Louisville KY

Sunday, May 13th

We had a short 2-hour drive to Louisville. It is hot! It started getting hot in Nashville then Memphis and has continued with 90+ degree temps. We’re staying at the South Louisville KOA and by golly it has a pool! Praise heaven! We set up and quickly headed to the pool. Only a few folks there and a nice pool. They opened it a few weeks early because of the unusual heat. Turns out the first two weeks of May in Kentucky have been the hottest on record. Just our luck!

Happy Mother’s Day to everyone!

Monday, May 14th

We headed to Churchill Downs. They have a great museum even showcasing a wall of Derby hats including the Queen of England’s when she visited, plus interactive exhibits to educate you on the different jobs at the track, what’s involved in a typical thoroughbred horse farm, and a 17-minute 360 degree film that shows you all the Kentucky Derby race day activities beginning at the crack of dawn through THE race. The film did touch your heart. Then we got a 30 minute guided tour. Very cool to be there after seeing it for so many years on television. The Kentucky Derby is the oldest continuously running sporting event in U.S. history. It’s been going strong for 144 years. It’s also one of the largest at 150,000 to 175,000 people making Churchill Downs the third largest “city” in Kentucky on race day. Wonderful tour by a knowledgeable guide sharing some interesting facts like for example why Secretariat was able to demolish his competition. After he died, a necropsy (horse autopsy) was performed and it was found that Secretariat’s heart was 3x the size of a normal thoroughbred’s heart. That’s why he ran so much faster than his competition and was such an outstanding athlete.

If you go to Churchill Downs on a day other than the Kentucky Derby, you can get in for $3, if you’re a senior, the cost is a $1. You can sit in millionaire’s row for $40 and get a buffet dinner. On Derby day, seats cost over $100 and a seat in millionaire’s row goes for over $5,000. All bets have to be cash, no check or charge allowed. But, there’s no limit. You can bet whatever you want. There’s about 1,500 windows open for betting on Kentucky Derby day. Wow.

After Churchill Downs, we did a few errands (We always seem to have to pick up groceries. What is up with that???) then hit the pool again. A few more folks there this afternoon, with country music playing and kids playing in the pool (one who was autistic her dad told me) who adopted me as a playmate. Very cute.

Tuesday, May 15th

We debated going to the Louisville Slugger museum but opted for the Jim Beam Distillery tour since we are on the Bourbon trail in this part of Kentucky. Great tour! We still dislike bourbon, but great tour! They have 500 acres at this facility outside Louisville. Gary and I knew very little about bourbon. Turns out bourbon is officially the “National Spirit of America” instituted by President Johnson in 1964. 95% of the world’s bourbon is made in Kentucky, and 50% of the world’s bourbon is made by Jim Bean. Bourbon has to be made in the U.S. for it to be called Bourbon Whiskey. Scotch Whiskey is made in Scotland and Irish Whiskey is made in Ireland. Likewise, Bourbon Whiskey has to be made here. We were able to taste bourbon throughout the various stages of the process, see how it’s made, see their small and large distribution areas, bottling, and even have a bottle made if we so wanted (for $50). We did not. At the end we were able to have a sampling of 3 different bourbons from an offering of 20 different varieties. They were all awful. I’m not a bourbon gal, nor is Gary a bourbon guy. But, we thoroughly enjoyed the tour.

After picking up more groceries and fuel (we always seem to need both!), we headed back to camp and the pool.

As we were walking Kya in the evening, we chatted with a couple originally from Washington who had been full timing for two years. They are headed to Boston for the month of June. We chatted for awhile and exchanged info and plan on linking up with them while they are in Boston.

Next stop Dayton OH!