Kentucky

Our first stop in Kentucky was Wal-Mart and their tyre service department. One of the front tyres had a flat spot and the ker thumping as we drove along finally got to Marty. They didn’t have the tyre size we wanted so Marty asked them to take two rear tyres from one side and swap them with the front ones, then balance the ones put onto the front. Not a difficult task one wouldn’t think but it was almost mission impossible to the Wal-Mart tyre bloke. Marty had to ask him what he was doing twice, (and that’s after he’d been told 3 times by his boss what was wanted) but two hours later and a very small charge later we were ready to go.

We stayed the night at Mammoth State Park and went on a tour of the “Historical” Cave as recommended by the park Ranger. The tour guide warned everyone of a very narrow part of the cave called “Fat Man’s Misery” that we would have to go through plus a very open high climb out of the cave. She advised anyone who didn’t like heights or confined spaces not to go. She did a pretty good job of putting the fear of God into people because some actually decided not to go. Unfortunately we don’t have any photos of the cave. It said no backpacks, handbags, camera bags etc so I didn’t think I could take the camera. Wrong it was just the bag. What a blonde. But the cave was so huge I don’t think the pictures would have been very good. The cave has been used for thousands of years by man. The last use (during the 1812 war) was when it was mined for saltpeter to make gunpowder. Remnants of this activity can still be seen. Mummified bodies have also been found in the cave and remain there to this day. The cave system has 360 miles of mapped caves and scientists and geologists believe there could be at least another 700 miles of unmapped caves yet to be discovered. We walked a three mile section of this cave and managed to get through Fat Man’s Misery with relative ease the stairway to the top of the Mammoth Dome (about 100ft) was so awesome that you forgot you were looking into a bottomless pit and having to climb 300 odd steps. This is a must visit if anyone ever comes to Kentucky.

No visit to Kentucky is complete without a trip to a Bourbon distillery. We had planned to go to Jack Daniels but the campground where we wanted to stay ( so we could ride the bike down) wasn’t opening this summer and it wasn’t economical to take the camper. After all, we couldn’t get a drink there as it is a dry county and has been forever. Next best thing was the Jim Beam factory in Clermont. I missed the RV car park and took us down a no exit road with next to no turning places so once again I endeared myself to the driver. I told him to look upon it as a search for moonshine but that failed to get much of a response. We made it in time for the last tour of the day. You don’t actually get to go into the factory but get to watch a 15 minute video of the history of the Jim Beam family, some out buildings, the homestead and one of the original warehouses. Samples are available in the Homestead so we headed there first. Sorry folks but I still prefer Coruba. They have the oldest working still in America on display plus a licensed working scale model still. The smell of the fumes from the warehouse was something else. I think if you sat there all day you could definitely get drunk.

Fuelled by JB we ended up crossing the bridge at Louisville and entering Indiana where we stayed at Hardy State Park. We went for a long walk through the bush to the lake. I kissed the ground here when I failed to observe a tree root. Before I knew what had happened I was laying fully horizontal face planted on the ground. No damage done but Marty did try to relieve me of the camera. At the lake we got talking to some people fishing who said we really ought to go to Madison as they were having a big regatta there at the weekend. A little more investigation and we discovered that there was hydroplane racing there on the Ohio River. Marty had seen this on TV in NZ so he was quite keen to see it. We booked into Clifty Falls State Park which is just 5 miles from Madison. The roads into the camp (there is a north and south entrance) are magic. They are through the bush which was really beautiful and several times we went out of the camp just to ride these roads. We took a primitive site which means the only facilities provided are rather unkept long drop toilets. Not a problem as the camper has all facilities in working order. (A little different to The Pod, Heather) A thin line of trees separates this “primitive” area from the main campground which has all facilities. About 11pm one night I decided to sneak across to the other side and have a shower. It was a 2 minute walk almost in a straight line. No trouble getting there or having a shower but something went wrong on the return journey. I came out the wrong door, (which I didn’t realize) and the 2 minute trip turned into a 15 minute nightmare journey trying to find my way back. It didn’t help that the heavens opened the moment I discovered I was lost so by the time I got back to the camper me and everything I had with me was absolutely saturated. Marty didn’t show any sympathy when I told him I had gotten lost and said I may just as well have stood outside the camper and showered. Oh well I was cool and clean so it wasn’t all bad.

The second morning we were here the group of campers across from us packed up to leave. We have never seen anything like it and we were riveted for the whole drawn out saga. It is stuff that Monty Python movies are made of. 3 families, 7 small 2 -3 man tents and one large BBQ which had to be lifted into a boat. I could recount the whole darn thing to you but I won’t. (Maybe I will write it up as a separate event at some stage if I get any requests J). I will just tell you that it took them 5 hours to complete the task and leave the camp. At times we felt like going over and doing it for them. Unreal.

One day we took a ride on the bike up the Ohio River Scenic Byway. An absolutely gorgeous ride. Very little traffic and stunning scenery. We met up with another motorcyclist and rode with him for quite a way before going our separate ways.
That night, the start of the Regatta festivities, we went into town to listen to the Battle of the Bands. Not really our kind of music but I’m sure our sons would have enjoyed it immensely. We sat through the performances of three bands, two of them in the pouring rain protected by our $1 plastic bag type raincoats before calling it quits. Needed a stiff drink to get over that.
Friday was practice day for the boats so we headed into town after lunch to have a look. Got a spot right at the waters edge with a great view up and down the river. Was rather nice sitting in my chair, feet in the water watching the boats going through their paces. These hydroplanes are amazing. Powered mainly by Huey Cobra jet engines, they can do over 200 mph and average 160+ for an oval lap. Martys pick was the only piston engined one, powered by a V12 Allison which sounded awesome (he said).Unfortunately it was not too reliable and had a couple of engine changes over the weekend (35 mins).
Before returning to camp we walked up to Main Street, found a spot to put our chairs and sat and watched the street parade. It was quite amazing and took 1 ½ hrs for all the floats and people to go past. We didn’t go to the racing on Saturday but we did go to Wal-Mart to get a few supplies. One of these being a phone card so we could call the boys. We were trying to find out how much the charges were by ringing the card company but getting to speak to a person was almost impossible. Marty was outside on the pay ph while I hovered with the trolley inside. Didn’t take long for the store security to become interested in my activities but I soon got rid of them by chatting to the girls on the tills who just loved to listen to my accent. It took us longer to buy the phone card than the trip home. Back into town at night to watch the fire works display. A barge came up the river and the residents of Madison and those on the Kentucky side of the river are treated to a wonderful display. This was followed by displays in campgrounds on the Kentucky side of the river that seemed to be having their own competition to see who could put on the best small show. Fireworks available to Americans are unbelievable. Far superior in size and quality to the crap offered for Guy Fawkes at home.

Sunday was the big day on the river so we packed lunch, strapped our chairs onto the bike and headed into town. Got a spot under a tree near the start line which proved to be a very good decision as it was a very hot day. The view may not have been as good but as least we didn’t cook. The local Boat, Miss Madison was the hot favourite amongst the locals and she didn’t disappoint in either of her heats but alas in the final race a bad turn in the first corner after a great start saw her passed and unable to regain the lead. She finished 2nd. The boat is owned by the people of Madison. She is a new boat this year and the hull alone cost the major sponsor (Oh Boy Alberta – Beef Jerky) $2 million dollars. Goodness knows how much the motor etc cost.

So after six days relaxing in Madison we headed off to Indianapolis. I spotted a home welding business sign on the side of the road so we pulled in to see if he could do a wee welding job on one of the trailer mudguards. Marty was a bit dubious when a very hill billy sort of guy appeared, looked at the job and said yep he could do that and Marty didn’t even need to remove the guard. Too late to change our minds but Marty told him he’d prefer to take the guard off which he duly did. Turned out the guy was a very proficient welder and a good gardener. He gave us a whole load of fresh veges from his garden which was really great.

We arrived in Indianapolis about 2pm and found the Indy Fairgrounds Camp Grounds which were just a big concrete jungle. The camp caretakers gave us a tourist book to look at as we couldn’t decide whether to stay or not. We were both feeling very hot and bothered and not at all in a city visiting mood so after a cup of tea we headed towards Chicago.

We missed the turnoff to the camp Marty had selected out of our camping guide and the one I had chosen no longer existed but we found a nice quiet little layby off the road and spent the night there before making the push to Chicago.