Louisville, KY

We started our day by driving to downtown Louisville and visiting the Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory. After being greeted by the world's largest baseball bat, we took a tour of the factory and watched them make bats for both beginners and professionals. Quite an operation for such a seemingly simple device. The museum gave us the opportunity to hold bats used by such famous stars as Babe Ruth, Willie Mays and Ted Williams and to stand behind a foam-filled "catcher" while a 100+ mph pitch was hurled straight at us! Thank God for that bullet-proof plastic in front of us! I'm not sure I could hit a pitch that fast.

From there, we headed out to Churchill Downs Race Track where the Kentucky Derby has been held every year since 1875. We toured the facility including the paddock area and the track itself. Then we saw a horse, Phantom On Tour, who had finished 6th in the 1997 Kentucky Derby and still looked very fit. Then it was off to the 360-degree theater for a film on the history of Churchill Downs before being given the opportunity to visit their gift shop.

Then we drove down to Clermont, KY to visit the Jim Beam Distillery. Unfortunately, when we got there, we discovered that the factory tours were not available due to a vast remodeling project being done to the factory and the grounds, We did get a chance to do a 'tasting' of some of their fine bourbons before visiting their gift shop. Quite a day!

Off We Go Again

The old travel bug has bitten us again and we're off on another RV trip to explore the USA and Canada. We left home last Thursday and drove to Galax, VA to meet with the Sams-O-Wake RV Club for their monthly campout. Lots of good company and good food (perhaps too much of the latter) consumed the weekend.

On Sunday, we headed out on our adventure. I've mapped out our probable route (see attached map) but it will likely change as time progresses. Our basic intent is to explore the NorthEast USA and Eastern Canada. We spent last night in Milton, WV - just overnighting...nothing special to see. This afternoon, we arrived in Louisville, KY where we'll spend a day or two exploring the area. Stay tuned for details as they unfold. . .

Antiques Roadshow in Raleigh

On Saturday, June 27, the Antiques Roadshow came to Raleigh and we were one of the lucky few who received tickets to attend and have our precious items valued by the experts. After weeks of searching the house for the best stuff to bring, we arrived at 10:30 and joined a few thousand other hopefuls at the Raleigh Convention Center. We stood in the entry line for about 45 minutes while talking with other folks. Then we reached the tables where our items were classified and we were given tickets to the Toys and Games table (for our train set and magic lantern) and the Decorative Arts table (for our glass paintings). Off to another line... Toys and Games were first. When we finally got to the table, we met Noel Barrett who loved our old American Flyer train set and valued it at $300-$500. Then, he looked at the toy magic lantern that used a small kerosene lantern to project glass slides on a screen plus a box of old slides. He said it was from the early 20th century and originally sold for. . . are you ready for this?. . .about twenty-seven cents! It's current value is $35-$50. Oh well, that European vacation will just have to wait.

Then on to another, much longer, line for Decorative Arts. Here, we met J. Michael Flanigan who evaluated a pair of old, turn of the century, round glass paintings with metal collars made to hang on a wall. We thought these would be our "big find!" Nope! Printed on paper, then transferred to the back of the glass. Value: Worthless! Poo! Another, oh well!

Bottom line is that we won't be on TV unless we're seen in line behind someone lucky enough to have brought something a lot nicer than our stuff - like the lady with a jade collection valued at over $1.5 million! Regardless of the evaluations, it was a unique and fun experience and we really enjoyed meeting some nice folks and seeing some of the stars of the Antiques Roadshow. At least we came home with a nice picture of us.

Mount Airy Fiddlers Convention

Last Monday, I took the RV up to Mt Airy, NC to attend the 38th Annual Bluegrass & Old Time Fiddlers Convention. While the official competition events don't start until Friday, the real die-hard musicians (like me) get there earlier in the week to get in as much picking as they can. While Susan enjoys listening to the music, she doesn't care to hear it all day long and into the wee hours of the morning so she stayed home and enjoyed the peace and quiet. I, on the other hand, spent every day out seeing friends old and new and playing old-time and bluegrass music on my fiddle, banjo and bass until the wee hours. What a hoot! I was even invited to play bass in a bluegrass band ("Pammy and the Bluegrass Boys") for the Friday and Saturday night competitions. We played well but didn't win anything. Maybe next year. . . I drove home on Sunday totally exhausted but with lots of great memories.

Pickin' In The Park

This past weekend, we took the RV to Hagan-Stone Park in Pleasant Garden, NC (just south of Greensboro) to attend the High Lonesome Strings' 12th annual "Pickin' In The Park" bluegrass festival. We arrived on Friday afternoon, set up camp with about 30 other RVs owned by lovers of bluegrass music, enjoyed a group hot dog feast and then played bluegrass music all evening long. On Saturday morning, I started the day by attending a fiddle workshop down by the lake which turned into a bluegrass/old-time music jam that lasted until the early afternoon. While I was jamming, the official "Pickin' In The Park" event got started on an outdoor stage which showcased many local bluegrass bands as part of a free concert that lasted until about 6:00pm. After dinner, jamming started up again in the camping area and we all spent the evening picking tunes with friends. Lots of fun despite the occasional rain and we're already looking forward to next year.

Keeling, VA

On Thursday, we hit the road again to attend our Sams-O-Wake RV club's monthly campout in southern Virginia. We were joined there by about 18 other RVs from the club and we had a wonderful long weekend visiting with old and new friends, sharing tales of everyone's RVing adventures and eating out at local restaurants.

On Saturday morning, we went with most of the club to visit the American Armored Foundation's Tank Museum in Danville, VA. We spent many hours wandering around the 350,000+ square feet of the most extensive collection of international tank and cavalry artifacts from around the world (over 20,000 artifacts). They even had displays of military uniforms, small arms and over 700 hats and helmets. Quite an interesting place to visit. We returned home on Sunday to spend a few days of 'normalcy' before leaving on our next trip.

Cape Hatteras National Seashore

Yesterday, after spending three whole days at home, we drove the RV out to Camp Hatteras RV Park in Waves, NC - about as far East as you can go in NC without getting wet. Our campsite is on the Outer Banks within a stone's throw of the Pamlico Sound where we're attending the 2009 North Carolina WIT (Winnebago-Itasca Travelers) State Rally with about 70 other RVs made by Winnebago. We've met some nice folks and have enjoyed sitting back and watching all the 'kids' parasailing in the Sound in the gusty coastal winds we have today.

We drove about 25 miles further down the Outer Banks to visit the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse this morning and, thanks to several busloads of kids with tickets that were waiting in line, we decided not to climb the 250+ steps to the top today. We did view a movie about how the lighthouse was moved over 2,900 feet inland in 1999 to help preserve it. Quite impressive indeed and one more lighthouse magnet now hangs on our fridge.