On the Road

We got another slow start today. Not as slow as yesterday, but later than we'd thought we'd get going. We woke up around 8:30 and had the continental breakfast. Nothing exciting (the usual selection of cold cereal, muffins, fruit, yogurt), but functional enough. Then, we checked out of the room and got on the road.

I don't know how long we were driving -- should say, Lacey was driving, 'cause I was being the co-pilot - because I'm so enjoying just being on the road. We went to Louisville, KY. We walked around a big and saw all these really cool sculptural bike racks. At one point, we were standing outside of a tourist information center gathering pamphlets (okay, Lacey was gathering the pamphlets; I was just looking around) and a lady came out of the storefront and proceeded to tell us about how a lot of the buildings were made out of cast iron. There were actually magnets on the buildings (we'd thought at first that they were just stickers).

After wandering around a bit, we found a little sandwich shop to have lunch at. As we were leaving, a man who looked a lot like Garrison Keillor nearly knocked Lacey in the face while opening the door. I couldn't tell from his voice if it really was him or not. He seemed awfully short, and I'd always imagined Garrison Keillor as being rather tall.

In downtown Louisville, we went to the Louisville Slugger baseball bat factory. Lacey played softball, so she actually understood what they were talking about. I was interested in watching how the bats were made. It reminded me of all the factory tours we took as kids that I always liked. It was kind of sad to learn that bats used to be made by hand, and each one took at least 20 minutes to carve and sou forth. Now, it's all automated, and it takes about 30 seconds. I didn't realize that each ball player orders his own bats, to his own specifications; I thought they all just played with the same bats, and that when a player had a bat with his name on it, it was kind of like an honorary thing. Guess I was wrong. At the end of the tour, they gave everyone a miniature Louisville Slugger baseball bat. Quite a nice souvenir!

After the baseball bat factory, we went to see Churchill Downs. We got there about 15 minutes or so after the last tour had left, but the woman from the gift shop walked us over to the group and let us join. We're not sure if they didn't charge us admission because it was so late or if it was because the museum was closed. In any case, we felt kind of lucky to get to see it for free. The place is HUGE -- way bigger than it looks on tv or in the movies. The "millionaire seats" really must be reserved for millionaires; a one day seat is something like $800! The tour guide also said that, on race day, you really have to watch out for the women's hats because they're so big and fancy & take a lot of space. It was pretty cool to see a place I'd only seen on a screen.

We got back in the car and drove for a while longer, seeing some of the most beautifully colored trees I've seen anywhere -- including up north. Hills were just covered with color. It would've been nicer if it were a bit sunny out, but at least it wasn't raining. We've yet to actually see the sun, though.

We made a pit stop, and Lacey decided she was tired of driving, so I got a turn behind the wheel. Different perspective from behind the wheel, but I like both equally well, and Lacey was glad for the break.

We saw a billboard for an Amish buffet, and we decided that sounded interesting, so we attempted to go there. Unfortunately, after we exited, we couldn't find it. So, we ended up at a Chinese buffet instead, which was not great (too much fried food) but passable. We decided to stay in the same area, rather than drive on because it was dark and we were kind of tired of being in the car. So, tonight, we're in Haubstadt, IN, heading towards St. Louis tomorrow.

I really like this road trip thing, doing what we feel at the time. And Lacey is AMAZING at this whole thing. I'm really lucky and glad that she invited me along.