Three States

Good morning, my friends. We traveled through three states yesterday. I was surprised when I realized we would be spending the majority of our driving distance traversing Indiana. Kentucky has a hump on its northeast side and borders Indiana on the west. We started our journey in Kentucky, of course. I caught a few more Kentucky barns as we drove out of town.

It's always a thrill to find one with a quilt block.

We took one last look at the green, green landscape.

And here we go, my friends. We're beginning our westward trek toward home. Buckle up. We have a long way to go.

Driving through these blasted out alleyways of limestone will be one of the things I remember about Kentucky.

We passed through the town of Shelbyville, which is where Colonel Sanders of Kentucky Fried Chicken fame lived from 1960 until his death in 1980. Indeed, just down the road in Louisville, one can see the KFC Yum! Center.

Heading on down the road, we drove parallel to the Ohio River for several miles. I knew we'd cross over eventually. Okay...here we go. It was a pretty fancy bridge.

Up and over...

And here we are, making our surprise visit to Indiana. I don't even have an Indiana road map along. It doesn't matter because my Kentucky map covers the whole distance and it also covers the distance we traveled when we reached Illinois. Sometimes I get lucky that way.

We saw a few Indiana barns. We simply drove the entire southern width of Indiana from eastern border to western border.

Along the way we passed by the exit to the small town of Dale, Indiana. As it turns out Dale is the birthplace of singer and actor Florence Henderson. If you're of a ripe old age like me, you'll remember her from The Brady Bunch. Also, Abraham Lincoln was raised on a farm in what is now known as Lincoln City. His mother, Nancy Hanks Lincoln, died while he was young, and her burial site is located on the original farm. One could take a side trip to a replica of his boyhood home. I found this image online.

(Image credit: "Wood Cabin made out of Tulip Popular" 

by amanderson2 is licensed under CC BY 2.0.)

As we passed through Evansville, I learned about the Wabash and Erie Canal. The Wabash and Erie Canal was a shipping canal that linked the Great Lakes to the Ohio River via an artificial waterway. The canal provided traders with access from the Great Lakes all the way to the Gulf of Mexico. Over 460 miles long, it was the longest canal ever built in North America. Here's another picture I found online.

(Image credit: "Delphi Wabash & Erie Canal Park [#0215]" 

by DB's travels is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.)

Just after crossing the canal, we crossed over the Wabash River...

And into the state of Illinois.

Just across the state line, we stopped at a rest area where they had some pretty mint in bloom.

I captured this one Illinois barn.

We were nearly to our final destination when we turned south at Mt. Vernon, Illinois. As it happens, Jean Kirkpatrick, the first woman to serve as United States Ambassador to the United Nations, graduated from high school in Mt. Vernon. 

Turning south, we had less than 20 miles before reaching our final destination at Rend Lake in Whittington, Illinois.

It's a very large lake, and we drove parallel to it before turning west onto the road leading to the campground.

And this is a great place for kitties. Smitty got out right away.

The first time he traveled in Illinois a few years ago, he worried it would make him ill and annoyed. Having already determined its palatability, he went to work chomping it down without hesitation.

It was a nice space for the night, just across from the lake. We walked through the tall trees.

Looking left, it looks like this:

Looking right, it looks like this:

The bank is lined with rocks called "rip rap." It helps prevent erosion of the lakeshore. It seems they're protecting the campsites here. They've left a small "beach" so campers can get out to the water. The rip rap extends down the eastern bank with a small break where you can see the erosion without it. Then, it continues on where another loop of campsites is located.

Sadie is super excited to be here too!

We're just north of Benton, Illinois, here. You might remember this was the place George Harrison visited way back in 1963. We passed by the "mural" dedicated to his memory when we came through here on our eastward trek. We're without water hook-ups here, and we will be at our next three-night stop as well. Getting some drinking water (and conserving our tank water) seemed like a good enough reason to drive into Benton yesterday afternoon to see it up close and personal. 

We first drove to their "public square" where there is a historical marker discussing his visit to Benton. He was quite busy while he was here. 

From there, we drove another half mile to stand next to the mural. Very cool. Who woulda though?

So we got some drinking water and a bag of ice, and then headed back to the RV. Along the way we passed by this structure...some kind of business...sporting a quilt block on its wall.

Also this cat who was heading off to do cat things.

Back at the RV, we had a simple dinner and then enjoyed the light of the setting sun.

The cloud cover was a little too thick for a very good sunset, but I caught the last rays as it slipped below the treeline.

Day is done. 

This morning we'll head west some more, ending our day at Lake of the Ozarks State Park in Missouri. We have nothing on the agenda there except to sit still and enjoy the surroundings. Our next stop after that will be Hamilton, Missouri. Who in the class can tell me what is located in Hamilton? I see some hands in the back. That's right...Missouri Star Quilt Co. It's coming, my friends. I'll be paying pilgrimage to this quilters' mecca. You might want to be breaking open your piggy banks because we're going to do some shopping. 

Okay, it's a second long day of driving today. My hip handled yesterday's ride with no problems. I think my seat cushion will be the answer to that ailment. If it feels good at the end of today, I'll be confident I've figured out the solution.

Horsing Around

Good morning, my friends. It’s our last morning in Kentucky. We’ll be heading due west when we get underway, crossing back into Illinois (and into the central time zone), and then backtracking a little bit to a COE (Corps of Engineers) park for the night. From there, we'll move on to Missouri the next day. It’s going to be a lot of driving over the next couple of days. It’ll be a good test for my seat cushion. My hip is doing better. I thought I felt a little twinge yesterday while we were out, and so I took a dose of naproxen. It feels fine while I’m sitting here.

So let’s talk about horses, shall we? No, that is not a horse. It’s Smitty. Please. Where are your manners? 

Sadie was soaking up the morning sunshine after a frightful night of rain.

We took off fairly early (for us) to make our way to the Spendthrift Farm. I’ve tried to get the picture below several times. This barn is just about a mile from where we’re staying. It’s a rustic barn with a quilt block. There’s a very small window where I can get the whole barn and quilt block, but there’s no place to stop on that narrow road. We finally drove down the road when there were no other cars behind us. Mike stopped, and I stepped out onto the truck's running board for this shot. It isn’t ideal, but it’s the best I could do.

Driving on, there are lots of barns around Lexington. It’s no wonder Lexington is known as the horse capital of the world. 

And it is lovely here. You have to see the endless acres of green grass and wood fences to appreciate the beauty. It reminds me a little of Ireland. 

Substitute wood fences and horses for the stone walls and sheep, and you’ve got it. Here's another picture.

 

Here's another with some horses off in the distance. It seems like an idyllic place to be a horse.

Ah…here we are. We had a friendly exchange with a man posted at the gate.

He told us to head down this driveway and take the left fork.

This sign confused us. With Mike in the truck, wouldn’t you think they’d want us to go to the right?

Parking at the visitor center, we went inside. Inlaid in the floor were the winnings of the 2020 Kentucky Derby by their horse, Authentic.

Here's the Kentucky Derby trophy.

On one of the tables were these plaques listing all the winning horses from just one sire, "Into Mischief."

These pillows were stationed around. I see a quilt block in that emblem.

After watching a couple of short videos about the history of Spendthrift Farm, we boarded this shuttle for a ride around the place.

As we drove off, we saw just one of an army of mowers who keep the grass cut to a suitable length.

Here's one of many barns we saw at just this one farm.

Below is a stallion named "Flasher." He doesn't get to breed, but he gets to flirt with all the mares. Observing how the mares respond to him gives an indication whether they are ready to be bred. And simply being with Flasher puts mares "in the mood." Poor Flasher. It must be a frustrating life.

Moving on, we came to a paddock with some mares and their foals. These foals were born around January.

This is one of the mares. Can you see how her nose bends to her left? This happened in utero because she had a leg over her nose that caused it to crook to the side. She was the sweetest thing. Very friendly.

The mare below starts life the same dark brown of the other horses. As she gets older, she begins to lose the dark color. Eventually, she will be completely white.

I took this picture so you could see how the fences are chewed. This is done by the foals. Like babies, they are teething. They explore their environment with their teeth.

Here's a frisky colt chewing at the fence as I took his picture.

Here's another foal born two months ago. He was a little shy.

Eventually he came up to the fence.

We had a good nose and ear scratching session.

Do you see the foal on the right side of the image below? He's flat in the grass. We saw several napping like this. It looks like a comfy place to lie down.

These were some of my favorite horses on the tour. 

Smallish. 

It must be hard finding an appropriate saddle.

Looking off in the distance, we could see another barn.

These are two of their winning stallions. They are retired now and will spend their days wooing the mares. Their names are posted on the fence.

Here's another barn complex.

This next stallion is "Goldencents." He's the sire of this year's Kentucky Derby winner, Mystik Dan. He's getting special treatment these days. Our tour guide told us that the Derby was barely finished when they started getting emails from horse people asking if there were any slots open on his breeding schedule. It costs $250,000 to breed a mare with one of their stallions. Sometimes mares travel as far as South America or Australia to be bred at this farm.

We enjoyed our tour very much. The gift shop was open when we returned to the visitor center, and I picked up this small refrigerator magnet.

Okay, so we have a long drive today. I don't have a lot of time to chat. You understand, don't you? When we meet again, we'll be in Illinois. Fingers crossed we don't encounter any more bad weather as we pass through Illinois, Missouri, and Kansas on our way home. We'll breathe a little easier when we reach Colorado in about 12 days.