Tuesday was our day to travel, but not before we helped
Linda, a full-time resident at the fairgrounds level her 3-axle 5th.
She was listing quite badly, and had lived in that condition for quite a while
so we were glad to help. By the time we got hooked up and ready to leave the
time was 11 a.m. Temps were in the low 80s, but the humidity was low so that
was a good thing. We had about 150 miles to our next stop in Shepaerdsville,
KY, just a bit south of Louisville.
We arrived at Granny’s RV park at
about 2:30 p.m. Temps in Shephardsville were in the high 80s when we arrived. I
usually don’t cook on days we arrive to new destinations and this was no
different. We a Frisch’s Big Boy in Shephardsville that fit the bill: burgers
and onion rings, topped off with a chocolate shake. Yes’m, it was good!
Even though this was a short stay in
the Louisville area, we packed in quite a bit. We did take a day of rest on
before beginning our adventures. All we did that day was get groceries and fuel
the truck.
Thursday’s temps started out in the
high 60s, heading to the high 80s, and was cloudy with a chance of rain. We spent
the day in Louisville, first visiting Churchill Downs where the Kentucky
Derby—and lots of other races—are held.
Churchill Downs: We found
this to be a fascinating place, and we both felt we could get into horses and
horse racing if we lived in this area! Even the history of Churchill Downs was
interesting.
The track is named for John and
Henry Churchill, who leased 80 acres to their nephew, Colonel Meriwether Lewis
Clark, Jr., who was the grandson of famed explorer William Clark of Lewis and
Clark. Clark eventually ran into financial problems and sold the racetrack to a
syndicate in 1893. The new ownership instigated many changes, including
commissioning the famous twin spire grandstand in 1895, adorning the Derby
winner with a garland of roses (a tradition that began in 1895), and the shortening of the signature race to 1¼ mile.
The Downs continued to flounder until
1902 when operation of the business was turned over to the then mayor of
Louisville in an effort to bring more positive imagery to the track. Another group of businessmen then acquired
the facility who brought prosperity to the racetrack: the Kentucky Derby became
the preeminent stakes race for 3-year old thoroughbred horses in North America.
Over time a new clubhouse was built, and new events were held, such as
steeplechases, auto races, and band concerts. In 1986 Churchill Downs was
designated a National Historic Landmark.
The most recognizable feature of Churchill Downs is the twin
spires that sit atop the grandstands, which were designed and built in
1895. Today, Churchill Downs covers 147
acres, with an oval dirt track 1 mile in circumference and 80 feet wide,
however the starting gate section is 120 feet wide. There’s also a turf track
inside the main track that is 7/8 mile in circumference and 80 feet wide.
From 2001 to 2005 Churchill Downs underwent a 3½ year, 121 million dollar,
renovation. The clubhouse was replaced (including the addition of a 36’
mural depicting all 96 jockeys to win the Kentucky Derby from 1875 to 2004), 79
luxury suites were added, and the twin spires were refurbished.
In addition to the track, clubhouse and stables, Churchill
Downs is home to the Kentucky Derby Museum, which focuses on the history of the
Derby and Churchill Downs. The museum also includes exhibits on training and
racing of thoroughbred horses. It includes a magnificent theater that shows
“The Greatest Race,” a documentary about the Kentucky Derby. By the way, only 3-year old thoroughbreds are allowed to race the Kentucky Derby even though they don't reach their peak racing age until they're 5 to 6 years old. Who knew!
We took the Historical Walking Tour
through Churchill Downs, and found it to be most interesting and informative.
Our Docent Danielle was fabulous, and was able to answer questions we didn’t
even know we wanted to know! The tour lasted about 1½ hours, and took us from
the museum to the paddock, to the racetrack, and finally to see the resident
thoroughbred, Unreachable Star, and his resident sidekick, Winston, a 23-year
old miniature horse.
In October 2013, Panasonic installed
a new, ultra-high-definition video board, along the outside of the backstretch
of the dirt course, facing the grandstand and infield. Measuring 171 feet wide
and 90 feet high, with the bottom edge 80 feet off the ground, it is the
world’s largest ultra-high-definition video board ever constructed. It was
operational in time for the 2014 Kentucky Derby. Although nothing was happening
at the track when we were there, here’s a photo of the big screen. Pretty cool!
Louisville Slugger: After
emigrating from Germany to Baltimore in 1842, J.Frederick Hillerich landed in
Louisville in 1856 where he started a woodworking shop. Within 10 years he was
filling orders for everything from balusters to bedposts and butter churns. The
business was thriving and by 1875 he employed 20 people. His eldest son “Bud”
was born in 1866, and by the time he was 14 he was an amateur baseball player
and an apprentice in his father’s shop, where he made his own bats along with
bats for several of his teammates. Thus Bud played a key role in getting his
father’s business involved in what would become the company’s signature
item—baseball bats.
Bud’s father didn’t want anything to
do with making bats. He had built his business on making roller skids, bed
posts, wooden bowling balls, and butter churns. However, Bud continued to
improve the process of manufacturing bats, inventing a centering device for a
lathe and an automatic sander. Their baseball bat business continued to grow.
Legend has it that Bud’s first pro
bat was turned in 1884 for Pete Browning (called “The Louisville Slugger”
because of his tremendous hitting power), a star on Louisville’s professional
team, the Eclipse. Bud had seen Pete break his favorite bat, so he offered to
make a bat for his hero. Browning accepted. Bud lathed a quality stick from
white ash—Browning got 3 hits with it in the next game. This was just the
beginning.
In 1905 Honus “The Flying Dutchman”
Wagner, a superstar shortstop for the Pittsburgh Pirates, signed a contract as
the first player to ever endorse a bat. His autograph was also the first to be
used on a bat the first time a professional athlete endorsed an athletic
product.
The bat, first known as the Falls
City Slugger, referring to Louisville’s location on the Ohio River, became the
Louisville Slugger and became a registered trademark in 1894. The company’s
success is due in part to the fact that amateur baseball players could now
purchase the bat model of their favorite big-league player. In 1915, the
Louisville Slugger appeared in a youth-size model and, in 1919, after launching
its first national advertising campaign, the company began producing 1 million
bats a year.
The above wall of signatures holds signatures of all who have commissioned bats from this company. Cool! Some are very famous, some not so much...
The addition of a successful
salesman in 1911 brought marketing expertise to the company, propelling the
company into diversifying products and introducing golf clubs. The PowerBilt
brand was created. In 1970 the company began producing aluminum bats, and in
1975 the first line of Louisville Slugger baseball and softball gloves was
introduced.
The World’s Biggest Bat, made of
steel and weighing in at 68,000 pounds, standing 120 feet tall is at the front
of the Louisville Slugger Museum and Factory. It’s the exact replica of Babe
Ruth’s 34” Louisville Slugger bat.
Just as we were about to leave the
museum, the skies opened and the rain began to fall. And fall, it did! We were
parked 2½ blocks away so we got pretty wet returning to our truck. Dinner that
night was at Gatti’s Pizza in Shephardsville. It was a pizza buffet, and we ate
our fill!
Friday morning was laundry time,
followed by a tour of the Jim Beam Distillery in Clermont, KY.
We took a tour at the distillery, led by our Docent Adam. His knowledge and ability to explain the distilling process sure
helped us novices understand how complex—but simple—this process is.
Since 1795 (interrupted by
prohibition), 7 generations of the Beam family have been involved in whiskey
production for “Jim Beam,” named in honor of James B. Beam who rebuilt the
business after prohibition ended. Strict government standards must be followed
for production of bourbon; by law any “straight” bourbon must be: 1) produced
in the U.S.; 2) made of a grain mix of at least 51% corn; 3) distilled at no
higher than 160 proof (80% alcohol); 4) be free of any additives except water
to reduce the proof for aging and bottling; 5) aged in charred white oak
barrels (to add flavor and color); 6) added to the aging barrels at no higher
than 125 proof (62.5% alcohol); 7) aged for a minimum of 2 years (Jim Beam ages
theirs for 9 years); and 8) bottled at no less than 80 proof (40% alcohol).
Jim Beam starts with water filtered
naturally by the limestone shelf found in central Kentucky. A strain of yeast
(used since the end of prohibition and protected by the Beam family) is added
to a tank along with corn, rye and malt to create what is known as “dona
yeast,” used later in the fermentation process. This mixture is then moved to
large vats, or cookers, where water and “set back” (a portion of the old mash
from previous distillations) are added. This is a key step of the sour mash
process, ensuring consistency from batch to batch. From the cooker, the mash
goes to the fermenter where it is cooled to 60-70° and yeast is added again.
The yeast, fed by sugars in the mash, produce heat, carbon dioxide and alcohol and
results in “distiller’s beer.” (It actually looks, smells and tastes like a
form of beer.) It is then pumped into a column still where it’s heated to over
200° causing the alcohol to turn to a vapor. As this vapor cools and falls it
turns to a liquid called “low wine” measuring 125 proof; a 2nd
distillation in a pot still heats and condenses the liquid to a “high wine,”
which reaches 125 proof. This high wine is then moved to new, charred American
oak barrels, each holding 53 gallons of liquid. These barrels are then moved to
rackhouses where they will age up to 9 years. The rack houses are 9 stories
high, with barrels 3-high on each floor. We also learned that the barrels on
each floor age at different rates, due to the temperature inside and out. If
you’re interested in learning more about this check out http://www.whiskeyprof.com/how-a-traditional-rackhouse-works-small-batch-single-barrel/ The “whiskey professor explains it very well.
We actually bottled some—a 5th
of Knob Creek Single Barrel Bourbon--and it’s setting in our camper, with my
thumb print in the wax seal!
Saturday morning was spent planning
for the next legs of our trip, before heading to Mammoth Cave
National Park for
a cave tour.
Although the surface of Mammoth Cave
National Park encompasses about 80 square miles, over 400 miles of surveyed
passages lie beneath, making it the world's longest known cave system and, more
passageways are continually being found. Geologists think there could be as
many as 600 miles of yet undiscovered passageways in this cave system! A
sandstone and shale cap, as thick as 50 feet in places, covers the limestone
ridges beneath. Seeping water from the surface eroded the limestone into a
honeycomb of caverns. Today, more than 10 miles of passages are available for
tours.
We took the “Domes and Dripstones”
tour lasting approximately 2 hours. (There were 117 people on our tour.) Although we had been in other much more
beautiful caves, such as Carlsbad in New Mexico, Kartchner Caverns in Arizona,
and Sonora in Texas, this was awe-inspiring realizing the magnitude of this
cave system. Some of the passageways were quite narrow and steep—we had to go
down 280 steps at the beginning of the tour—and some of the passageways were so
narrow you had to turn sideways to get through. Drips of water continually
fell, giving us “cave kisses” as we walked through. We’re glad we experienced
this wonderful aspect of nature.
But, that said, we’re sure feeling
the muscles in our legs now! The steep staircases and uneven walkways are
taking their toll on us today! We can hardly walk, and we’re used to walking!
Ha!
Sunday morning was spent on more
planning for our trips. It was sunny and hot, and we didn’t leave Granny’s
until close to 1 p.m., for our 66 mile trip to Frankfort, KY and the Elkhorn River
Campground and RV Park. Temps had climbed to the low 90s by the time we
arrived. Whew! We had to set up temporarily in the overflow lot, until our spot
opened up for us on Monday. We didn’t even bother to unhitch from the truck.
Most of the sites are quite narrow, but
deep, and all have concrete pads. There’s plenty of room for slides,
thankfully. Today, Monday, we’re all set up in our site, slides deployed,
motorcycle off the back, bicycles unloaded and we’re set for a few
days.
That’s it, folks, for this week.
Hope you’re continuing to enjoy our adventures. We appreciate you!
Hugs,
RJ and Gail
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