  Still need to vacuum and finish putting some loose stuff away.

On our trip to Oaktown we tracked down some field-fresh strawberries at McKinley Orchard/Prairie Acres.  These had come in from the field but they told us the strawberries they had earlier came from some "tunnels" they had plants in.  Well, of course, Joe had to go see if he could find these tunnels.  But he did know what they were talking about -- open-ended hothouses.  And we did find some right up Old 41.

We could see strawberry plants and what looked like tomato plants.  Couldn't tell what else was in there.

We headed back out to the house and Joe messed with the furnace for a while but was only able to confirm what he had diagnosed last week.  Lucille was going to the funeral home this evening in honor of a niece, Loretta Holscher.  Fred came out for a while to keep Joe company (which got Joe out of some of his "honey do" jobs for me), then we headed into town for dinner and groceries.

At dinner, one of our former classmates, Faye Hacker Hess, stopped by our table so we got to visit with her.  She was unable to attend our class get-together last week because she had company from out of town, so it was a stroke of luck that we were able to hook up.

We have a short to-do list in the morning and hope to head out before noon.  Weather forecast is for partly cloudy with wind but the storms aren't due until Thursday and Friday so hopefully we will be further down the road by then.  Our first stop is probably going to be at the White Castle in Evansville, so Joe will finally get to have his White Castle hamburgers!!!

Memorial Day (Mon.)

We had done so much celebrating the last two days we were happy not to have any big plans for today.  Dixie and Jim were leaving today and I was surprised to see Dixie at the kitchen window (washing it, of all things) before 9:00 a.m.  I have a birds' eye view of the kitchen window from our dinette in the RV.  Dixie had lots of bug bites from these nasty buffalo gnats around here and that had kept her awake so she had just gotten up.  She had laundry underway and was gathering up things so Jim could load the car.  To everyone's surprise, they pulled out before noon.

So Joe and Joe decided we should go to town for something to eat (breakfast/lunch?  It's noon by now), and since they hadn't been able to find a decent breakfast in Vincennes, they thought we should try Princeton.  Lucille was agreeable to this, so off we went.  The first 2 restaurants to had in mind were closed (one permanently, the second one just for the day we think).  We finally landed at Applebees, and then Cathy persuaded Joe to stop at my Finders Keepers store which was basically across the street.  We put Lucille in a wheel chair and walked the 4 aisles, but she was really thinking we were taking her to a "dry goods" store where she mind find a new blouse, so she complained a bit.  No one bought anything but we did check out the rocking horse again.  It seemed to be missing the post that goes through the head to hang on to, and it was plastic (I think Cathy had one like it when she was little but it was made out of wood), so no rocking horse for Shooter.

We "headed" home but made a couple stops and side trips still searching for fresh strawberries.  Our 20-mile ride to "breakfast" took 4 hours.  Joe was still willing to head up to Oaktown where rumor has it that fresh strawberries are maybe available, but since Cathy and Joe still had to drive to Bloomington today, Joe finally took us home. 

As Joe and Cathy were getting in their car to leave, Mike, Rachelle and the kids stopped by, back from their weekend camping trip.  We visited with them for a little while and after they left, Lucille headed to her chair for a nap, and Joe and I went to town for our last Bobe's Pizza of this trip (Lucille was pizzaed'out).  A thunderstorm blew through just as we got home, with some pretty heavy rain and lots of strong wind.  That lasted maybe 45 minutes, but it blew on out before we went to bed and didn't damage anything that we've seen.  I think the worst of it was further north.

We had originally planned to leave tomorrow, but I suggested to Joe that we wait until Wednesday so I would have Tuesday to get my stuff done after today's exodus by the others -- laundry, groceries, vacuuming the RV, etc.  So tomorrow will be my work/errand day, and Wednesday we intend to hit the road.  We've finally decided what day we are leaving, but haven't finalized our route yet.