Tuesday, August 24

We got up early and went to a local laundry-mat to do the wash. The campground has 2 washers and 2 dryers and at the laundry I can do all the loads at the same time. Plus it is cheaper! We also made a trip to Walgreens and the post office. Aimee your books are on the way.

After returning to the rig and having a bit of lunch we headed out to visit Maker's Mark distillery, our third distillery. The Samuels family legacy dates back to 1780 when the family settled in Kentucky and began producing whiskey. They purchased the current location in 1953. It was an abandoned distillery at that time. They give a pretty good tour. It is the first one we have actually been able to enter the facility. Unfortunately they are not processing this week. They were bottling so we got to see that in motion. Maker's Mark is America's only handmade bourbon and is never mass produced. Each individual batch is less than 19 barrels and is all produced at this location in Loretto, KY. Each bottle is hand dipped in red wax to seal the bottle with their trademark seal. We partook of their samples, and it has confirmed that we don't particularly like bourbon.




After we finished exploring the gift shop we headed back toward Bardsville and The Old Kentucky Home State Park. The central portion of this park is a house that is over 200 years old. It is known as Federal Hill, but better known as My Old Kentucky Home. The house belonged to Judge John Rowan and was immortalized in song by composer Stephen Collins Foster who wrote the song as a tribute in the 1850's. You can tour the inside of the house but we passed on that and just did a self tour of the grounds. The state recently renovated the house to return it to its former glory. The surrounding park grounds are beautifully maintained.




After that we stopped by a local butcher shop and I browsed a bit. I didn't need anything but they had some interesting items. I would certainly get my meats here if I lived in the area.

Back at the rig we had dinner of broiled steak, mac and cheese, and cottage cheese. Nothing special. After dinner I made some reservations for the next couple of campgrounds. We are heading over to cave country, Cave City in particular. We plan on visiting Mammoth Caves while there. After that we will head down to Nashville, TN. I have made reservations at a Corps of Engineer park and they accept the National Park pass that I have so it will only be $10 a night! They have power and water but not sewer. We will have to conserve on water but we will only be there 3 nights. I also bought our tickets to the Grand Ole Opry show. That will take us up to the end of the month.

Enjoy the pictures.