Change in E-Mail Delivery!!

There has been a change to the e-mail delivery within blogger.  If you signed up to receive my blog by e-mail and have not received one in a couple of weeks, you will need to re-sign up on the blog to continue getting e-mailed blogs.  As of July 1, they will start removing the old feature.  So if you don't receive one in another couple of weeks you probably need to re-sign up.  If viewing on a laptop, Look for the black and white box on the right side.  Click HERE.

If viewing from your cell, go to the bottom, click where it says "view web version", then look for the subscribe by e-mail box.

Thank you!!    Oh, please leave a comment once in a while, I love hearing from you!!

Back on the Bourbon Trail - Kentucky

Mount Sterling, Kentucky

\Wallydocking

It's been four years since we've been back in Kentucky on the Bourbon Trail and Steve really wanted to go through it again. I had us routed through Ohio but made some changes.  That 's the best part of not having reservations.  We can make last minute changes if we want.  Of course it's not always possible to go without them, but we do as much as possible.

Steve was happy to be back on the trail!

We continued along on I-64 and found a huge, quiet Walmart in Mount Sterling, Kentucky and arrived just before dark.  We parked alongside a nice grassy spot at the end of the lot.  If the temps or humidity were going to be high, we had a backup campground we would've stopped at.  Luckily it was fairly cool.  We got up early, took a pic and continued west.

We drove past this castle in Versailles so I looked up what it was.  It is called The Kentucky Castle.  Makes sense.  It's a hotel/spa/restaurant/event center.  Looked pretty cool.

Lexington, Kentucky

Camp on the Kentucky

Steve found one of the few campgrounds in the area called Camp on the Kentucky  It's a bit out in the country down some narrow roads but it was beautiful countryside.  It's a small, private park run by very nice folks.  We barely fit in the back in site though.  The river is down the hill behind us.

Steve really wanted to visit Wild Turkey.  It was Father's Day weekend and he was lucky to get the reservations he made.  Most of the distilleries are only doing the tasting portion of their usual tours.  If you haven't been here before and want to do the tours, I'd wait until next year when they are 100% open. Half the fun is touring the beautiful grounds, mash rooms, bottling areas and the rickhouses where the barrels are stored.

This is one of many rackhouse/rickhouses you'll see at the distilleries.  Some can have 20+ buildings like this.  One rickhouse can hold up to 20K barrels!

Walking through to the tasting room.  It was $11 each for the tour with 5 samples.  It's just not the same without the full tour.  I don't care for hard alcohol but I LOVED their Honey Bourbon and got a bottle for myself.  It's in the freezer and it's my new go-to for dessert instead of my Limoncello.

As we drove back over the Kentucky River to head for dinner, we noticed there was something up on top of the bridge that looked like easy-ups.  Are they serving some type of Farm to Table events up there?

Nope, it's a bungee jumping platform called Vertigo Bungee.  The High Bridge is 275 from the river.

We had dinner at OBC Kitchen in Lexington.  They are known for their rare collection of Bourbons and really good food.  Steve had the 25th Anniversary Knob Creek single barrel aged 13 years was his favorite of what he tried that night.

Lexington, Kentucky

Elks Lodge

We move over to the Elks Lodge in Louisville as it was right where Evan Williams, Heaven Hill and Angels Envy are located.  This Lodge is #8.  The 5th oldest lodge now as 3 others have closed.

We spent the afternoon in downtown Louisville and went to Angels Envy first.  We both thought it was big disappointment.  It was $20 a person and the tasting was only 1 1/2 samples.  We were impressed that it's family owned with 3 generations including 6 sons of youngest generation.

Here is an example of different charrings in the barrels.

We walked around town which was fairly quiet for a Friday.  We walked past the Louisville Slugger Field and went inside.  They play Triple A here.

I walked through one of the gift shops and snuck a peek at the field.  

There is a brew pub downstairs with some nice chairs just outside.

The downtown is very cute and most buildings are occupied but not many open.

We walked past the Louisville Slugger Museum and Factory.  $16 for adults.  We took the kids here when they were small so we didn't go in this time.

The architecture, like most old cities, was beautiful and being rejuvenated as well.  There were many pieces of art scattered up and down the streets too.

There was an interesting mirror in front of the Children's Museum.

David stands outside the unique 21c Museum Hotel.  It is a contemporary art museum with 90+ rooms with more art.  David is 30 feet tall, twice the size as the original in Italy.

Not sure if this old limo covered in those glass beads people put in flower vases is part of the "art" or not.

We went home after and went swimming at the Elks pool.  It was a very nice lodge and pool.  It was so hot and humid out though that an hour is all we could handle before retreating to the A/C.

On our last day we stopped at the store before the tour at the Evan Williams Experience.  We were wondering what this car was doing driving up to the back of the store.  Then this older woman got out and cats and ducks came from all over for a hand out.  She must supply them with food and water regularly.

There are many bridges that cross the Ohio River.  They are all different.

  

The Evan Williams Experience is not at the actual distillery it's at the Tasting Room downtown.  This turned out to be one of my favorites of all of them.  They started out with a movie then you walked through a screen that surrounds you telling you the story of Evan Williams and the founders of Heaven Hill.  I really enjoyed how they did the history.  They do produce one batch here per week.  They have a nice gift shop and while Steve picked out a bottle of 12 year old single barrel 101 proof, I was more excited about the goat milk soap and barrel aged coffee!

The tour was $15 each and had 4 samples and chocolate.

Later in the afternoon Steve took a Connoisseurs Tour at Heaven Hill.  It was $20.  I wasn't interested so Hurley and I walked around the grounds and found a geocache.

Above is one of the new rackhouses built.  Several were lost in a huge fire a few years ago.

See the black stuff on the rackhouses?  It's a harmless fungus that grows in distilleries from the ethanol escaping from the barrels as they age and go through the extreme temperatures.

That ends our short trip through Kentucky.

A Family Reunion in Virginia and West Virginia

Fayetteville, North Carolina
Elks Lodge 

Now that our time in Florida is over we have changed up our plans and we'll be heading to Indiana to get a checkup on the rig and some work done at Affinity RV Group.  First we will route through Virginia, Steve's home state, where we have organized a family reunion.  We had planned on being on the east coast two years ago but a couple of our kids weddings and a grandbaby sidelined us a bit so it's time for a visit!   We'll be driving straight through Georgia and South Carolina along I95 with plans to arrive 7 1/2 hours later in Fayetteville, NC.  One night at the Elks Lodge to sleep then we're back on the road.

W/50, $20, #4

Since we're leaving early in the morning to get to our next overnight spot before Steve starts work, we won't hook up to water or unhitch.  It's a nice Elks Lodge and very quiet.

Rocky Mount, North Carolina

Moose Lodge

I had a hard time finding lodging for where we needed to be next and found a Moose Lodge that said they'd reciprocate with our Elks membership and let us stay the night.  So nice of them!  We arrived in Rocky Mount 2 hours later and set up.

W/50/Dump, $20

Near our site is the old Stonewall Manor. We really wanted to tour it or at least the grounds.  It was strangely difficult to get any info on this place. Websites and phone numbers were not working.  The inside is supposed to be fully restored and furnished.  It was built around 1830.  In its prime it was a large antebellum plantation.  All we were able to do was take a picture.

Next we drove over to the Mills.  Rocky Mount was built with a lot of slave labor to run the cotton mill.  They are trying to revitalize the area while reconciling with their past. The Rocky Mount Mills used to be the second built cotton mill in 1818 along the Tar River.  It is a multi-use property with breweries, restaurants, office, a hotel and events.  Once again, we struck out as most of it was closed on Mondays.  With craft beer exploding, the local community college offers courses on brewing.  They share use of an incubator and allows brewers to brew, ferment, keg, bottle and distribute.  Many unique start ups are here including, Spaceway Brewing owned by two African American women. 

This nice brewer, Cameron, of Hopfly, who happened to be here working on a brew, opened up his place just so Steve could purchase some of his beer.  Steve really loved it.

We took a little walk in one of the nearby parks to find a geocache hidden in the location of the first US Post Office in Rocky Mount built in 1816.  There are only a few foundations left.

Norfolk, Virginia

Elks Lodge

It was a short 2 hour drive to get settled into the this Elks Lodge. We were very surprised when we pulled up to what we thought was a long closed lodge.  I thought maybe I had the wrong Elks Lodge.  We pulled back around to where we could see where RV parking would be and called the gal back I had made the reservations with weeks ago.  It was in the 90s with very high humidity and we wanted to get plugged in.  The entire blacktopped areas/lots were all broken up and had weeds growing through them.  The building looked like it had seen much better days except the front was more kept up looking.  They had a huge neglected pool with a run down fence around it that was mostly full, but very green.  All the tables, etc around the grounds look liked no one had visited in them for years.  This location surely needs a lot of TLC.  I will say once I heard back from the office gal, she was very nice.  She stopped by to make sure we found the hookups.  She apologized about the lodge grounds and explained the pool never really took off and was too expensive to upkeep.  They are going to remove it at some point.  I told her I get it and that we were just happy to have a place to stay for the next couple of days.  There aren't many spots in this area and we were just a few miles from family in Virginia Beach.  Not sure we'd stay at this location again but we did appreciate the hospitality.

That afternoon we met up with his youngest brother, Jeff, and his wife, Veronica, and did some geocaching in a nearby park.  They have been on the news with their videos. HERE is the one while we were there.

 

 

The Hydrangea's were gorgeous and kept my mind off the horrible heat.  I suggested we stop at a nearby Dairy Queen for a Blizzard as soon as we finished!

We made a stop the next day to a brewery Steve liked in previous years.  He was disappointed in them this time around. He found them to be more old style IPAs. He prefers very hop forward.

Amanda, her boyfriend, Jeremy, Charity & Cassidy

Then we had dinner with Jeff, Veronica and their kids at a local Mexican place.  It's been a few years since we've seen them last and they have really grown up.  All are out of high school now except Cassidy.

Veronica and Alex. 

Alex just finished truck driving school and will be on the road soon driving an 18-wheeler around.  Congrats Alex!

The Hampton Roads Coliseum where Steve saw many concerts growing up.

Then it was time to drive across the Chesapeake Bay to stay on the other side where his other brother lives and where we'll be having the Family Reunion. Driving over/through the Monitor-Merrimac Memorial Bridge/Tunnel was no problem.  They have you pull over to make sure your propane is turned off and on you go.  There are 3 bridges/tunnels that will take you across the bay.  There was no fee to cross this one.

Newport News, Virginia

Newport News City Park

We stay at this park when we visit.  It's central to about everything.  It's a huge park, a bit pricey and could use a little TLC.  Very shady area with tall trees.  They have bike/walk trails, water to kayak on, shelters to rent, laundry and a playground.  It's a very convenient park.  Many of the sites are narrow and a bit unlevel.  W/50/30/Dump, $36.  Site #B56.

More brewery visits.  This time with his brother Mickey and nephew Michael.  His wife, Wendy, wasn't feeling well so we didn't get to visit with her this time.  We missed her though!

The brothers.

Every time we're here we have to go to Gus's Hot Dog King.  One of their favorites since they were kids.  It's still there and nothing has changed!

While Steve continued working I drove around with Jeff, Veronica and Cassidy.  We wanted to go back to the neighborhood they grew up in and look at the various houses, schools, etc.  It was a trip down memory lane for Jeff and fun to hear his stories about growing up from a different point of view.  Most were very funny.  All I kept saying was, Where was the supervision?  Who was watching you?  For example he told us how they'd jump on the train that ran behind their house and they would ride it across town to the Shipyard then jump off!  I think we now have them hooked on a DQ Blizzard when it's hot, as it was their idea to find a place to get one and get out of the crazy heat!  We took the above pic and sent it to Steve.  Mean, I know.

We had some old family friends pop in to surprise us one night.  It's probably been about 50 years since Steve saw them last.  We had a nice conversation.  The next day was the big McCormack/Lee Reunion.  We were happy that about 35 people showed up since the weather had changed to rain.  Luckily it stopped that morning and everyone was there except one cousin.  We had so much fun telling stories and sharing family genealogy with the older generation.

  

  

    

One funny thing is people love to bring old pictures with them.  Look at this old one taken with Steve and his brother Mickey back in the early 80s!

It was a great week and now we are driving to West Virginia to visit with a family friend that was more like a sister to his Mom.  The drive is beautiful in any season.  We really want to spend one year visiting more parts of Virginia, West Virginia and Pennsylvania.

Part of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Lewisburg, West Virginia

State Fairgrounds

This is another place we always stay when visiting family as it's easy to get in/out of in these narrow, small towns.  It's right next to Ronceverte, where many generations of his family grew up.

FHU, $45, #365.  State Parks and fairgrounds are rather expensive in VA & WV.

The State Fair happens here in August.  This is one HUGE fairgrounds.  They have thousands of camping sites.  Many with hookups.  As far as you can see in the above pic are the sites.

It's always a lovely visit with Sally & Bob.  She is a wealth of information on the family history.  We have as much of it as we can get but always learn more stories when we are with her.

Our other reason for coming was to scatter his Dad's ashes.  The crazy rains this part of the country has had these past weeks have all the rivers overflowing.  We spread some in the Greenbrier River that flows right behind his families property and some on the family property.  It's been sold off over the years and the main homestead is down to less than 20 acres.  The old home his great grandparents built burned down several years ago but some of the old outbuildings are there but barely visible as no one has lived on the property for many years.  Nature quickly takes back what was hers.

This is the old gate to the property which is so overgrown you can't walk through it anymore.

On our way east out of West Virginia we pass the pretty gold topped State Capitol building in Charleston.  This is another town we'd like to visit.  500 miles later and we have traveled from the coast of Virginia Beach through Virginia, West Virginia and to the border of our next state never leaving I64.

As we near the border we pass the John Amos coal fired power plant in Nitro, WV.  In case you were wondering, this small town gets its name from nitrocellulose which is the main ingredient in smokeless gunpowder. It was a WWI boomtown built by the US Government to manufacture gunpowder for the war.  It's less than 50 miles to the border.

Guess what we'll be doing in Kentucky?